Tearsheets Redesign
for Merida Studio | 2022, 2024 | Information Design, Graphic Design, Research
Transforming product-heavy tearsheets into clear, intuitive customization tools that aligned brand identity with real-world sales conversations.
The tearsheets redesign transformed a static product document into a strategic sales tool. Originally created to summarize technical details, the tearsheets had become visually cluttered, overly generic, and disconnected from how customization conversations actually happened in the field. This redesign aligned the tearsheets with the studio’s evolved brand identity while turning them into a functional bridge between client, sales team, and design team.
Designing around how conversations actually happen, I paired diagrammatic clarity with material realism to create a shared visual language.
01
Problem
The original tearsheets were difficult to read and overly product-oriented, prioritizing generic brand attributes and small colorway swatches over meaningful information about structure, yarn placement, and customization. Renderings were hard to translate into real textiles, and the documents did little to support client conversations — leading to confusion, miscommunication, and overreliance on verbal explanation from the sales team.
The tearsheets needed to remain printer-friendly and fit on a single 8.5×11” page, while also functioning as standalone documents that could circulate without sales support. Balancing completeness with readability proved challenging, as the team wanted these materials to answer all potential client questions. Introducing new elements like QR codes also required internal buy-in and careful consideration of how much information was truly necessary.
02
Solution
The redesign focused on how customization conversations actually happen. Through interviews with the sales team, I learned that yarn type and color decisions are inseparable, so I paired a clear grayscale rendering with large, detailed photographs of physical samples. A visual key linked yarn positions to motifs and weave types, while markers showed where each sample appeared within the full design. In the 2024 refinement for the Studio Series launch, I removed preset colorway emphasis and unnecessary details, freeing space for larger imagery and clearer diagrams. A QR code extended the tearsheet digitally, connecting clients to installation and detail photography without cluttering the page.
This project was shaped through close collaboration with the sales team, whose field experience informed nearly every design decision. Through repeated reviews and real-world testing, we refined terminology, layout, and hierarchy until the tearsheets functioned as a shared visual language across client, sales, and design teams — bridging gaps that had previously led to miscommunication. Additionally, my collaboration with the design team was essential in understanding the technical aspects of the designs that needed to be passed onto clients. That knowledge directly informed the visual key, rendering markers, and sample photography — ensuring the tearsheets reflected how textiles are actually understood in practice.
03
Results
The redesigned tearsheets improved clarity, confidence, and accuracy in customization conversations. Clients could more easily identify yarn positions and articulate changes, reducing translation burden on the sales team and minimizing errors for designers. Internally, the materials aligned teams around a common reference system, while externally, the pared-back design reinforced the studio’s art-forward identity — transforming the tearsheets from static product documents into effective, trust-building tools.
The redesign reduced miscommunication, increased client confidence, and strengthened alignment between sales, design, and client teams.