1>∞
Global Entertainment
UI Key Art Design for the World's Leading Streaming Platform
Netflix
2022-23
Role
ArtDirector, Designer
Machos Alfa SE01> SET 01
THE CHALLENGE
Netflix viewers decide whether to watch something in under a second, based on one image, inside a fixed system: a logo, a rigid technical grid built for pixel-perfect delivery across every screen.
Decision: Build one image that sells an entire season instantly, survives that grid untouched, and still feels native to a platform used by hundreds of millions.
44.9M viewing hours.
Season 1 of Machos Alfa.
3 weeks on Netflix's
Global Top 10.
THE READ
No shot list. Just hundreds, sometimes over a thousand, raw set photos and captures, plus a brief on the story, audience, and the moments the team cared about most.
Decision: Find the one moment that tells a stranger everything at a glance: genre, tone, who to root for, and why to click. Not building a brand from nothing. Reading a story someone else already told, and finding its best sentence.
THE CRAFT
Most of these images don't exist as single photographs.
Decision: Build them from multiple separate shots, combined until they read as one real moment. If it works, nobody sees the seams.
THE RULES
Netflix's guidelines shape the design from the first choice, not the last. Every title comes with pixel-perfect focal guidance that must survive every ratio (TV, mobile, tablet, web), stay clear of logos and text, and hold up even with a third of the image cropped away for portrait format.
Decision: Design for a rule I don't control, and never let the story break under it.
THE RANGE
Netflix builds multiple distinct image sets per title, matched to different viewer taste profiles.
Decision: I made 20 design directions for Machos Alfa, but only 6 were ever going to be used. Rather than spreading equal effort across all 20, I decided early which directions had real potential based on the initial discussions and research, then focused my time there. Not every idea deserves the same attention. Knowing which ones do, under time pressure, is its own skill.
Machos Alfa SE01> SET 02
THE READ
I chose to symbolize the comedic conflict between men and women without showing people at all. This meant sourcing stock imagery with unusual care.
THE CRAFT
The challenge was compositing distinct visual styles into one coherent tone, the story demanded.
THE RULES
The portrait crop threatened the concept, so I went back and added a grapple above the male symbol to keep the story intact.
THE RANGE
The real test: could an object-led concept still hold its own in Netflix's typically human-driven visual language?
More Machos Alfa Ranges
Alice in Borderland SE02> SET 01
THE READ
I chose to build a single concept carrying three sub-stories at once, which meant one of the most demanding image searches I've done.
THE CRAFT
The focus was architecture: giving each of the three narrative layers real visual depth without losing clarity.
THE RULES
A constant back-and-forth between craft and constraint. Every key element had to survive different UI crops without breaking the composition or the concept.
Alice in Borderland SE02> SET 02
THE READ
The tension lived in a glance, not an action shot. Fewer assets, more attention to detail.
THE CRAFT
Two heroes. Built entirely on composition and emotion.
THE RULES
The usual back-and-forth, refining until the eyes survived every focal crop.
Gini Weds Sunny > SET 01
THE READ
I chose dynamic poses to support the vibrant, multicolored story.
THE CRAFT
I tested several atmospheres and chose the one that best captured a Bollywood-style romance.
THE RULES
A compositional minefield. Every adjustment had to avoid awkward crops of human bodies without weakening the story.
Gini Weds Sunny > SET 02
THE READ
Same approach to dynamic poses, but driven by a different concept.
THE CRAFT
I chose to mix human and object-based elements, bringing something fresher to a genre that leans on repetition.
THE RULES
No back-and-forth this time. I built the composition consciously from a clear idea from the start, and it worked.
The Whole Truth> SET 01
THE READ
I built the entire image around a single hole, with only one point of eye contact from the five heroes central to the story.
THE CRAFT
Rather than a standard thriller key art, I built in a quiet visual easter egg: circular lights around two heroes' eyes, linking them to the hole at the story's core.
THE RULES
Clear composition. Easy to crop.
The Whole Truth> SET 02
THE READ
I chose to push this second direction further into horror territory, to meet genre fans' appetite.
THE CRAFT
I found a distinct way to present the hero siblings, without losing the hole's centrality to the story.
THE RULES
Clear composition. Easy to crop.