Product Designer

Award Winning Innovator

Breaking down complex problems into actionable solutions that exceed customer expectations and achieve corporate objectives

Creative, results focused thought leader with a solid record of success, driving strategic change and operational efficiency by engaging stakeholders to join efforts and achieve professional satisfaction with commercial success. Proven track record of profitable products supported by consistent delivery of high-quality work, on time, and within budget. Superior technical expertise, organization, and ability to manage complex projects from inception to satisfactory completion. Aptly lead and retain highly productive teams across diverse multicultural environments.

vision path.png — VISION

Vision must come from the top and needs to be communicated with confidence. It requires strength and a willingness to take calculated risk.
Visionary Activities:
Portfolio Planning
Corporate Strategy
Qualitative Research
Innovation Sessions
Concept Envisioning

INTEGRATION

One person cannot do everything. Purposeful collaboration makes for more thorough exploration and understanding.
Team Building
Ventures Advisor
Multidisciplinary Collaborator
Mentor
Resource Coordinator - internal and external
Competitive Intelligence

DELIVERY

Experience and attention to detail are critical for success. Following through on all aspects of a program builds trust, satisfaction and dedication.
Hardware and Software Platforming
Color, Material & Finish expert
Common Component Library
Procurement Partner
CAD & Rendering Expert
User Experience

Harness Radio

An exploration in wearables

Making the task more important than the method

My most recent work explored new ways to wear and interact with communications devices. Using voice as an interface on a harness radio allows for an eyes up and hands free experience, improving user efficiency and safety.

Won internal “shark tank” competition for prototype funding

Boost Mobile brand building

A joint development with Motorola Mobility

Research and Goal Setting

Acted as the primary account manager for Motorola Mobility’s iDEN phones for Boost Mobile, a prepaid carrier owned by Sprint/Nextel.

Boost mobile wanted to better satisfy their target market of urban youth.

Worked with Frog Design in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles to do contextual research and trend analysis.

The goal was to create a product line with a strong enough identity, targeted at early adopters, which would drive the rest of the Sprint/Nextel portfolio… rather than the color and badge product differentiation they were receiving before this initiative.

Immersion Tours are rapid and successive deep dives into the culture of particular audience demographic. The objective for the Boost DLS program was to immerse ourselves in urban youth culture and capture and synthesize leading movements, trends and… — Immersion Tours are rapid and successive deep dives into the culture of particular audience demographic. The objective for the Boost DLS program was to immerse ourselves in urban youth culture and capture and synthesize leading movements, trends and fads. The insights gained then inform the design language direction and palettes.
Three tours in three different cities were undertaken. San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York were chosen for their significant influence on urban youth culture. Observing trends in three cities also gave us the ability to cross reference data points for our hypotheses. The locations within each city were carefully selected based on their relevancy to urban youth culture and ranged from graffiti warehouses to second-hand sneaker stores.
Cross-functional teams from Boost, Motorola Mobility, and Frog Design participated to ensure different filters and a diversity of perspectives. The tour groups ranged between 7-10 people in size and were 1-2 days in duration.

Teaming up with another consultancy, Astro Studios, we created theme boards which related to our target segments.We formed the baseline personas for whom we were designing the phones. The benefit of personas is to allow the designer to identify with… — Teaming up with another consultancy, Astro Studios, we created theme boards which related to our target segments.
We formed the baseline personas for whom we were designing the phones. The benefit of personas is to allow the designer to identify with a particular user, or a group of similarly aspiring people.

Continuing the concept exploration with Astro Studios, we created these concepts based on the personas and visual reference boards.We began with creating a color, material and finish strategy which would streamline the industrial design process, spe… — Continuing the concept exploration with Astro Studios, we created these concepts based on the personas and visual reference boards.
We began with creating a color, material and finish strategy which would streamline the industrial design process, specify a target palette, decrease cycle time for color selection and research timeline, create a validated palette to ensure quality & performance, and use the robust trend research to anticipate the market’s future color preferences.
A large number of ideation sketches were explored and the strongest ones were selected which could be modified across categories.

Boost Mobile 2008 lineup

The research and early exploration lead to the mobile phones shown to here. No longer were they a minor modification to their Nextel counterparts. Their impact allowed Boost Mobile to improve their market penetration, appeal to their target consumers, and clearly lead the prepaid mobile category.

CAT Small Wheel Loader

Cab interior design

Developed interior for the new line of Small Wheel Loaders

Essential part of the sales team that won the $750K Caterpillar contract. Our job was to provide a revolutionary cab interior for their small wheel loaders that would re-establish CAT as the leader in construction equipment.

Project leader and directed efforts for the 9 months of R&D from late 2008 until mid 2009.

Set up the plan for the research efforts.

Utilized in-house designers, recruited and managed both a human factors expert and a transportation interior designer to work on the 9 month contract.

The design needed to consider feel and interaction with optimized ergonomics due to the physicality of the experience.

Extensive research was carried out to both familiarize the designers with the machines and to discover opportunities for improvement.The operator interface to be redesigned included compartment space, ingress, egress, operator support, operator cont… — Extensive research was carried out to both familiarize the designers with the machines and to discover opportunities for improvement.
The operator interface to be redesigned included compartment space, ingress, egress, operator support, operator controls, floor plate and pedals, operator and storage areas. Each of these areas would be evaluated for “best in class” based on:
operator safety
control functionality
operator comfort
work area utility

To bring closure to the project, we used the ergo buck layout as the baseline and developed several design themes around the hard points.These design themes were meant to guide the internal Caterpillar design team as they incorporated our work into … — To bring closure to the project, we used the ergo buck layout as the baseline and developed several design themes around the hard points.
These design themes were meant to guide the internal Caterpillar design team as they incorporated our work into their family brand language and manufacturing methods.
Overall, there was great synergy between the groups despite the different operating styles.
A post project meeting was held to identify positive outcomes from the development effort and areas where we could have improved. In the end, CAT was very happy with the project and took the ergo buck to their facility for their engineers and designers to continue using it for inspiration, evaluation and development.

In a digital age, it is easy to forget the need to build physical prototypes to understand locations of components, the comfort while using them, and the overall perception of the design. It creates and entirely different and better impression of th… — In a digital age, it is easy to forget the need to build physical prototypes to understand locations of components, the comfort while using them, and the overall perception of the design. It creates and entirely different and better impression of the object or interior when the user has a chance to interact with it, rather than just seeing a picture on a screen. We built 2 ergo bucks initially and consolidated them to 1 refined version with user feedback.
Creating a knowledge base is only the first part of the product development process. A critical step is to create a clear problem statement that will guide the rest of the project. Providing short term goals that are achievable in the current project scope builds the foundation for success. And it is important to define targets for future programs that will help guide the company initiatives and challenge the teams to go beyond what is expected.

The current, shipping 930 series Small Wheel Loaders followed our design direction very closely.Interior features from the Caterpillar website:“Enjoy all day comfort”Seat-mounted controls featuring a low effort joystick for lift and tilt functions a… — The current, shipping 930 series Small Wheel Loaders followed our design direction very closely.
Interior features from the Caterpillar website:
“Enjoy all day comfort”
Seat-mounted controls featuring a low effort joystick for lift and tilt functions along with integrated Forward/Neutral/Reverse switch, differential lock trigger and optional third and fourth auxiliary functions.
Superior all around visibility with single piece front windshield, new parabolic external mirrors, redesigned Generation II linkage and clean hydraulic lines routing.
Automatic climate control with heated rear glass and external mirrors for a quick defrost.
Fully adjustable controls including steering column, joystick and seat suspension.
Information at a glance with large primary LCD display and optional full color touch screen display.
An extra eye on the job site with optional integrated rear object detection and optional rear view camera

Goody

An exploration in hair care electrics

Expanding an established brand into a new category

While at Insight Product Development, I was the design director who won the contract and managed the design portion of a Goody initiative to move into the hair appliances category.

We were to provide:

research
insights and analysis
product innovation
technical evaluation
trend forecasting
design concepts

We developed over 20 product ideas to test with consumers

The following were synthesized into an executive summary:

Recommended Path
Description of concepts
Future platform considerations
Story from quantitative data evaluation
Research / top level findings in terms of:
- Innovation
- Satisfying Needs
- Purchase Intent
Sorted survey data findings (overall, by segment)

We developed 2 design themes and applied them to 3 products which could be brought to market quickly

Several innovative color, material and finish combinations were pulled from the initial trend boards and applied to the designs

Form Studies were built from the designs and tested with users

At this point, a final report was created and the work was turned over to the internal design team at Goody/Newell Rubbermaid

ST7000 Small TETRA Radio

Purpose built for customer facing staff

Motorola ST7000 Small TETRA Radio + Companion

The communication needs of customer-facing staff, executives and senior officers are driven by style, as well as function. To maintain the highest level of customer service, these professionals need an intuitive digital radio that delivers high quality audio, blends seamlessly with their image, and increases productivity. The ST7000 small TETRA radio combines a compact and elegant form, simple user interface and clear audio to exceed these needs. The ST7000 is a flexible, modern communications tool that allows users to focus on what matters most: the customer or situation, and not the device.

Final concept selected for detail design work

Partnering with a smart watch manufacturer and developing an Android Wear digital touch interface enables airline agents to keep their eyes and attention on their customers while receiving essential information in a more discrete manner.

Worked closely with the business team to identify which parts of the companion device would be developed internally and which would be done externallyThe interface went through an AGILE process to evolve through rapid prototypes on off-the-shelf And… — Worked closely with the business team to identify which parts of the companion device would be developed internally and which would be done externally
The interface went through an AGILE process to evolve through rapid prototypes on off-the-shelf Android Wear devices

Winner of 2017 Red Dot “Best of the Best” Award, iF World Design Guide Award, Australia Good Design, Good Design Japan, Good Design Chicago Athenaeum