Lead designer on 3 inline collections of both rolling luggage and soft bags. They brought me on in order to modernize the brand’s aesthetic and appeal to a new consumer. Two of the collections involved a more casual feel with minimalistic design elements. The last collection was an modernization to their flagship collection to appeal to a younger consumer and create the foundation of a brand aesthetic that can be carried into future product.

• Design manager on several projects that were outsourced to interns and freelancers
• Increased company market share by creating intellectual property that on three separate occasions that elevates the functionality of rolling luggage items
• Increased company market share by creating a brand design language that appeals to an additional consumer group and can be carried along to future product

Lead designer on 5 in-line projects; 4 lacrosse padding lines that included shorter/smaller than normal deadlines and price points, 1 lacrosse head involving advanced knowledge of CAD surface modeling and injection molding. Several designers left when I joined, so I quickly covered a workload that was meant for multiple people, and assumed responsibilities of a veteran designer.

• Increased company profit margins on an already low price point product by creating intellectual property that increases efficiency of the manufacturing process of a lacrosse head
• Increased company market share by creating intellectual property that surpasses a competitor’s IP, which had hindered STX sales for year’s prior.
• Opened the door for 2 additional IP’s (different from those listed above) that resulted from prototypes I made, showed to legal, and discussed with project managers to use in future products.

While working abroad in India, I was part of a four-person product design team focusing on products for the Indian kitchen. For three months I performed extensive 1st hand research of all stakeholders of the market (users, architects, builders, distributers, etc.) and as a team formulated design problems. I then compiled observations from a foreigner’s point of view and formulated comprehensive solutions to design problems that Indian designers, who grew up in this culture, hadn’t thought of. We then ideated as a team where, I would sketch separately and come back to the team and developed concepts. Our design team then presented our designs to upper management of a major competitor in the Indian kitchen market.

I was part of the product development team at Munchkin a major provider in baby products. I had two independent projects that I took through initial conceptualization, concept development, and physical proof of concept modeling before I returned to school.

I am a paid full-time Industrial Design Co-op for the luxury furniture and home decor company Frontgate. I have taken multiple products from design research, through conceptualization, and finally making a spec pack to send to manufacturing companies. I have also taken sample of various projects and conversed back and forth with such manufacturing companies discussing changes to the current design and manufacturing techniques. I am also currently working on an independent project on my spare time which I plan to present to at the end of my co-op.

I was a full-time Industrial Design Co-op, during which I was responsible for jobs such as design research, competitor research, concept development, etc. on multiple projects. I was also working on an independent project in my free time, where I took my idea through the entire process; design, competitor, and consumer research, concept development, manufacturing, and material research, and a final presentation that I used to used to pitch my idea to the company that is currently working to put into production.

Competitor Research, Field Research, Shape and Form Research, Photography of Products, Touch up Work in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

While in the University of Cincinnati's DAAP co-op program I continually switched between school semesters and four month paid internships where I performed all responsibilities of a full-time designer, resulting in two years of professional experience by the time I graduated. This professional experience has taught me aspects of the design process that simply cannot be taught in the classroom. For example, being the lead designer on multiple projects at once & self budgeting my time to push them through the entire design process (market research to manufacturing), communicating with foreign manufacturers, collaborating with engineers, presenting my concepts to upper management of a corporation, designing within brand guidelines, studying trend & brand development, etc.