Here are some examples from projects I have worked on.
A hand tool that helps to easily insert cards into protectors without damaging edges and corners.
The value of collectible cards is very condition-dependent, where a small scratch or mark can significantly reduce their value.
The Sleever Pro client needed a method by which they can safely insert cards into protectors while limiting potential damage.
Research the space and use cases where cards go into protectors. Deeply dive into the user experience and user journey of each of those cases. Ideate solutions, prototype, test, iterate, and yield a final design.
A tool with a special coating that serves the main use cases for handing and protecting cards (sleever, semi-rigid holders, top loaders, and binder pages) - all in a single tool that is small, light, durable, and easy to use.
Simple things can be complex, though not complicated. It can take a lot to make something easy, and be simple. By truly understanding the user's needs and contexts in which they do something, effective ideation becomes more and more clear.
KegSheets™ are keg covers / keg insulators for beer kegs and keg tubs. They reflect heat to keep beverages cold, longer, even in direct sunlight.
Most often, large amounts of ice and a bukly plastic tub are needed to keep beer cold ad weddings, parties, and events.
This is costly, heavy, messy, takes time to setup, and the KegSheet client saw an opportunity to make that user experience easier, cheaper, faster, and ultimately provide for even colder beer.
Spend time really understanding the user experience of keeping kegs cold. Explore each of the small challenge-points that make up the total experience. Finding ice, it leaking in a car, getting and storing a tub, it melting in the sun, the expense for each, and more.
That helps provide a roadmap of each need that can be solved better.
A small, light, reusable, and highly effective way to keep kegs cold, without ice, even in direct sunlight. It reflects up to 90% of radiant heat, incorporating a technology developed for NASA to be used in space. A powerful solution for cold kegs.
Many creative opportunities open when we pause to reflect on them. Most kegs come already cold from a beverage distributor. Rather than develop a solution to make beer cold (it already was), we approached it a different way - just needed to keep it from getting hot. How do we keep heat out? Effectively reflect it away, and the beer stays cold.
Precision-crafted magnets that look stunning & easily hold cards/papers anywhere. Reduce waste & give brass shells a second life.
It was a practice in taking something well-machined, and evolving it to a second purpose that can benefit from it’s original form.
Evanuating the size and material characteristics of the shells, and researching what valuable uses exist that can take advantage of their physical properties, visual aesthetics, and physical feel.
Polished brass shells fitted with strong, neodymium magnets making them very small, visually appealing, and able to hold up significant weight on metal surfaces.
The ridge at the bottom also provided an easy gripping surface for hands of varying sizes and physical strengths.
Being aware of the functions of existing objects and items can help translate those strengths to new and other items.
In this case, a strong, durable, precise shell formed an excellent gripping surface and cover for a magnet to strongly hold up many useful items.
A compact device that prevents Apple power cords from easily breaking at a known weak-point. Its low cost saves the need to periodically purchase expensive new charging cords over time.
The charging adapter worked excellently in other measures of performance. The focus, then, was how to reduce the bending stress on the particular point of the wire, such that it won't bend so sharply. This would need to be done in an inexpensive, easy-to-apply way, that maintained the minimalist design aesthetic of the power adapter.
A two piece, slotted mechanism that would click into place.The nubs would slide ino the slots openings, be pushed along the tracks, and click into place. The charger cable is a rubberized material; combined with the tight tolerance of the Cord Saver design, this would help hold the product in place.
Some seemingly simple contexts can present unique challenges. What apears like an easy need, keep a small length of cord straight, can quickly become more complex when considering size, ease-of-application, storage, environments it will be used in, aesthetics, and more.
That's where truly understanding the user experience can be a great guide in the design process.
Assessed and realigned daily operations of 20+ software engineers across 3 continents, resulting in a 160% increase in output and higher team happiness.
The teams had been working siloed, in different cultures, with limited communication. While individually capable, there was an opportunnity to unify the parts and make a more effective, cohesive team.
Company: Razorfish (Publicis)
Role: Project Manager
Take time to understand how each team originally operated, the personalities of the people, their unique needs, and necessary elements for success - both as people, and in what processes and tools would support their success.
A redefined workflow, communication structure, and team culture that made everyone happier and increased cumulative output by 160%.
Most challenges are solved with, through, and for people. Truly listening listening to all stakeholders is key: team members, management, analysts, and customers. Then translating that into an actionable, measurable plan provides clarity and transparency to everyone, and when done well, yields great success.
Designed and implemented ITIL-compliant change management processes to support a ~200-person organization and reduce production issue rate by ~85%.
The organization was looking for a way to optimize the stability of their Production information technology systems that served their website visitors and paying members around the world.
Company: Project Management Institute (PMI)
Role: Program Manager
Researching the current state of the systems, current global standards for practice, and the needs of team members, users, management, and their customers.
A clearly defined workflow for managing detailed technical changes to the enterprise infrastructure serving millions of users. It also extended to the daily IT-service needs of the ~200-person internal organization. It was implemented clearly and to measurable success.
Organizational change involving people ultimately rests its success on truly understanding the realities of those people. By considering them, and designing a solution that directly accounts for their expressed needs helps make it a success both on a tactical, and more importantly, a human level.
Evaluated the digital systems infrastructure of a ~100-person agency and designed an implementation strategy for reduced complexity, increased security, and ongoing cost savings.
The company was growing and in the dynamic, fast-evolving field of digital advertising. There was opportunity to consolidate systems, data flow, add automation, and reduce costs within the digital infrsatructure.
Company: Brownstein Group
Role: Project Manager
Research the systems and needs of each team across the organization. This yielded insight into what was needed to support daily business functions across different business areas, why, whom used it, and how.
A consolidated systems map, rollout sequence, timing, education onboarding, and approach that would integrate systems across the agency,
This could help improve costs (fewer systems to maintain), stability (fewer systems that are stronger with more consistent maintenance requirements), data accuracy as shared date came from and went into a more central location, and ease of use as there were fewer systems to learn and engage with, making daily work tasks more efficient.
Opportunities for optimization are often dynamic, and can present themselves as organizations change. As small organizations grow (and sometimes outgrow their technology infrastructure), new opportunities present themselves that ben be incredibly beneficial to teams.
Role: Architectural Model Maker
Team: Robert A.M. Stern Architects
This structure is a 35-floor luxury condominium located at West 61st Street and Central Park West on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. The building is a New Classical style designed by Robert AM Stern Architects, for Zeckendorf Development. When construction was completed in 2008, total cost was near $1 Billion.
It features two main buildings to the structure, and shared ameninties including a theatre, fitness center, and pool. It is considered one of NYC’s most prestigious residential addresses, and has been home to residents including Robert De Niro, Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, and Kelsey Grammer, Sting, Alex Rodriguez, and Jeff Gordon.
Photo Credit: Thomas Craven
Understand the level of detail needed, materials to use, the model's (prototype) purpose in the design process, and whom will be looking at it and why.
Crafted a model that met the needs of analyzing design progress, appearance, and provide the client a way to see, understand, and reflect on the project's design.
Understanding how the needs of the model (prototype) integrate to the overall design process, and how that translates to a high-budget project serving prominent clients in the largest city in the world. Details matter every step of the way, they're what create the end result.
A redesign for the Harvard University website that needed to serve the stakeholder needs of its 12 graduate and professional schools, the undergraduate Harvard College, and present as its main portal to the world.
Organization: Harvard University
Role: Project Manager
Deeply engaging in research and analysis to understand the vast and varied need of a global leader in education, factoring in accessibility, extensibility, aesthetics, and ease of use.
A clean, accessible, aesthetically-appealing website that was modular in its form while being univied in its visual language. Content areas can scale and adapt based on evolving needs while remaining consistent in look and feel - for all audiences.
When designing a digital space for global users, serving many entities, and evolving content needs, it can be complex though the solution remain simple.
There's elegance in essence, and staying focused on that allows for a solution that is easy to navigate and consume, while staying powerful in its ability to serve and in its and purpose.
A digital platform design for a national sports league to power its online presence and an integrated websites for each of its individual teams.
Organization: National Lacrosse League
Role: Project Manager
Developing an understanding of the league's vision for the brand, positioning, technical functions, fan experience, and vision for grwoth.
A digital platform with a main website for the league, and a scalable approach for individually-managed websites that each team can maintain while keeping them integrated and visually-consistent at the platform level.
Technical elements includes news, events, standings, live stats, player bios, and more.
Scalability is an important element to factor into most designs. Businesses, are not static, thus they change over time.
Truly elegant solutions address the "now" while also anticipating and being scalable into the "later". Desinging that into a system can significanty increase its value, and the success of a business, over time.
What can we build together?