MY HISTORY
A COLLECTION OF LESSONS LEARNED
Design Thinking
Taught Design Thinking courses to MBA students at UCLA and design students at Cal State, Long Beach. Initiated ‘reach out’ design thinking conferences with IDSA members specializing in product design, user experience, design research, ethnography, human factors, digital and physical convergence, materials and processes and sustainability.
Public Speaking
Invited by the United States Government / State Department to give Key Notes address in four (4) economic regions of Brazil on the 4.0 Economy. Topics included Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning, Automation, Generative Design / Additive Manufacturing, Virtual Reality and the future of work at home and abroad. My participation in Brazil included press interviews and talks shows. (Taiwan keynote currently pending Covid-19).
Advanced Concept Development
Managed and co-created advanced lifestyle product concepts utilizing available and/or emerging technologies intended to solve relevant consumer needs. Provided guidance to advanced development teams for future readiness.
UI/ UX - Experience Design
Designed mainframe applications and concepts, mobile and wireless applications, mobile utilities for business, mobile OS branded experiences and end-user workflows.
Innovative Interface Design
Key contributor and patent holder for SureType, a new text input usability paradigm. Presented original concept to T-Mobile and facilitated co-development deal in exchange for exclusive, first-to- market rights.
Interactive Retail
Experiences
Developed the first in-store retail personalization business model for the Microsoft Stores. Led design initiative to develop a system to print/produce personalized adhesive skins at Microsoft retail store locations.
C.M.F | Trends Research
Led annual color, materials and trends exploration with preferred suppliers, including mapping colors and material preferences by region, consumer segment, brand / sub-brand and tier.
Design Research
Co-developed Kyocera’s semi-proprietary “CommUnity” research process which included seamless integration between industrial design, product planning and human factors teams. Benefits included immediate product concept data, consumer insights, contextual discovery, ethnography and product psychology.
Product Planning
Collaborated with marketing and sales to forecast future product roadmaps. Led the design team(s) with emphasis on new product category creation. Managed budgets with product planning teams, facilitated design research for consumer validation, and supported customer socialization with sales teams.
Rapid Prototyping
Improved the appearance model making process, including model quality, vendor selection and fabrication costs. In addition, a rapid prototyping machine was installed on-site for early concept validation and engineering consultation.
Contextual Research
On-site design / absorbed and translated contextual information in the wild. Methodology enabled design team to discover new product opportunities, features and end-user experiences to meet unmet needs, preferences and differentiated features.
Inventor / Patent Generator
More than 80 patents – including Patent of the Year for Motorola’s TalkAbout two-way radio. The image shows a mechanical multi-function user interface patent, referenced on Motorola's award winning NEXTEL / IDEN i1000.
Branding | Positioning
Key mobile concept creator for Kyocera’s new North American brand campaign, celebrating Kyocera’s Japanese heritage and philosophy. With roots in Japan, Kyocera was able to position itself against larger rivals in North America, Korean and China. Tag lines included, “Tomorrow is rising” and “It’s already tomorrow in Japan.”
Corporate Identity
Managed logo refresh for BlackBerry. Contributed concepts to the re-branding process and hosted logo audits to assure feasibility and sound application on products.
Manage Global Teams
Responsible for building and staffing design centers in San Diego, California and Bangalore, India. Total head count exceeded 20, comprising industrial designers, human factors specialists, surfacing engineers and graphic designers. Core team members were provisioned to participate in collaborative ventures with Kyocera’s corporate in Yokohama, Japan.
Private Equity Funding
Helped Skinit secure $60M in private equity funding from ABS Capital Partners and Norwest Venture Partners in June of 2010
Selected to articulate Skinit’s unique value position to investors and venture partners.
New Business Development
Scaled print and personalization business units to capture and serve signature clients, including:
HP Notebook Division, Microsoft Retail Stores, Sony Style Retail Stores, T-Mobile, Medtronic, 3M, Nokia, ResMed, Option Wireless and SC Johnson.
Analytics | Segmentation
Initiated / supported consumer insights research - product and brand. Introduced data analytics to dissect Skinit’s market segmentation to direct television commercials with improved attachment rates.
Outsourced Design & Manufacturing
Contracted off-shore manufacturing with an emphasis on high-yield solutions at the following ODMs: Flextronics Beijing, Flextronics Korea, Tech Faith, BYD, Wojahn, Green Point, Nypro, Compel, and others.
Building Operations Off Shore
Scaled operations in China to increase Skinit's advanced design and development in partnership with HP. Supported advance development of On-Demand Post-Mold Decoration Technologies.
Process Patents & Technologies
Co-developed and introduced proprietary on-demand print and post-mold decoration technologies for increasing supply chain efficiency / reducing cost for leading OEM suppliers in the on-demand customization / personalization space.
Postponement Strategies
Following creation of BlackBerry series 7100 consumer product line, managed all platform development to maximize customer / carrier product differentiation without FCC re-qualifying. Reduced cycle times allowed RIM to compete in fast moving consumer markets. Careful management and staffing was required for RIM to transition from B2B manufacturer to an aggressive, consumer-centric retail player.
Brand Evolution
Evolved existing products with renewed energy and consumer appeal. TalkAbout “refresh” was the 1999 recipient of the CES Innovations Award.
Product Refreshes
The BusinessWeek design jury chose the Motorola TalkAbout SLK as one of only twelve gold award winners. TalkAbout was the only communicator honored with this award.
Recognized as a significant cultural artifact, the original design resides in the Smithsonian.
Category Creator
The first affordable sport communicator / conceived and designed while at Motorola. The TalkAbout created the Family Radio Service (FRS) with a new radio spectrum assigned by the FCC. The TalkAbout radio business netted over $100m without prior distribution channels. The news worthy product won multiple design awards, including the ' IDEA / BusinessWeek's 'Design of the Decade'.
Giving Back -Executive Director | IDSA
Advancing the quality and positive impact of design. Communicated how design is a strategic driver within business and promoted the benefits, awareness and value of design in business and society. Managed all operations and growth of professional design society.
PR & Media Relations
Participated in media interviews with leading publications and broadcast media outlets, including Wall Street Journal, Businessweek, Fast Company, Time, InformationWeek and PBS. Communicated the value of industrial design to IDSA membership – latest design news and activities published monthly, weekly and bi-weekly in IDSA’s online and print publications.
Software Beta Tester
SW tester and UI contributor to new design tools and technologies. Acted as co-development adviser on programs, including Alias Studio Tools, Sketchbook Pro, Image Studio, Keyshot and SenseAble Technologies.
Conjoint Analysis Studies
Research to understand feature trade-offs and form factor preferences within various regions - Argentina, Brazil, Chili and Mexico all share similar consumer preferences. American preferences were largely dissimilar from other regions.
Capturing Share
The SureType user interface was licensed by NEXTEL, displacing the incumbent, Motorola. The introduction of the 7100 series created a paradigm shift and a new consumer category for BlackBerry. This was achieved via an innovative hybrid keyboard comprising two letters on most keys and utilizing patented SureType software, that made sending and receiving email simple.
Grants | National Institutes of Health
NIH Grants sponsored design development for Transcutaneous Nerve Stimulation (TENS) devices. Activity resulted in several patents, including the integration of TENS into splints and braces.
Wearable Technologies
Consumer and medical wearable tech + wearable surveillance and covert communication equipment for US and foreign governments (not shown). Defense concepts remain confidential.
Regional Research | Southern Cone
Sought regional feature, price and aesthetic preferences for Latin America. In addition to extracting relevant consumer data, customer equity was gained with carriers in Argentina, Brazil, Chili and Mexico.
Teaching|Universidad Ibero, UCLA, Cal State Long Beach
Teaching design & business students the power and practice of Design Thinking and the basic principals of design and manufacturing.
Supporting Education Programs
Inspired design quality and responsibility through professional development and educational programs, in partnership with the IDSA. Created volunteer experiences to emphasize career enhancement; developed professional educational programs emphasizing business principles & design practice Webinars.
Advocating for Design & Policy
Co-developed design and innovation initiatives with US government. Created US design and innovation policy proposals for economic stimulus in partnership with Illinois Senator Durbin’s economic policy adviser, along with leading design associations, education bodies and design-related, federal government agencies.
Japanese Management Style
Kyocera founder, Dr. Kazuo Inamori provided personal training to aspiring leaders within Kyocera, including advanced technology, basic sciences, the arts, philosophy and sustainability.
Design for Kids
Designed products with play value to support developmental learning with an understanding of child psychology. Toy design placed a particular emphasis on product safety and cost reduction.
Transportation Design | GM
Designed sculptural transportation solutions with desirable proportions, an appropriate stance and punctuated details that generated an emotional expression. NOTE: The image displays sketch simulations / not for Cadillac. GM's Advanced Studio Five did not release the work.