Industrial Designer, User Experience, UX, Product Designer

Design Portfolio at: www.idesignr.wix.com/forlenza

PROFILE

Industrial Design (ID): Award-winning industrial designer with seasoned product development and usability experience in numerous product categories within multinational corporations and product development consulting firms.

Experience designing a multitude of consumer electronics, handheld electronics, medical devices, B2B gadgetry, wearables, cosmetics, house wares and retail displays/POP

Three years managing an Industrial Design department within a major American corporation - Kodak Inkjet and Writing Systems

User Experience (UX): Hardware, Software and UI - visual and information design; wire-framing; rapid prototyping; user research, needfinding and synthesis; user/focus group testing

Web Design, Graphic Design and Branding: Experience designing websites and corporate branding from initial conception to final completion, covering UX, UI and visual themes. Art direction and illustration

EXPERIENCE

Forlenza Industrial Design & Branding, LLC; San Diego, CA; Design Consultancy Design Director - Industrial Design Engineering and User Experience; 2012 – Present

Specializing in Industrial Design, Full Product Development, Graphic Design/Corporate Branding, Web Design, UX / User Experience, Art Direction and Illustration.

Categories: consumer electronics, M2M, wearables, medical devices, kitchenwares, cosmetics among others.

Drive a diverse scope of client programs through all industrial design, engineering, manufacturing, tooling, graphic design and web design phases

Specialties: User Research + profiling, target + landscape + on-trend analysis, visual brand language (VBL) development, 2D + 3D concept development, design to engineering implementation, manufactured parts adjustment and approval (all phases: EM, DV, PV, On-Shelf)

Client list: OslerMD, Apricorn, Sharp Electronics - GloVision, TXU Energy (Texas Utilities), The Energy Detective (TED), Magnus Health Technology, Wyoming Valley Alcohol and Drug Services, Inc., That Guitar Show, JVC Consulting among others

Eastman Kodak Company - Inkjet Systems Division; San Diego, CA; In-house User Experience (UX) department

Industrial Design Manager; 2010 - 2013

Lead Industrial Design Engineer; 2008 - 2010

Managed all strategic design programs for the All-in-One (Printer/Scanner/Copier/Fax) Printer and Writing Systems Division across domestic and global channels - 3-in-1 Printers, 4-in-1 Printers, Ink Tank and Printhead Writing Systems

Created four VBLs (Visual Brand Languages) across five segments, revamping the entire product portfolio - High End Consumer, Entry-Level Consumer, Business/Home Office, Professional, and Prosumer product lines. In addition, bifurcated each line into domestic and global sub-languages

Led all programs concurrently from conception to completion through all ID and UX Hardware phases: strategy, user research, establishment of VBLs, 2D + 3D concept development, complete “hands-on” ID to Engineering implementation, Design for Manufacturing (DFM), prototype 5-stage design evaluation and approval, tooled parts review and approval, human factors/user testing, usability and design focus groups, derivative SKU and OEM product solutions

User Experience - Hardware (primary): All Printer and Writing System (Ink Tanks and Printhead) aspects, control panel layout, usability graphics and iconography; Built user profiles from research; Collaborated with UX designers to design and conduct usability testing; Observed and parsed data to implement usability findings into product

User Experience - Software (secondary): Kodak Home Center desktop software and Printer UI; as ID Manager, collaborated and guided UX designers with look and feel, wireframing and navigation

Regularly presented ID strategy, VBLs and product portfolio to all levels of division leadership including C-level executives and board of directors; presented one on one to domestic and international retailers

Interaction with R&D, marketing and external users / customers on a holistic approach to define user wants/needs, user profiles, design trends, regional requirements and differentiation design segment / vertical channel themes

Created a new ID process that cross-pollinated a multitude of disciplines including R&D, Engineering, Corporate Branding, Marketing and Sales teams for concept filtering/selection

Design Portfolio & Website :: www.idesignr.wix.com/forlenza

Daily interaction with overseas engineering teams and ODM manufacturers on all programs

Traveled to Asia to coordinate ID into engineering and ODM manufacturing phases

Managed multiple outside design consultancies, model shops, colorists and prototyping firms

Awarded two CES Design & Innovation Awards

Ignition, Inc.; Dallas, TX; Full-service product development consulting firm Senior Industrial Designer; 2004 - 2007

Senior Design Lead on all ID programs. Managed numerous ID phases including program research, user investigation and full concept development, ID to ME implementation and problem solving for production/manufacturing, coordination of ID model builds for presentation and verification

Daily interaction with UX team, outside clients, Research & Innovation, Engineering and Model-building departments

Design Categories: Consumer electronics, medical devices, house wares, UX, research and innovation

Client list: Polk Audio, SiriusXM, Apple accessories, Sunbeam/Mr. Coffee, Cimex Biotech, Texas Instruments, Radio Shack, Accurian Audio/Video and AMX Home Networking Systems

Hitachi Home Electronics - America; San Diego, CA; In-house industrial design department Industrial Designer; 1998 - 2004

Sole American Design Lead. Performed the entire industrial design process of all consumer electronics: LCD/LED/Plasma/DLP/LCOS, TV stands and cabinets, remote controls and audio/video components for the North American markets

Hardware + Software UX / UI Design: TV graphical user interface (GUI), Remote Control layout and TV Control Layout

SKILLS

Software Skills: Proficient in both Apple and PC platforms

3D: SolidWorks + surface/hybrid modeling, Pro-Engineer Wildfire + ISDX surface/hybrid modeling, Rhino 3D, KeyShot Pro + VR, Auto CAD

2D: Skecthbook Pro, Illustrator CS, Photoshop CS, and MS Office UX: Visio, Balsamiq, DreamWeaver CS

Visual Skills: Drawing/sketching, marker illustration, model building, prototyping, photography, graphic design and typography

EDUCATION

University of California, San Diego (UCSD), San Diego, CA, Certificate - User Experience (UX) / Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Design Ongoing: June 2015 - February 2016

Separate Certificates In: User Research and Needfinding; Visual and Information Design; Design Research, Synthesis and Prototyping; Heuristic Evaluation; Designing, Running and Analyzing Experiments; Social Computing and Manipulation; Input and Interaction

North Carolina State University (NC State), Raleigh, NC, Masters - Industrial Design (MID)

Related courses: Materials and processes, illustration, transportation design, and human factors

Thesis: Personal Rapid Transit - A Design and Study; Focused on the design of a Personal Rapid Transit System (PRT) linking the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC triangle region. Included the design of the interior and exterior of PRT vehicles, stations and routes. Grade: A; Thesis Chairman: Professor Haig Khachatoorian, Design Head, Industrial Design Department

Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), State College, PA, Bachelor of Arts - Visual Art

Related courses: Advanced figure drawing, graphic design, typography, art and architecture history

FEATS

Awards:

2012 CES Design & Innovation Award :: Kodak Hero 9.1 All-in-One Wireless Printer

2011 CES Design & Innovation Award :: Kodak C315 All-in-One Wireless Printer

Patents: Numerous international and domestic design patents

ASSOCIATIONS

IDSA: Industrial Designers Society of America - Member IDSD: Industrial Designers of San Diego - Member

WLSA: Wireless Life-Sciences Alliance - Annual Volunteer

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