If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my career, it’s that great design isn’t just about the pixels… it’s about people and impact.
I've had a lot of time to think about my career in design lately. One of the things that has helped me along is writing down my thoughts. It's helped me realize a few things and made me dig deeper into a number of "why's" while also sparking curiosity within myself. To this point I've used LinkedIn as a place to drop these little thought pieces...these random insights, personal opinions, advice, trends, etc. They often sit within the realm of design, product design, leadership, and a few specific industries I'm passionate about.
Because of this, I have decided to jump back into having a blog of shorts, this post is an intro, a touch on my journey and a bit more of the why. So with that.... welcome to my Field Notes.
My path, from the early days to leadership.
I grew up loving art, but honestly never considered it as a career. I used Photoshop for the first time in high school and LOVED IT, but I still didn’t see a career. I went off to college for business management and entrepreneurship. While in college, I enjoyed my business classes, but it was missing something….until I took a marketing course. I was back into the creative side of things, and in that quarter, I realized I had to take a leap.
After two years, I made the switch to the art school and dove right into design. I loved it, and I was good enough to start freelancing while in college. After college, I continued down the freelance route for a couple of years but knew I wasn’t long for that and wanted to find something else, so the hunt started. I was approached by a creative leader in Colorado for a small digital shop called Übermind and the rest as you might say "was history." That same year Deloitte acquired Übermind, and it became Deloitte Digital. I spent just over 10 years working my way up the ranks, contributing to some amazing clients and projects. I learned so much while at Deloitte and met some of the smartest and most amazing people in my career to date. But I was starting to feel a little over comfortable in my role and needed to stretch my legs a bit.
My next chapter started when I was offered a role at a startup to build a product design department from the ground up. This company came to be known as Cinchio Solutions. I spent a little over two years building a world-class team that designed a number of enterprise products. It was a wild ride with ups and downs and much like my time at Deloitte I had the chance to work with some brilliant individuals and learn a lot along the way.
Now I’m back on my own, doing my thing while I search for that next chapter.
What have I learned along my journey in design leadership?
The simple answer, A LOT! This isn’t the post for me to go into any of them, this is only the intro. A few of the upcoming topics I plan on covering: Design Leadership, Agency/Consulting vs. In-House, my passion for design in healthcare, and more.
So Join Me On This Journey
This is just the beginning. Whether you’re a seasoned designer, an aspiring leader, or someone curious about the evolving role of design, I’d love to have you along for the ride. Connect with me on LinkedIn and let’s start a conversation.
Cheers!