I’m a creative platypus.*
My diverse background in branding, film, marketing, psychoanalytic theory, literature, and philosophy is not the typical pedigree for human-centered design.
And that has made all the difference.
I design groundbreaking products, services, and experiences for global Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, media, government, and many others; I find the essential value of complicated ideas and articulate that to experts and consumers alike; and I am deeply interested in understanding and tapping into people's hidden needs and motivations in order to deliver better design.
*Did you know that Platypuses actually glow in the dark? That’s how magical they are. Move over unicorns.
Storytelling and Strategic Communication
I create crisp, compelling narratives across media to bring design to life through powerful, memorable stories.
Clients include: Ford, Drizly, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Cornell University, MercyCorps, Bloomberg Philanthropies
Takeda Pharmaceuticals
I interviewed young people with rare, terminal diseases and carefully brought their stories to life in a way that could help other patients find inspiration and insight for their own journeys. This required a delicate balancing act between optimism and realism, celebrating their progress while respecting their prognosis.
Ford
My design fictions fleshed out possible futures for Ford as they formulated a five-year strategy. We examined brand perception, user needs and industry trends and then transformed that learning into accessible narratives to help them consider the pitfalls and potentials of distinct possible directions.
Service, Product, UX, and Brand Design
I pinpoint customer needs and modes to help organizations design extraordinary purpose-led brands, innovative services, and digital products that make lasting impact.
Clients include: The Empire State Building, American Express, Cornell University, Ginkgo Bioworks, Scotiabank
Massachusetts Exec. Office of Health & Human Services ↗
To help parents who suspect their children are struggling with mental health issues, we designed a brand that would be welcoming and trusted to lead them to the right next steps. The name, look, and language had to be reassuring without belittling the challenges ahead.
American Express ↗
I led the team that created a rapid go-to market concept that would begin to shift the model of loyalty from bribery to generosity. The concept offers customers the option to use points for travel before they’ve actually earned them.
Brand and Creative Strategy
I galvanize organizations by first clarifying their ambitions, motivations, and resources, and then designing a path forward so they can move with confidence into uncharted territory.
Clients include: YouTube, Delta Airlines, PBS, Drizly, Children's Museum of Manhattan, Betaworks, (RED), Harvard Stem Cell Institute
Cornell ↗
We unified a disparate collection of departments and disciplines under a single brand strategy and design for Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The powerful new look, feel, and language resulted in a 26% increase in applications the very next year.
Delta
We partnered with the Delta C-Suite to formulate a more human-centered brand strategy to deepen their connection with customers and employees over the next 5-10 years. After nationwide design research, we delivered “tough love” results to the CEO, along with a slate of innovative solutions. Currently being prototyped.
Workshops and Immersive Experiences
I shape and guide the design of dynamic experiences that spark people to engage and create lasting impact.
Clients include: The Rockefeller Foundation, American Express, Mars, AARP, Children's Museum of Manhattan, Planned Parenthood, NYU Langone Hospital
Rockefeller Foundation
To help the C-suite guests of the Rockefeller Foundation envision the future of work, a set of beautiful artifacts told fractured, personal stories of employees’ needs, challenges, and hopes. The immersive experience built on research to foster empathy and connection between leaders and their workforce.
Mars ↗
I created and led a series of imaginative, experiential, and tangible activities for the Mars user centricity leadership that built new muscles in the team and helped unlock new strategies, deeper connections, and unexpected insights. Followed by unprecedented impact during 2020.
Creative Evangelist
I deploy play as a creative tool, inventing imaginative, tactile, and spatial activities designed to fuel the creative confidence that transforms mindsets and behaviors.
Clients include: Mars, Mineola School District, IDEO, SCJohnson School of Business, Children’s Museum of Manhattan
Biweekly creative playdate within IDEO to think deeply about how hearts and minds work. We played with things like mandalas, inkblots, memory, gravity, magnets, pareidolia, sock puppets, holograms, and fate. MBT created space for joyfully safe danger and jumping the tracks of thought.
A spin on the classic pen-pal model to help 3rd graders build empathy by connecting them with senior citizens. Neither partner knew anything about the other. No names, no ages. Simply two human beings sharing stories of their hopes and fears. A relationship built on meaning rather than appearance.
Design Research and User Journeys
I anchor design in the needs of real people, thinking deeply about what they share, and, more importantly, what they don’t. I work to understand customer emotions, needs, and wants in the moment to drive engagement and ensure that design has lasting and meaningful impact.
Clients include: Delta Airlines, Woodrow Wilson Foundation, Cornell University, Dept. of the Treasury, Org. for Tropical Studies
Woodrow Wilson Foundation
You’ll be shocked to hear that teenagers aren’t chomping at the bit to learn American History in their free time. However, by speaking with teens to understand the roots of their disinterest, we developed a prototype experience that had them hooked and asking for more.
Empire State Building ↗
To help the Empire State Building reimagine its visitor experience from captive waiting to captivating, we spoke with users, prototyped solutions, and distilled our learnings into insights that became North Star principles across the multidisciplinary, multiyear project.
Design Thinking/Human-Centered Design
I examine the disconnect between what people say, think, feel, and do. I uncover hidden, actionable insights for powerful design, rapidly prototyping and iterating to arrive at better design, faster.
Clients include: Pfizer, Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, American Express, City of New York, RadioLab
Children’s Museum of Manhattan
Starting with the needs of its visitors, staff, donors, and city, we reimagined the CMOM experience, extended audience reach and impact, enhanced staff and board alignment, amplified donor involvement, and crafted a future-forward vision to take CMOM into the next decade and beyond.
AARP↗
Award-winning installation for AARP to help shift the perception of what people might expect from them. Our concept cut through the usual conference routine and helped visitors to exchange something of value beyond business cards by zeroing in on key feelings that build meaningful connection: Hope, Fear and Pride.
Project Lead
I build and strengthen C-Suite level relationships, manage daily client teams, and collaborate with external partners. I’ve guided multidisciplinary teams of 3 to 30, always focusing on inspiring and enabling team members to do the best work of their lives.
From blue light to pink noise, Da Vinci to Feng Shui, hunter-gatherers to NASA, The Mysteries of Sleep is a lighthearted tour of the science, history, legends, and oddities of slumber. It’s filled with magical artwork from Loren Blackman, memorable explanations, and pointers, tips, and suggestions to help you get the most out of your bedtime hours.
Author
Loftie, a health and wellness startup, wanted a coffee-table version of the highlights of the current science of sleep that would be more accessible and intriguing to the general public than the academic tomes that were available. Drawing on the latest literature in the field, and researching interesting bits from history, psychology, mythology, esoterica, I wrote this lighthearted but informative book about the third of your life you spend with your head on a pillow.
Co-Founder
Inspiring activities to fuel creative confidence, transform mindsets, and build community. We host remote and in-person sessions for teams and departments that want to deepen existing connections and build up the emotional muscle memory it takes for healthy collaboration. We sit in middle between lighthearted activities like remote magicians and virtual wine tasting that are fun but forgettable, and the more deliberate Team Building activities that can feel more like work than play. We blend those two elements to deliver playful but meaningful experiences.
While at IDEO I created Make Believe Time as a bi-weekly creative play date for the IDEO community. People from all levels in the studio came to the sessions to learn, create, play, laugh, and, most importantly, meaningfully connect with their colleagues and themselves. Participants walked away refreshed, energized, and ready to tackle challenges in new and creative ways. When interest spread beyond the walls of IDEO, Make Believe Works was born and now helps organizations ranging from Fortune 500 stalwarts to first-year start-ups to build the creative and emotional muscle memory that leads to a healthy, innovative, collaborative work culture.