Experience
Simon Marketing Inc. - Industrial Designer
1999 - 2001
Simon Marketing Inc. was one of the world's largest premium manufacturers producing 8 to 54 new designs every month and manufacturing over 400 million toys every year. As a part of Simon Marketing Inc., responsibilities included working within the Product Development Team to concept and design McDonald's Happy Meal premium toys.

Product Conceptualization
Explored the functionality of the toys and communicated mechanical solutions through exploded view drawings and mock-up samples. Dimensioned multi-views with material callouts showed that all toys met or exceeded safety requirements. Knowledge of mass production techniques was used to maximize play value while remaining within tight cost restrictions.

Research and Development
Maintained knowledge of current trends by researching popular retail toys. Regularly explored methods for reducing the size and cost of retail products for the premium market. Researched mechanisms and materials used outside of the toy industry to increase the variety of creative options available and developed ways to apply these technologies to toy design.

Licensor Requirements
Maintained functionality of the premium toys while keeping licensor properties "on character." Worked with licensed properties on the following programs:

Disney
100 Years of Magic
102 Dalmatians
Atlantis
Book of Pooh
Monsters Inc.
.

Adobe Photoshop 5.0
MS PowerPoint 98
.

Field Museum of Chicago - Replication Co-Op
1997 - 1997
Expanded on exhibit design education at an 8 month co-op to learn the skills involved in museum exhibit design and repair.
Contributed to in the replication of a tree for the Living Together exhibit.
Repaired and reconstructed exhibit pieces in the Coal Forest.
Devised a way to replicate replacement ferns for the Adaptations

Freelance
Plano
Concepted an interactive display unit, utilizing Plano products, for an upcoming conference.

Caboodles
Generated design concepts for makeup cases aimed at the teen girl market.
Two designs have been chosen for manufacture and distribution in Fall of 2002

Quarter Moon Productions
Creation of the public presence for an independent production company specializing in the Halloween industry.
Created company identity package including business cards and signage.
Coordinated the creation of business proposals, gathered content from three departments, organized the layout and arranged publication.
Designed and built a display unit for use at trade shows and conferences.

Capricon
Capricon 22 - Convention Chairman
Organized an annual literary science fiction convention.
Coordinated and motivated a volunteer staff of 53 individuals in 20 departments.
Saved the organization over $3,000.00 by bringing the event in at 10% under the $34,000.00 budget.
Increased participation by more than 200 attendees.
Brought in an $8,000.00 profit.

Capricon 21 - Marketing Director
Conceived of, and executed a themed marketing program.
Designed an identity package to reflect a "World's Fair" theme.
Created marketing materials and directed the design of the convention website.
Organized promotional events to promote public awareness of our event.

CapriconXX - Webmaster / Graphic Design
Designed convention logo to reflect the "Armageddon" theme and used it on flyers, posters and the convention website.
.

Model Making
Paper
Metal
Wood
Foam
.

Education
University of Illinois at Chicago - 1995 - 1998
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design
Member of The Industrial Design Society of America, Student Chapter
3rd Place - Exhibit Design
1997 Exhibit Designers and Producers Association's student competition

Northeastern Illinois University - 1987 - 1994
Major in Art with a concentration in Small Metals
Minor in Anthropology