CONCEPT DESIGN
Concept design is the initial phase of the design process where ideas are generated, explored, and refined to establish a foundational vision for a project. It focuses on defining the "big picture" or big opportunity through sketches, prototypes, or mood boards that communicate key aspects such as functionality, aesthetics, and user experience. This stage is essential for aligning stakeholders, identifying potential challenges early, and ensuring the design direction supports project goals.
KIDWATCH
Long before smartwatches and "Find My" technology became ubiquitous, I pitched a kid-friendly watch and companion app designed to help parents keep their children safe in busy, public settings. The core concept was to provide a virtual "leash" for children—enabling parents to grant their kids some freedom while maintaining peace of mind. The solution was particularly geared toward large community events, where children old enough to explore independently but not yet ready for total freedom could stay connected to their parents' safety network.
PayPal Business Showcase
At PayPal, our design strategy was in its early stages, and we needed to drive alignment across leadership on where and how to prioritize our investments. To achieve this, we launched a concept pitch centered around user story vignettes. These vignettes served as a powerful tool to visualize the future opportunities we aimed to create, helping to unite teams around a shared vision.
The vignettes evolved into an interactive, experiential design showcase, which we built at our headquarters in San Jose and at a New York location. This showcase became a key asset for business development, helping stakeholders experience our vision firsthand. The approach proved to be a significant success, reinforcing the value of design thinking and solidifying its strategic importance within the organization.
Electronic Arts: Homebase
EA is a diverse collection of brands, each with its own unique identity and approach to supporting its fans. As part of the Customer Service leadership team, we identified that account-related issues were the highest volume driver of customer contacts. To address this, we delved into the root causes, worked upstream, and recognized the need to redefine our approach to account management.
This led us to reimagine how a portfolio of distinct brands could be supported cohesively. The result was a concept we called Homebase—a centralized destination where users could manage their information, store achievements, connect with friends, and discover more about the games they love and the communities that share their passion.
Electronic Arts: Fan Membership
My team developed the vision and organized key ideas to create a clear roadmap for delivering this new capability. New to EA, the membership space was a good idea with many good ideas attached to it. Through concept sketches, conversations, and prototype iterations, we helped to solidify the commitments and an approach to bring this new feature to life.
