design leadership
Creative Direction, Innovation + Advanced Concepts, In-Line Product Creation, Design Sprints, Co-Creation, Collaboration, Partnerships, Brand Extension, Branding Strategy + Application, Creative Experience, and Design Strategy.
Design + Innovation Showcases
Vans Experimental Showcases; Elevating design, empowering collaboration & exploring new ideas.
As I've managed Vans' Advanced Concepts & designer experiments work, I felt that the brand needed more internal exposure to this work to build support & excitement about the brand's possibilities.
The increased exposure has helped design & innovation teams gain traction on style progression, technical innovation, comfort, sustainability & new market opportunities.
OTW Collection - 2010
LXVI - 2012
UltraRange Franchise - 2017
The UltraRange franchise was a design led concept created using constructions and insights gained from OTW Collection and LXVI and seeking to evolve Vans' MTE weather designation into a product category..
The combination of technical materials, versatility, style and an authentic connection to our athlete needs enabled Vans to consolidate models from LXVI and OTW into a new, more brand right product franchise.
Neal Shoemaker's MTE category concept presentation from March 2015.
Several of these inspiration images and design details were incorporated directly into UltraRange franchise designs and line review presentations.
Matt Nosbusch's final design sketch and exploded catalog photo for the UltraRange Rapidweld.
Matt's focus on versatility for outdoor use and an expanded use case drove design and construction decisions.
UltraRange Franchise was dropped by all regional sales teams for Spring 2017, This 5 model franchise was presented for Fall/Holiday 2017 - and was dropped again by all regional sales teams.
Global leadership arranged adoption after sales meetings to bring this 5 model assortment to market;
-5 Models;
Vault (GoreTex Hi LX, UltraRange LX)
Surf (UltraRange Rapidweld)
Skate (UltraRange Pro)
Franchise Design Strategy
Branding and Intellectual Property
Previous: Different branding in each category with separate branding standards used in footwear and apparel
(79 pages, 7 documents)
Current: Consistent branding across categories and department. Category identity is added when necessary
(20 pages, 1 document)
Partnership + collaboration design management
Design Management of speed to market pinnacle lifestyle collaborations.
Many years of pinnacle design management for fashion + lifestyle pinnacle collaborations.
