Travis J. Hill
Portfolio of Travis J. Hill
Personal Statement p3 Profile / C.V. p4 Recent Development Leaners p6 Bistro Sets p8 Crunch Time! p10 Wood & Metal p15 Cross-Sell Opportunity p16 Efficient Entertainment p17 Innovative Products p18 Multi-Generational Development p20 Previous Development Scrolls p22 Variations p23 Line Extension p24 Storage p25 Bench Collection p26 Lighting Renders for Bill Blass Collection
p28
Ad Layouts p32 Technical Achievements p34 Process Analysis and Database Development
p36
The Business of Design and Development Of course, there is creativity involved in the design and development of any product, but that creative development is sustained by consistent commercial success. To prepare for that success, detailed research on style, market, and manufacturing trends is necessary. Those trends need to be translated into viable designs that are economically and environmentally friendly and which complement existing successful products. The manufacturing partner needs to be consulted to ensure that every aspect of the final product, from packaging to assembly, is of the highest quality with minimal waste. This whole endeavor should be carried out by motivated people following an efficient process that maximizes their creative input while reducing repetition and mistakes. I have a passion for the whole product development cycle: the creativity, the teamwork, the challenges of international business, and the reward of creating new and beautiful products that make customers happy. The following pages highlight my journey through all aspects of that process in relation to furniture and lighting. Unless noted with an asterisk, I was personally responsible for the research, design, render, and management of each product. Photographs of products are shown with a camera icon. Otherwise, all images are done in 3D, either in Modo or Lightwave. Travis Hill
3
Travis James Hill
Furniture Developer / Designer 2327 Booksin Ave • San Jose, CA 95125** 408-‐571-‐8517 • travis@hillmarked.com
Profile: Dedicated Developer with over a decade of experience in researching, designing, and managing the creative process of taking a rough concept and turning it into a successful product. • 12 years of design and development experience in furniture and lighting products sold through JCPenney, Pottery Barn, Lowes, Home Decorators, and Restoration Hardware • Instrumental in building the design process and infrastructure needed to take a 4-‐man startup from $2 million in sales in 1999 to $25 million by 2008. • Degreed, but largely self-‐taught, with a passion for continuing improvement • Committed to improving the creative working environment and helping co-‐workers grow • Lived and worked in a factory in Huizhou, China for 10 months and understands product development at a factory-‐level • Designed a product development process that uses full scale, 3D images projected on a wall to review designs and product sample images from overseas, reducing the cost and need to travel
Professional Skills:
Research • Trend and Void identification through competitor and market research • Able to summarize collected research into a comprehensive report Analysis • Process improvement • Product performance • Able to analyze from several perspectives for multiple objectives and report results in a clear and concise manner Design • Inspired but disciplined designer • Able to take very rough sketches or reference images and create entire lines of tiered-‐ priced furniture based on factory or customer requirements • Understands the business realities of creative endeavors and accepts and recommends compromises as needed • Produce factory-‐ready drawings accounting for suppliers’ material efficiencies, capabilities, and OEM relationships • Has worked on nearly 3000 product designs Rendering • Quickly and accurately produce photorealistic illustrations and animations while capturing important details **easily able to relocate
4
Project Management • Focused on eliminating repetitive tasks using intelligently designed processes and automation so that employees can concentrate on being creative • Database design and development for process tracking, asset/library management, and automatic product performance analysis • Quickly identifies priorities and makes critical decisions to reach the goal Employee Management and Training • Conducted over 40 interviews of candidates and developed an internal skills test to gauge aptitude • Managed up to 4 employees at a time and trained them in all aspects of the product development process • Evaluated employee performance and conducted promotion or termination meetings Technical • Able to quickly learn any software or hardware and apply it to solve problems or improve efficiency • Networking, workstation, and server management in Windows/OSX Communication • Excellent verbal and written communication • Adaptable and flexible in both domestic and international settings Software Photoshop
Modo
Illustrator
InDesign
Lightwave
Excel
Acrobat
Word
Aperture
Graphite
Powerpoint
Filemaker Pro
Employment History: • •
SMK Design Resource Inc., 1998-‐2012 : Product Developer University of California, Irvine 1996-‐1997 : Technology Researcher
•
University of California, Irvine : 2008 Bachelor of Arts, Studio Arts with an emphasis in Digital Media Sophia University, Tokyo : 1999-‐2000 Emphasis in Asian Art History
Education:
•
Portfolio Links:
http://issuu.com/hillmarked/docs/portfolio_main?viewMode=magazine&mode=embed http://www.hillmarked.com
5
Recent Development: Leaner Collections
The above image was an existing product that a factory successfully sold to JCPenney. To capitalize off their initial success, additional items were created that would work in 6 other areas. After doing research on compatible functions that could be added, scale drawing concepts were created and propped to give the feeling of the intended room. Final illustrations on the next page show versions for: Bath, Office, Entertainment, Hallyway, and Kitchen.
6
Recent Development: Leaner Collections
Joint Detail
7
Inspiration
Recent Development: Bistro Sets
These are the final 6 Bistro Sets out of 11 groups that were designed to hit a Target Retail price of $99
One of the requirements for the project was that all groups must use the same type and roughly the same quantity of material & packaging
Inspiration
8
Recent Development: Bistro Sets All 6 designs achieved the target price (depending on the metal finish) and met the maximum packaging dimensions Inspiration
Inspiration
Inspiration
I was responsible for rendering
9
Recent Development: Crunch Time A factory had an opportunity to present new designs to a retailer but did not have time to make any samples because the buyers would be visiting them in less than a month. After doing a preliminary review on what styles the retailer was lacking and estimating the preferred price points, I began to look for some inspirational images. A great source for inspiration is any magazine or web site that has custom furniture as those pieces usually are commissioned for their uniqueness. These two pages show the inspiration and initial designs they inspired. Inspiration is also influenced by sales data. For example, Group 2 for Kitchen had a similar feeling as a previous group that did well in Bath.
Group 4 is fairly simple so most of the effort went into manufacturing optimization.
Group 3 began after finding a table leg and headboard that had a unique shape. The factory confirmed they could match the finish of the wood and metal that was specified.
Factory’s Existing Product
10
Recent Development: Crunch Time Group 1 was inspired by some very contemporary finds but had to be toned down. The chrome and stark white would not sell at the intended retailer so birch and satin nickel was chosen as a compromise.
Group 5 had several images of influence but I realized it would be difficult to avoid being repetitive. If a design only has a few points of interest, it’s easy to over use them.
11
Recent Development: Crunch Time
After
reviewing
the
drawings with the factory, final created
illustrations for
large
were format
printing and shown to the buyers along with hardware and finish swatches.
12
Recent Development: Crunch Time One of the main features of this group is the re-use of the same parts which allowed the factory to keep costs down while maintaining high quality control.
13
Recent Development: Crunch Time The initial drawing of the hutch & cart seemed promising but after reviewing it in 3D, I realized that it just didn’t look balanced.
The wall shelves for both groups also did not look very good after seeing them in 3D. However, spending only an hour in 3D before making the decision is much better than 3 days to make a physical prototype.
14
Recent Development: Wood & Metal Starting with some basic designs and then adding scrollwork makes the final product more interesting visually and increases the perceived value.
15
Recent Development: Cross-Sell Opportunity The retailer had existing storage ottoman products that they wanted to include with other products. Below are two concepts that were based on including 1 or 2 ottomans.
This expandable concept allowed the same TV stand to be used after the customer purchased a much larger flat panel TV or the available space changed. 16
Recent Development: Entertainment This is a collection of entertainment items that were specifically designed to maximize material usage using ‘golden cuts’ of MDF/Particle Board and the most readily-available hardware and labor-saving manufacturing techniques.
I was responsible for rendering
17
Recent Development: Innovation The following are some of the more innovative products I’ve designed.
A canvas magazine holder which requires no assembly other than a single wall screw. Nonspeaker version rolls up into a small box to save on packaging and shipping
A traditional knock-down etagere like above left would require the customer to assemble at least 13 pieces in order to fit in a small box. I designed it so that there is zero assembly needed and the box still stays small. Using a ‘stack & snap’ technique on preassembled stronger units, the customer has added flexibility in space usage.
A modular, leaning wall system that can be customized for different rooms / functions
18
An adjustable, clamping, space-saving potrack can be added to nearly any existing island or cart that has at least 30mm of overhang.
Recent Development: Innovation The ‘ladder’ concept has become stale after nearly 20 years of retail exposure. Below are some attempts to breathe life into the design with additional functionality, accessories, zero assembly, and a mind towards room-specific placement.
Each version had flip up shelves that rested on metal dowels which provided additional support
This version for the laundry had a removable canvas clothes bag
The Dorm version featured a storage headboard with corkboard that could double as a media hutch if used over the TV stand. For additional support when overloaded with books, the bookshelf version could self attach.
19
Recent Development: Multi-Generation Development As soon as sales data indicates a product is a ‘runner,’ a follow-up line is developed so that when the existing design begins to get ‘stale,’ it can be cleared out and refreshed. To nearly double sales, the same concept is propagated across different price-separated brands. The images below show the development of a group in 2004, 2007, 2010 and into other brands.
2004
Customers did not like having to wall mount the cabinets so in the next version, hutches were used
2007
20
Recent Development: Multi-Generation Development
Customers really like the modular approach to Kitchen storage
so
that
they
can
customize both function and size based on their unique space
2010 - Brand Changed to Casual
2010 - Brand Changed to Studio
These two groups use an interlocking steel tube structure
to
easily
and
securely attach the hutches and tabletops.
21
Previous Development: Scrolls Two groups focusing on mixed media: glass and metal, and wood and metal.
I was responsible for rendering
22
Previous Development: Variations This was a study in surface changes to explore how best to market the group
23
Previous Development: Line Extension
The
buyer
wanted
an
additional piece to complement the 3 products already selling above. I made 6 variations that were roughly the same in price for her to choose from. She picked version ‘B’ with the final product shot below.
24
Previous Development: Storage
25
Previous Development: Bench Collections
The bench & basket + wall item combination proved to be very popular. Renderings are on the left with photos on the right.
The below image was the result of trying to design a bench, basket, and cushion combo to hit $99 while still being strong enough to pass the rigorous product testing.
26
Previous Development: Bench Collections
Below are two designs intended to be ‘Entryway in a Box’ programs.
27
Lighting Renders (*all designs by Ian Fowler)
28
29
30
31
Ad Layout
These are two ad layouts that were done mostly in 3D. This saved considerable time and money in creating marketing materials.
As
the
buyers
wanted changes made, the lamp could be re-rendered and the ad could be revised in just a few hours.
32
Ad Layout
3 ads intended for magazine distribution. The focus was on including color since previous ads were too sterile due to the white lampshades on chrome bodies.
33
Recent Development: Technical Achievements The best way to review a product is to see it as realistically as possible in 3D. After all, a customer is not buying the product based on a sketch. The following images show technical advancements I’ve made in capturing the important details that often influence the buying decision.
3D Rendering A common problem in 3D development is being able to create something other than a perfectly clean product. If you want a distressed or antique look, it can take nearly as long to hand distress the texture in the computer as it does in real life. The above image shows a distressed look that takes only a few minutes of light airbrushing and then the addition of a procedural texture based on angle of incidence multiplied by the relative ‘sharpness’ of the edge. 34
Recent Development: Technical Achievements Being able to work on images that look as good or better than the final samples saves time, money, and frustration for both the designer and the factory. So, it is worthwhile to take the time experimenting with the right technique in order to match the final product.
Above on the right is a picture of a physical sample that a buyer brought back from India. They wanted a similar feeling but with less glossiness. The rendering on the left is the result after two hours of experimenting. Once an accurate representation of the final finish is made, the rest of the development time can focus on form and manufacturing optimization.
35
Process Analysis: Charting One of the most challenging design projects I worked on had nothing to do with furniture directly. It was the design and development of a business-wide, comprehensive database. Since the company grew from 5 people (3 international) to 25 people (18 international) over the course of twelve years, the workflow was an organic, ever-evolving mess whose management began to take more time than the actual design and development of products. To try and reduce the logistical nightmare of communicating and sharing files and information across 16 time zones, I decided to create a systematic and consistent way to work. This meant that every person involved needed to know exactly what to do and understand how to handle problems and make decisions on their own. If email was the only communication method, a question and answer chain could take 2 days to resolve. I mapped out the entire business operation in a flow chart for one client (JCPenney) and accounted for problems and branching decisions. I identified that there were 15 ‘departments’ that had 63 steps if everything went smoothly (following a ‘golden line’) or over 130 steps if everything goes wrong. Just having this flowchart printed on the wall was helpful because
a picture of any product in
development could be printed and pinned to the current stage. So, at a glance, you could identify any bottlenecks or products that were going ‘offline.’ That wall was helpful in one room of one office but it wasn’t available to our partners in China or while traveling. A global wall available 24/7 was needed. 36
Process Analysis: Translation I had read a little about database programs and knew that in order to accomplish my goal, I would have to get to an intermediate level in one of them ASAP. I chose to learn Filemaker Pro since it was cross-platform, server based, web-enabled out of the box, and relatively simple. As I began teaching myself Filemaker Pro, I realized I needed to break the flow chart into discreet tasks (records). I made a list in Excel that showed the department, task#, description, branching decisions, status, and a default assignment of responsibility. This file could be imported or exported so that even someone without database experience could edit the process. With that done, I could finally concentrate
on
programming
the structure and logic of the database.
37
Database Design and Implementation I learned anecdotally that building a proper foundation for a database is vitally important because it can be very difficult or impossible to correct mistakes later on. I spent several weeks thinking and planning until I felt like I had a stable but flexible system. A simplified version of the Entity-Relationship-Diagram is below. The next step was to migrate a bloated, crash-prone excel file that contained data for 2200 products into the database. I was so happy after that task was complete because I could retire the 60 megabyte monstrosity of a file that caused everyone so much daily frustration. (note: Excel is not meant to hold over 2,000 little images) Finally, after almost 2 years of learning, planning, and hard work, the database was loaded onto the server and web access was enabled. Within the first week, additional functions were added that dramatically reduced the time and effort needed to complete mundane tasks. One notable example is that the printing of labels to identify and track production samples went from a 2-person all-day-long procedure to a 1-person, 30 minute task. I
saw
employee
happiness
increase
immediately since they could concentrate on the fun and creative work while the repetitive chores were reduced. Now, I am committed to helping make sure that humans do what they do best while
Code Phase
computers take care of the rest. I will use whatever tools I can find or learn to keep me and my co-workers happy. Project Management Projects
Files
Products
Collections Assignments
Calendar People
Overview of Projects Project Image
Project Name
Status
Raised Panel
Drawing
Division
√
Internet
√
Catalog
Bath Non-Brand
Retail Stacia
Dylan
PRICING Needs review
Complete
√
Internet
√
Catalog
√
Retail
√
Internet
√
Catalog
Bath Brand C
Management Research Design Illustration Sales Engineering Pricing Sampling Specification Packaging Assembly Instructions Testing Orders Analysis Quality Control
Administration Finish & Materials
Code Phase
Create New Project Sales Channel Retail
In Progress
Sales
Questions & Replies
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Description
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Assignment Status
Management Inactive Research Doing Design Deferred Illustration Skipped Sales Complete Engineering Stuck Pricing Sampling Specification Packaging Assembly Instructions Testing Orders Analysis Quality Control
Menu Matrix MAIN MENU Submenus
MAIN MENU Submenus
Bath Brand C
Assignment Status Inactive Doing Deferred Skipped Complete Stuck
38
Project Management Dashboard (top 10) Projects Assignments Products People Questions Finishes & Materials Process
Files Design Resources Images Check In / Out Keywording
Collections Management
Travis James Hill
Furniture Developer / Designer 2324 Booksin • San Jose, CA 95125 408-571-8517 • travis@hillmarked.com
39