Explore insights from Michael
My responsibility to you, the client, is to put forth a design strategy that sets your organization up for success. To guide and educate your team along the way. To make them feel a part of the process and a contributor to its outcomes. For success is derived from the collaboration of all those involved.
With in-house digital marketing and product design, and design consultancy experience across B2B and B2C industries, I’ve seen quite a bit. It’s interesting to see how design has evolved over time. There has been extraordinary technological innovation, and design is continuing to march towards simplicity of use and purity.
Reflecting on the past 20 years, the greatest reward for me has been the journey – even more so than the outcomes. The interactions and experiences with colleagues and clients along the way have shaped who I am today. But it has been most notably the risks I’ve taken that have left indelible marks. From teaching a web design course at a community college and head coaching a community basketball team in my early twenties. To flipping two consecutive houses in two months and enduring a five year home renovation where much of it was self-taught. Each opportunity came with valuable growth and learning that I wouldn’t give back.
Currently on the advisory board for the Tombolo Institute Design Thinking Program at Bellevue College, I’m excited to share my professional insights and knowledge to new students and working professionals looking to leverage design thinking in their lives – and to just be able to circle back to where I started.
I’m thankful for the love and support of my wife and three young boys who allow me to do what I love. They are my center. If I’m not hanging out with my family, you’ll still find me head coaching basketball in the same organization as I grew up in, intensely watching the Seahawks compete for more Superbowls, and occasionally still doing some DIY projects at home.
