(Graphics & Web Dev Director)
2020-present
For a smart home décor company, Simply Smart Home
I have had the opportunity to lead and execute the full design lifecycle of an existing product, Photoshare, and launching ClicSmart.
I joined Simply Smart home in 2020 with the primary goal of helping them increase sales through refining their customer-facing experiences and collateral.
My role has evolved since then to me encompassing a single person in-house design department.
IPs Include:
Vendors Include:
Results
- 2023 Annual revenue tripped to $5 million
- Products placed in top retailers
- All creative in-housed
I was one of a handful of contractors and agencies working with Simply Smart home before 2020.
They liked my work enough to onboard me full time and, within a year, in-house all creative work. It’s been fun learning how to balance agility with fesability throughout Photoshare and ClicSmart’s design lifecycles.
2024 Costco Pallet for Photoshare’s Disney Frame
This concept helped seal a deal with Costco’s vendors
Project & Team Management
(Non-linear) Process
Communication, communication, improvisation.
Simply Smart Home operates as a close-knit team of about a dozen professionals, working both remotely and from our Pleasanton, California office.
After joining the team, I developed a project management tracker within Notion and trained key team members on its utilization. We leverage a tailored agile methodology to maximize our efficiency given our limited bandwidth.
We hold weekly meetings to plan, spec, and review projects, using Slack or Zoom for ongoing creative feedback. This process allows me to focus on creating user-centric designs within scalable design systems. After a few iterations on drafts, I take charge of executing the final designs as needed.
Creative Work
Branding
- 2021 strategic branding update resulted in 233% increase in sales YOY 🎉
- Conflicts: spinning plates and budgets
- Challenge: defining Smart Home Décor
Approach
When I joined Simply Smart Home, branding wasn’t a priority—there was no clear path or budget dedicated to it. As someone passionate about the benefits of design systems and as employee #8, I initiated a series of branding guides for the company to use and refine over time with real production insights.
Defining ‘Smart Home Décor’ both internally and externally was initially a challenge due to its novelty and lack of clear definition. This provided a unique opportunity to set Simply Smart Home apart—a company from California where design is as crucial as functionality. I advocated for our brand styling to focus on framing our product images, allowing for flexibility in color palettes and enhancing our brand’s perceived value with a minimalist visual approach.
Following a significant year-over-year sales increase in 2021, the perception of branding shifted dramatically. The conversation among our staff evolved from ‘How should this look?’ to a confident ‘This is how it should look.’ Winning their support involved demonstrating that crafting a beautiful product is more than aesthetics—it’s a process grounded in empathy, active listening, and thorough inquiry.”
Web Development
- Directed and implemented the solo design and development of the company’s ecommerce website
- Continually updated features and content management strategies, contributing to a 22% increase in total sales
- Mentored and guided 3 junior level designers in content management and website administration
- mysimplysmarthome.com
Approach
The old Simply Smart Home website couldn’t keep up with our ambitious company goals, so I built a new one on WordPress that could. This was a dynamic, open-ended project that not only established a new sales channel but also led to an overall increase in sales. The process leveraged our brand refresh efforts, evolving from low-fidelity to high-fidelity mockups, ensuring stakeholders were effectively engaged.
The site remains a live draft, continuously updated by teammates who adjust the copy and myself who adds fresh creative elements as needed.
Our strategic approach transformed: “What can we do?” became “What should we do?” The website now serves as our essential support portal and a primary mode of interaction with our users, making it a vital marketing tool and a key component of our sales funnel.
Product Renders
- In-housed all product imagery by learning virtual photography
- Multiplied my creative output across all collateral
- Saved turnaround time with contracting
- Helped secure vendor contracts with concepts
Approach
Facing constraints with budget and time for product photography, I leaned into my occasional dabbling in 3D editing. With the release of Adobe’s Substance3D suite, I seized the opportunity to produce all our product imagery independently.
When the need for new product images became urgent, and traditional photography wasn’t an option, I stepped up to create sufficiently high-quality 3D renders for products that had never been photographed.
Now, all our new product imagery is generated through 3D rendering, transforming how we present our products visually.
Product Design
- Led full design Lifecyle for Photoshare and ClicSmart; concept to shelf through app design
- Multiple Photoshare product launches
Approach
Originally, I wasn’t involved with product development until our product owner departed. Over the past year, however, we’ve added an outstanding developer leading our team in India. My role has evolved to conceptualizing new products, configurations, and designing our software’s UX.
I took over two existing products: Photoshare and Switchmate, which had a failed launch in 2017. Increasing Photoshare’s perceived value through a brand refresh and app UX update seemed the most logical step, considering my available resources. For ClicSmart, we aimed to avoid the initial launch mistakes, which primarily involved miscommunications about the product’s features, including its light-switch variation, and the need for an app UX overhaul.
The result is a cohesive design thread from shelf to app user-interactions. Simply Smart Home now recognizes the value of managing a full product lifecycle with in-house talent. This approach has enhanced our market competitiveness and provided clear user engagement goals to target.
Product Packaging
- In-Housed all artwork for product packaging and displays by learning virtual photography
- Helped secure vendor contracts with box and display concepts
- Led designing concepted boxes and displays for manufactures to create production dyelines for
Approach
I’ve always been fascinated by package design and quickly embraced the challenge when our budget constraints made outsourcing impossible. Luckily, Photoshare’s rectangular package simplified my learning curve in dielines folding and virtual photography. This also helped establish a new pipeline for stakeholders to efficiently conceptualize direct-to-consumer and retail packaging designs.
Collaborating closely with operations, we optimized display concepts and configurations, improving both shipping efficiency and marketing effectiveness. However, designing the packaging for ClicSmart presented significant challenges; its launch was partly hindered by confusion over toggle versus rocker light switch faceplates. I emphasized these distinctions while integrating home décor aesthetics with smart home technology.
This experience led to more consistent branding and established an in-house pipeline that allows us to perfect our designs pre-production—a tremendous time saver.
App Design
- Worked with (Devin) and our over-seas team on 3 apps
- Redesigned ClicSmart (v1.0) and PhotoShare (v4-4.2) mobile apps
- Unifying PhotoShare mobile and Frame apps (v4.2)
- Adding user engagement loop functionality in v4.2
Approach
These two apps were initially reskinned versions of licensed software. Due to a vendor push for domestically based solutions, Simply Smart Home has now transitioned to a backend developed in-house this year.
When I joined, we faced a competitive disadvantage because updating our software wasn’t prioritized.
Since last year, I’ve been leading the UX design and collaborating with Devin using agile methodology to hand off assets to our team in India. We are currently launching features aimed at fostering daily user interactions—something previously lacking. SSH has recognized a significant gap in user engagement on frames and the potential for incentivizing daily interactions with Photoshare.
We’ve since established a Product Development team and are developing software that positions us to better compete and capture a larger market share in the smart frame space.
Sales Assets
- Created annual sales sheets and decks for our sales team that helped secure vendor contracts
- Worked with our sales team to design assets to specifications and target audiences
- Helped pitch customized display concepts that helped secure contracts with major retailers
Approach
Our sales team often needs collateral quickly to secure contracts with vendors. By producing our collateral in-house, they can specify and iterate on the assets they need with greater agility.
Every year, we strive to remain competitive and keep our products on the shelves of major retailers. Our sales teams frequently receive specific feedback from vendors on display and box configurations. With ClicSmart, this process helped the team effectively pitch a new product and clearly explain its features.
This agility has proven beneficial, helping us secure more contracts and retail placements over the past few years.
Ads & Marketing Collateral
- Created static and animated ads to run campaigns with
- Created and edited domestic TV broadcast and online commercials
- Designed and built monthly marketing emails
- Designed and built campaign website landing pages
Approach
I collaborate closely with the Marketing team to deliver the specified assets. Advertising has been an effective tool for directly boosting our product sales, but we’ve noticed diminishing returns from solely enhancing perceived value. This year, we’re shifting our focus to product development instead of allocating a larger budget for marketing.
The market for Photoshare is highly competitive. Maintaining brand awareness and enhancing product appeal through software development are now our priorities.
Takeaway
Design is a refining process
This case study reaffirms a core principle gained from my experience in the field: design is inherently a process of refinement.
Throughout my role, continuous evaluation and reevaluation of design decisions are crucial; understanding why we’re doing anything helped keep us on track.
I adapted my process, methods, and outputs based on in-depth analysis and feedback, ensuring that each iteration moved us closer to our ultimate goal—creating solutions that not only meet but exceed user expectations and business objectives. This iterative approach is essential in navigating the complexities and demands of modern design challenges.
