Empathy is a characteristic of any strong leader, and it is critically important to designers and product managers. My empathy stems from my parents, who were both lifelong teachers and experts at understanding how to enrich young minds. My empathy helps me in my professional career, but also helps me be a good person. Some of my favorite design projects have been for friends and family, whether as an expression of my love, or creating a vehicle to explore the world with my partner and get people outside. These personal passion projects have helped me embrace my creative energy and expand my design aesthetic.
Ohana Shirts for Friendship
My friends are the most amazing, fun, inspiring, and genuine people I know. I am constantly humbled by their achievements, and honored to consider them in my circle. So as I approached my wedding, I realized I wanted to do something special to honor them, and recognize how much they have impacted my life.
I spend a lot of time in Hawaii, so my closet is full of fun vintage aloha shirts. It was a pretty natural idea to create a set of custom matching shirts for my "ohana." The project took well over a year to complete. It was not easy to create 8 unique designs for each of us. I wanted each shirt to highlight our personalities, and also work in a few inside jokes. One shirt includes a custom python script that, when executed, prints "aloha" all over the screen. This forced me to write code for the first time in over a decade. Another shirt features dual Falcon 9 boosters landing. We had to do several iterations of this design to ensure the technical details of the rockets were accurate.
Designing the shirts was just the first step. Once we finalized the designs we had to then print them on fabric and custom tailor each shirt. I worked secretly with each friend's girlfriends and wives to get measurements.
Although my wedding was postponed and bachelor party cancelled due to COVID, giving these shirts to my friends was the perfect way to demonstrate my appreciation for friendship that spans decades.
The 808Van for Adventure
It might not be traditional to include a van in a design portfolio, but there is no greater expression of my creative energy and passion for the outdoors than the 808Van. Originally from Hawaii, the 808Van has taken over 3 years to build and is still a work-in-progress. Great design is never done!
I'll do a proper design-orientated write-up soon, but until then you can read more about my restoration here: The Raddest Van You Will See All Day or read the full 808Van build on MyReverseCommute.
The 808Van has inspired a lot of love across the internet, and has given me the opportunity to work with some pretty fun designers. I like to think it looks good in any style 😉
Wedding Design
Of all my personal design projects, I am probably most proud of the engagement ring I designed. I'm even prouder to have my favorite person in the world wearing it. I have no experience in jewelry design, but researching rings I could not find anything that I liked – or more importantly – anything I thought she would like. I kept my proposal a secret from everyone, including my own family, so I was on my own in creating the perfect ring for the perfect person.
I sourced a lab-created diamond from the awesome folks at Diamond Foundry. Started by an old classmate of mine from MIT, Diamond Foundry produces their chemically identical diamonds in massive furnaces. They worked with me over 6 months to get the perfect stone and custom make a ring to my specifications. After researching a number of ring styles, I came up with several design requirements:
- Compass setting to represent my partner in adventure
- Open basket to let the light in and optimize the sparkle (she likes shiny things)
- Thin cathedral shoulders to give the setting more substance while still showcasing the stone
It came down to the wire whether the ring would arrive in time for my planned proposal on Christmas morning. Further, I was nervous since I did not have a picture of the final product, just the CAD models. Finally, on December 23rd, the FedEx package arrived and I saw the ring for the first time. There was only one reaction:
Fucking nailed it.
My wedding design did not end here. I ended up doing all the graphic design for our wedding including programs, as well as designing a custom Costa Rican themed print that became my liner for my bespoke linen suit. I guess I was a bit extra but the end result was a wedding that fully celebrated our love and personalities.
