Designer + Maker + Team Player = Engineer
LIFELINES
Product Design
During my time at Lifelines LLC, I gained valuable experience in the role of a product design engineer, with a focus on user-centered design. I learned to design not only for functionality but also with careful consideration of the user experience, product reliability (aligned with Lifelines' high standards), and cost efficiency, as we were developing affordable wellness products. Additionally, ensuring the designs were optimized for manufacturability was crucial, given the need for mass production. These are just a few of the items I worked on:
Dauber (catch and release mechanism internal design)
Designed, prototyped, and refined a compact (~4 cm) tool for users to securely catch and release various types of stamps and sponges. The tool featured a locking mechanism that held the stamp/sponge until a button was pressed. Through multiple design iterations, I identified that positioning the button on the top of the tool maximized user comfort and minimized accidental activation. Despite the challenges of developing an internal mechanism in such a small form factor, a fully functional prototype was successfully delivered following extensive testing and refinement
DIY Night Lamp
Product Concept: A DIY night lamp, allowing users to paint transparent tiles that, when assembled, resemble stained glass.
​
I iterated on the design to produce a functional prototype. Initially, the design called for transparent tiles to be glued onto a large transparent panel, but testing revealed two issues: the panel significantly increased production costs, and the glue was visible through the tiles. To address these challenges, I replaced the panel with a lamp structure inspired by the sliding rails of the Connect Four game, allowing users to slide in the tiles. This solution reduced plastic use by 80%, lowered overall production costs, and enhanced user interaction. I then optimized the geometry of the lamp's side panels, base, and top for manufacturability through injection molding, while maintaining the aesthetic requirements set by the industrial design team
Functional Prototype
