INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER | CHARLOTTE@CHARLOTTEPOON.COM
Sept 2016 - Currently | Ottawa, Ontario
As a User Experience Designer, I create and improve the digital products at Corel to bring the best new features, technology and functions to creative applications with the user experience design team. I help address pain points from users and consistently do user research via site visits, forums and interviews to be able to provide the best possible solutions for their workflows.
Projects:
New tool features developed for Crop, Clone, Gradient Fill, Eraser and many more. Develop a new work-space mode called Essentials to make the program less daunting to new users. Created original downloadable Creative Content for users, this consisted of new brushes, color palettes, gradients, patterns and textures.
See Reviewer's Guide here.
PaintShop Pro 2019 Creative Content (to be released)
Creation of 2019 Creative Content, consists of 30 new brushes, 10 new color palettes, 30 new gradients, 30 new patterns and 15 new textures, available to download. These items have been highly downloaded and used by users for photobooks and collages, users appreciate the fresh and modern assets to further their workflows and creations.
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2018 (released March 2018)
Designed features to address highly requested items from users ranging from new tools like auto-perspective correction and high impact items like wrapped dashed lines and Aftershot Pro HDR.
I worked in scrums with developers and quality assurance to get the best results for Instantly User Recognized items. As a UED and product owner I was in charge of making sure the designs were ideal solutions for the users and addressed their feature requests. Some of the items created may seem small but created a big impact to long time users of the product as we were able to address their long awaited requests from past versions of the applications.
Asset Creations: As a part of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2018 launch I was tasked with creating a marketing art piece that used multiple new tools and features to highlight the 2018 version’s offerings. The Husky piece highlighted the following new features from CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019: Symmetry, Impact Tool, Pointillizer, Block Shadow (text design by fellow co-worker), and Dashed Lines. Other assets were created for a refresh on the Hint Videos, over 20+ assets were created to bring new aesthetically pleasing designs to Hint Tutorials to inspire and motivate users learning the application for the first time!
Painter 2019 (released June 2018)
Assisted in the UI refresh of Painter with the senior designer of the Painter application. The UI refresh consisted of an overhaul of the whole interface. I worked primarily on the icons with contractors to produce pixel perfect items that would scale appropriately on different screen resolutions without compromising the form of the items.
Currently working on CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019 (to be released March 2019)
Empower your creativity with CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite 2018, offering an exceptional design experience for graphics, layout, illustration, photo editing, web images, typography and more. Be more productive with the new, innovative features, including Symmetry drawing mode, Block Shadow tool, bitmap perspectives, publish to WordPress and much more. Imagine it, then design it with confidence to achieve stunning results.
This piece was created to highlight the newest tools of CorelDRAW 2018. This was used for marketing purposes to demonstrate the extensive capabilities of the new features for global marketing meetings and trade shows.
September 2017 - February 2018
Freelance Industrial Designer
Climbalytics is a new startup company that wants to help you track your rock climbing progress. Climb Smarter.
Working closely with fellow Industrial Designer, Kimberly Nguyen; we were tasked with developing a new prototype for the wristband tracker. We worked closely with engineering, the founders of the company and a senior industrial designer to produce working prototypes for testing.
Our ask was to create the closest to final fidelity model that was to be working for testing in local climbing gyms. The hardest part was to ensure that battery life and safety were not compromised. There was a lot of research into different fail-safe fasteners for initial direction of the wristband design. Another difficulty was sizing, the limitations of the tech required finessing to allow for visual illusions of a smaller size and to not have the tracker be overwhelming as it was to be a unisex product.
The tracker works by communicating the RFID tags at the start and end of climbing routes which eliminates the need for manual tracking of completed and projected routes. Haptic and visual feedback is provided back the user when wearing the fitness tracker.
3D Model was created by Kimberly Nguyen in Solidworks.
Rendering and Photoshop images by me.
The final 3D printed model measured to be 33mm x 34mm, the same size as the apple watch. All 16 component pieces are encased inside of the tracker, fully functional and currently being tested in rock climbing gyms.
Initial sketches for the proposal of a sliding strap. This later evolved to have a fail-safe pin that would release of the strap was to ever get caught while climbing.
Another concept for the Climbalytics Tracker building upon the rugged environment of the climbing gym and bringing in elements like the rope.
February 2017 | Contest Submission
Contest Submission for the 2017 World Sneaker Championship hosted by PENSOLE x Footlocker.
Placed in Top 64 in the tournament style voting rounds.
Inspired by diversity and history, this shoe aims to tell a story about Canada. It draws inspiration from the Aboriginal culture to highlight an important part of Canadian history and the obstacles it still faces today. The shoe features a custom knitted upper with a hand-carved and painted graphic outsole.
To see last years entry, please visit the ORCA project.
The PENSOLE World Sneaker Championship is a global footwear design contest with over 5000 entries each year. Top 64 contestants are selected by PENSOLE members and the progression of entries are determined by an online public vote where each week, half of the remaining shoe designs will make it to the next round until there is only one left. The winner of the contest will have their shoes manufactured and sold as a limited run.
Along with a hand drawn sketch, a video was also required to explain the design of the shoe. It provided voters and judges insight into design decisions of the creator.
Inspired by the history of Canada as we come together to celebrate the 150th birthday of the country. A lot of inspiration was drawn from the past as Canada strives to continue its amends to those they have wronged.
A breakdown at some of the design details and decisions that were put into the Canada 150 shoe.
A look at materials for the final design of the sneaker. A mix of softer handcrafting materials like knit and leather with whip stitch detailing mixed with hard metal accents representing the resilience of the people.
The competition entry required a hand drawn sketch of the shoe design with correct proportions and a demonstration of choices in color, materials and finishes.
Completed with Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.
June 2016
Application project
An extension on a project for an adidas job application with miadidas.
The original ask was to recolor three shoes from the core line of adidas originals with accompanying mood-boards. I took this a step further and re-imagined what each shoe would look like for a future release. Combined with mood-boards of CMF direction, this is my interpretation of a spring/summer 2017 release.
The three adidas original shoes chosen were:
- The tubular doom
- The flux adv
- The superstar
The 2017 spring & summer story starts of in the springtime showers of an urban landscape (tubular doom mule), you go into summer you start to yearn for adventure (slip-on flux adv) and come high summer you’re out and about on the water (superstar espadrille).
March 2016 | Adidas Design Academy
I was 1 of 6 finalists participating in the Adidas Design Academy and had the opportunity to present this project to creative directors and recruiters at Adidas World Headquarters in Germany.
As the only female designer and representative of Canada I wanted to show them a design for a sport I felt passionate about. Rock Climbing has become an integral part of my life and with that I was able to reach out to a large community of climbers for user research.
A video accompanying my project for the adidas Design Academy 2016 project submission.
This takes you into climbing and the influence it has on people's day to day lives. It's a passion and essential part of life for many.
May 2015 - May 2016 | Montreal, Quebec
Footwear Design Intern
The Aldo Group is a Canadian shoe company catering to the Style Seeker. This global company has more than 88 stores worldwide and continues to expand daily.
Working in the Design Department, one is exposed to an extremely fast-paced creative environment with a lot of growth and opportunities to create the next best-seller. I work primarily on the Casuals Team for Womens Core Line, creating and supporting in the sports, flats, and structured shoes. Some of my primary tasks involve providing trend research, supporting product development with colour CADs and mock ups of in-house designs, spec-ing styles and ultimately designing footwear for current and upcoming collections. Other responsibilities include sourcing and picking materials, designing trims and hardware for the shoes, and organizing and updating presentations for high level meetings.
July - August 2016 (4-week class) | Portland, OR
This was an adidas sponsored masterclass hosted by PENSOLE with a focus on FutureCraft and prototyping. Throughout those four weeks we were challenged to be in situations where we would be uncomfortable and questioning.
Adidas designers and recruiters were sources of information for reflection and refinement of our projects. Each project was in a designated group, with a focus on a particular process and an aspect of the sport.
My project consisted of being a part of the Basketball Team, with a focus on the use of 3D printing in footwear, highlighting Performance abilities and the theme of Preparation.
3 Weeks | Contest Submission
ORCA
Inspired by the most powerful mammal in the sea, the killer whale drove the design of this street style sneaker. Contrasting black and white colour blocking mirror the animals sleek, minimal body with an intense pop of red on the sole as fierce as the predator's deadly jaws.
This was a submission for the 2016 World Sneaker Championship hosted by Pensole Design Academy and Footlocker. The design brief was to design an original sneaker targeted at the 20 year-old sneaker head in an urban setting. Submission required a hand drawn and hand coloured sketch as shown.
The PENSOLE World Sneaker Championship is a global footwear design contest with over 5000 entries each year. Top 64 contestants are selected by PENSOLE members and the progression of entries are determined by an online public vote where each week, half of the remaining shoe designs will make it to the next round until there is only one left. The winner of the contest will have their shoes manufactured and sold as a limited run.
Selected as a finalist for the World Sneaker Championship of 2016, the top 64 candidates had to create a video explaining their design to share the thought and process behind the creation of their sneaker.
15 Month Internship | May 2013 - July 2014
Toronto, ON
BlackBerry is one of the last standing corporate Canadian technology companies specializing in mobile devices and security.
For the duration of my internship I worked primarily in the Mississauga, Ontario office location with the Design Department team.
Over the course of my internship I had many responsibilities and tasks; most of them were within the Accessories and CMF (Colours, Materials and Finishes) sections of the Design Team. I was also able to be part of multiple design patents for new mobile accessories.
Throughout my time, I was able to work on multiple product launches that included refreshes for the following devices: Z10 and Q10, the Q5, BlackBerry 9720, Z30, BlackBerry Passport and BlackBerry Classic.
Product Design
2 Months | Personal Project
An app for climbers who want to maximize their skills in the sport.
The app provides a progress tracker, a buddy climb finder, a newsfeed and an event calendar for everyone to maximize on skills and training to reach their peak.
UX/UI Design, Graphics Design, Photography
Competition Entry | 1 week
Placed in the TOP 17 out of 300 eligible nation wide entries.
A multicoloured logo commemorating Canada’s 150th anniversary has 13 points representing the thirteen provinces and territories. The colours reflect the pride and joy of Canadian’s, our great outdoors; from the great lakes to the abundant land and mountains, we have it all. The many triangles as a whole form a maple leaf, a representation of all different facets of Canadians, our diversity makes us unique and strong. The triangular shapes also splay outwards like firework rays reflecting on the celebrations that we have to look forward to for Canada’s 150th anniversary.
Graphic Design
3rd Year Major School Project | 4 Months
This design addresses the issue of drying wet suits by prolonging their useful life and eliminating the uncomfortable feeling of wet neoprene.
The incremental design uses existing technology from DYSON'S blade-less fan, to circulate air and facilitate the drying process.
Industrial Design
