This is a premium body composition monitor for female market in Japan.  A typical target customer for this product was a woman in her mid-30's who is single or recently married, is career oriented and perhaps has one child.  Regardless of career or family responsibilities, she wants freedom to pursue personal goals and to continue being fit and slim.  An appropriate tagline for this target market would be “love myself love my life”.

In addition to the Japanese market, BC-581 - which followed same design image - was developed for the European market.

This is a body thermometer designed to be used on small children.  Main concept was to utilize friendly, organic shapes and graphics so as to minimize anxiety in children whose temperature is being taken.

A professional alcohol checker designer for taxi drivers, truck drivers, heavy machinery operators and other similar professionals where sobriety is essential.  Removable sensor cartridge and cost-effective mouth-piece were included to accommodate frequent users and multiple-user environments.

This is a high precision jewelry scale with two LCD displays (one for the dealer and one for the buyer), a windshield and a gem-like appearance.   Some of the design features which KP-601 has which enhanced the function of this category of product include:

• Angled LCD’s and buttons which allow for ergonomic use while standing up or sitting down

• Internal circular ring on the inside of the windshield which can keep the content inside the gem cup (container which hold the material being weighed) when the product is locked and carried to a different location.

• Adjustable feet for leveling the scale prior to weighing (henceforth adding to accuracy)

• Recessed windshield groove which further reduced the amount of air currents inside the scale when the contents is weighed

This scale sold in Japanese, Chinese and U.S. markets.

This is a professional 8 electrode body composition monitor.  Originally the intended market was hospital and clinics but then Tanita decided that they wanted a cost effective body composition monitor for additional markets including fitness centers such as Curves in Japan.

This was a TV stand design competition sponsored by Samsung.  My solution to the challenge proposed by Samsung was to combine the TV base with a sound bar.  In addition a metal mounting bracket at the bottom along with a removable support neck would allow this stand to be converted into wall mounting mode, henceforth, the customer would have no need of an aftermarket product in case he wanted to mount the TV on the wall.

PD-643 is a watch style pedometer which happens to be one of early projects that I did at Tanita.  The challenge was to create a new, fresh and sporty image while utilizing an existing movement from an older product of the same category.

A professional body weight scale which was designed to be portable and to take weight measurements from multiple subjects.  The front end button placement and the flippable LCD display allow the user to quickly and efficiently take many weight measurements without getting in the way of the subjects who step on the scale.

This is a series of lighting fixture concepts which I developed in a design contest for Hudson Valley Lighting.

This is a kitchen thermometer design which utilized internal components identical to that of a much older Tanita thermometer which targeted professional market.  The key challenge was create an updated design with a more playful image and to target the consumer market.  To achieve this, simple organic curves along with natural color scheme (colors found in fruits and vegetables) were used.  Furthermore, number of parts was reduced which along with utilization of already existing internal components led to creation of a fresher and more appealing product at a reduced cost.

GrapeSeed is a company which makes English language education products such as books and videos.  I was asked to produce some background concepts and ideas for their Unit 15 videos which feature children living and going to school on a tropical island.  In addition to the backgrounds I was also asked to produce various items such as toys, backpacks, furniture and other common items which would appear in several scenes.  All of the items had to to have a theme of being made from found objects - as if the students were somehow trapped on the island and had to be creative in constructing these items.

This was a series of award-winning LCD PC products (Red Dot award and iF award) designed for Arima Communications Corporation while I was employed at NOVA Design in Taipei, Taiwan.  I was primarily responsible for providing concept sketches for all three models, but I also did some initial 3D modeling work and prepared presentation renderings.

This is a medical device designed to help medical professional locate veins underneath the skin of a patient for the purpose of injecting medication and drawing blood. This project was done while I was employed as a freelance designer for JDID. I was primarily responsible for concept development (hand sketch) and for creating presentation renderings.

This was a series of low-cost glass scale concepts (with silk-printed graphics) which were initially designed for the Chinese market. Later on, many of these concepts were sold in countries like Japan and Russia.  The main challenge was to maintain low cost thru use of limited amount of silk print colors while competitors were less limited in that regard.  To achieve a competitive design, strong graphic language along with gradated patterns (which gave an illusion of blurred edge and henceforth adding illusion of more color capability) were utilized in many design proposals.

The VersaPulse PowerSuite 20 Watt Holium laser is a low-powered member of the VersaPulse PowerSuite family products.  It is a medical device which is primarily used in lithotripsy – a procedure which breaks up stones in the kidney, bladder, or ureter which then are passed out of the body in the patient’s urine.  Some of the advantages which this Holium laser had over other products of the same category included:

• New treatment and laser summaries and options not found with any other Holmium lasers

• Plugged into a standard outlet

• It was smaller and lighter than other VersaPulse PowerSuite models

This was a concept artwork project for a future series of English education videos targeting toddlers.  The main setting for this series of videos is a school for toddlers.  The school was supposed to have rooms or areas designed for specific activities (reading room, music/song room, play room, general activity room and a teleportation room where toddler characters are transported to various fantasy worlds).  I primarily concentrated on designing these areas thru hand sketching, but later utilized Photoshop and a 3D polygon modeling package to further refine my concepts.  Since it was going to be vital to be able to see as many elements as possible within each scenes, playing around with scale of objects became vital to realizing successful design concepts which would fit in the view of the camera (some elements became larger than they’d normally would be while other elements shrunk in scale).

This was a DLP TV design which was introduced to the market in 2005. The design implemented smooth curved surfaces which blended with the TV stand (giving it a complete & integrated product image when combined with the TV). This encouraged the customers to buy the stand along with the TV as opposed to just buying the TV.  This large screen TV was predominantly sold in the U.S. market.

HD-386 is a small, portable multi-purpose digital scale with a glass platform.  Numerous concepts were originally proposed, but Tanita's product planning division decided that the design should be simple and the color scheme should follow a theme of vacation destinations.  A typical customer would theoretically be someone who travels frequently and might have a need for a portable scale.

These are a series of glass platform body fat scales with silk-printed graphics.  They were originally developed for the China market but have also found their way to other markets such as Russia.

A cancer treatment machine for which I developed 3D surface data and renderings roughly 6 months after graduating from Academy of Art University.  This project was done while working for SOZO Design LLC in California.  Surfacing and renderings were done by use of Alias Studio Tools.

This is some conceptual work for an HP professional printer station.  I joined this project whilst it was already in progress so I was primarily responsible for the concept refinement phase, illustrator renderings and 3D presentation renderings.

This project was a collaborative effort between Wright Design and Tanita Corporation.  The director of Tanita UK division, Mr. Kazuhiko Fujita, asked me to coordinate a project with UK design company (Wright Design) to develop BC-575, HD-358 and UM-076 scales for the UK/EU region.  This opportunity gave me a chance to be the central person in the collaborative effort between Wright Design and various Tanita departments (including electrical and mechanical engineering departments, product planning departments and factories in China and Japan).

My responsibilities included: making sure that the original design intent is interpreted correctly by editing design proposals according to engineering comments, fixing and editing accurate 2D drawing and production level 3D data, creating 3D renderings, picking material textures, selecting silk print colors, creating specification sheets (in Japanese) for all concepts, and evaluating  parts delivered to me from all factories.  Initially the final products were sold at Argos stores in UK, but later on were sold in other European countries.

This is a waterproof iPhone case with a built-in camera and a built-in mounting system for the iPhone 5 series products.  I was primarily responsible for updating/modifying surface data, creating presentation renderings, product animations and doing color studies.

This is a foldable kitchen scale which has the ability to hold a photo underneath a transparent platform.  When folded vertically, the scale can be stored away in a compact space or acts like a picture frame for photos giving the customer ability to personalize the product with photos of loved ones, pets, friends, etc.  This scale initially sold at electronic shops in Japan during the fall of 2010 but since then sold in other countries including USA.

This was a race driver cooling suit which I helped JDID develop for MOMO – a company which produced race car driver equipment.  JDID hired me to do material studies and stitch pattern studies - creating presentation renderings correctly depicting material and stitch patterns was of outmost importance to the client. In addition to this, 3D surfaces had to be fixed in order to depict the patterns correctly.

This is a project which I did for JDID, a design consulting company in Sacramento, California, USA.  I was responsible for modifying 3D surfaces, creating presentation renderings which showed color variations and graphics studies for the Spruzza cooling system as well as several short animations.  Spruzza is an on-board cooling system which can be attached to a bicycle and can provide relief from heat to the bicycle rider by spraying a stream of water on the head, face and neck of the rider. I was responsible for creating presentation renderings which showed color variations and graphics studies for the Spruzza cooling system.

This was a conceptual project for a solar powered glass platform composition monitor with silk-printed graphics underneath the glass.  Tanita's silk printing capability placed a limit on the number of colors that could be used whilst competitors had the advantage of being able to use full colored silk printed graphics - this reality made it challenging to come up with graphic designs that could stand up to the competition.  Furthermore, there was a limit to solar cell colors that could be used and how solar cells could be arranged.  Silk-printed graphics were supposed to capture an eco-friendly or power-efficient image.  My feeling was that the eco image should either utilize elements from nature or project a high-performance & high-tech image (which could be seen in some of the more recent prototypes of hybrid or electric automobiles at that time).

This was a design project I did about 9 months after graduating for a company in Lodi named USA Products.  My primary responsibility was to develop concept sketches for a tie-down device and corresponding package for the product.

A series of concepts for Midea refrigerators designed while working at Nova Design.

This was a coffee pot design project which I did while working for NOVA Design.  The concept implemented a combination of outer insulating body and see-thru transparent plastic parts.  This project was finalized after I left NOVA Design for Tanita Corporation, so I’m not sure what exactly happened to the project after I moved to Japan.

These were a family of body fat scales designed for the Japanese market which primarily sold in Viva Home - a Costco style supermarket. 

The objective of this project was to design a desk/office ornament made of glass, metal or combination of both which would be sold to customers who buy GrapeSeed brand products.  As with the ancillary products, the trophy project utilized GrapeSeed brand image and characters as inspiration for design.

These are concept Sketches for ancillary products which would be sold along with their GrapeSeed brand educational products.  Concepts were based off GrapeSeed characters and brand image.  Since there were no limitations initially placed on the category of the product that could be developed (other than that the product had to be something that young student or the student’s parents might be interested in buying), I ended up sketching numerous concepts which cross a wide category of products.

This is a series of graphics which I developed as a technical illustrator/writer for Supermicro.  These were utilized in various manuals (especially in their X11 series motherboard manuals) and user's guides.