Octopus Creative

Context

Octopus was a Santa Cruz-based product design studio punching well above its size, with a client roster that included Google, YouTube, PayPal, eBay, Airbnb, and Dropbox. Client-side design at that level means the work changes shape by the week: one client needs conceptual exploration, another needs production-ready delivery, and the studio has to hold creative and strategic consistency across all of it while managing relationships directly.

Contribution

As Associate Creative Director, second-in-command to the Creative Director, managed client strategy and creative delivery across the portfolio, from smaller local startups to conceptual design and technology work for Google, YouTube, eBay, and others.

Served as embedded design lead for Google on experimental product work, operating on-site inside their team as a creative and strategic thinkbox for exploring new technologies the company had acquired. Oversaw a cross-functional team of four senior designers, three lead engineers, and four senior engineers on that engagement.

Outcome

End-to-end management of client relationships and creative delivery for Google, YouTube, eBay, and others, including an embedded, on-site design leadership role inside Google's experimental technology work.