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My approach.

 


Objects are like people. Some are well-liked and contribute greatly to society. Others are not meeting their full potential. They have a variety of challenges to overcome—they might need to solve a problem, change a behavior, break into a new market, adapt to a new context, embody a brand, connect to a digital ecosystem, be more sustainable or find their inner beauty.

I help objects to overcome their challenges and find their purpose in life. I do this by creating aspirational narrative identities – sticky stories that drive meaning – for object archetypes. Is it just a printer? or could it be furniture that prints? Is it just a coffee maker? or could it be a barista in your kitchen? Is it just a clothes hanger? Or could it be a closet you can sit on? In 2022, I founded a design studio based on this approach, creating purposeful objects for people and market differentiation for clients.

Prior to starting my own practice, I led design teams over the past 15 years while working for some of the best companies in the industry. I began my career designing shoes for Clarks, bringing to market shoe lines for Clarks Originals and Banana Republic. I then made the transition to design consulting, working for Design Continuum in Boston and then for Smart Design in NYC and London where I designed products and experiences for companies like OXO, PepsiCo, Google and Ford and was a co-founder of Smart Design's Food Lab. I was then recruited by Steelcase to be the principal designer for their health category where I designed connected furniture for healthcare spaces. I then went on to work for HP in Barcelona as the Head of Industrial Design where I led the integration of printing technology into furniture archetypes. My designs have garnered over 40 awards and have been featured in publications such as Azure, Design Milk, Dezeen, Fast Company, Interior Design, New York Times and TASCHEN. I’m also the author of Touchy/Feely, a book about emotional ergonomics. I currently serve as an advisor to the Product Design program at Maryland Institute College of Art and I’m a proud alumnus of the Industrial Design program at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Fun fact: I once slipped on a banana peel getting out of a car. I wasn’t embarrassed, just in awe of how cliche and cartoonish my life felt in that very moment.

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Ways to work together.

1. Concept exploration
Give your ideation phase a boost. Partner with me to explore concepts that address real user needs, create emotional connection, and consider business constraints all within a compelling object narrative identity for securing investors, pitching to company leadership and jump-starting product development.

2. Product development
Make your product vision a reality. Partner with me and my network of collaborators with expertise in user research, concept exploration, prototyping and CAD, supporting you from the idea phase through design for manufacturing and everything in between.

3. Social experiments
Create buzz for your brand with a #joeywonders signature experiment. I will do one of my object transformations to share on my social media as a branded partnership or for you to share as part of a marketing campaign with a product archetype that connects to your company.

4. Workshops & talks
Bring new inspiration to your world. Invite me to your school, company or community to speak about my diverse design experience, unusual process and fun experiments.

Who I’ve worked with.

Through a mix of consulting, in-house and side ventures, I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with some of the best in the business.

Alleviate Therapy
American Express
Banana Republic
Chobani
Clarks Originals
Ford
Gantri
Google

HP
Maker Healthcare
OXO
PepsiCo
Poplar
SC Johnson
Steelcase
Under Armour

 

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Awards I’ve won.

RedDot Design Award
Good Design Award (x6)
Spark! Design Award (x3)
Core77 Design Award (x5)
German Design Gold Award
iF Product Design Award (x2)
Interior Design Best of Year (x3)
Neocon Best of Show Gold Award
Good Housekeeping Beauty Award
FastCo Innovation by Design Award (x2)
SELF Magazine Beauty Award
I.D. Design Distinction Award
Allure Best of Beauty Award
InStyle Best of Tech Award
TIME Best Travel Gadget
AmeriStar Best of Show
IDEA Bronze Award

Talks I’ve given.

Beyond the Black Turtleneck
International Design Conference (New York, NY)
Creative Independence Panel
IDSA DEIC (New York, NY)
Pratt Industrial Design Lecture Series

Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, NY)
Brigham Young University Guest Lecture
BYU School of Design (Provo, UT)
BarkBox Monthly Speaker Series
Bark (New York, NY)
Virginia Tech ID Lecture Series
Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA)
KU Design Symposium Lecture Series
The University of Kansas (Lawrence, KS)
Ugly Design on Purpose”
The Variable Podcast (Phoenix, AZ)
Concept Carleton Design Conference
Carleton University (Ottawa, CA)
Connecting the Dots Conference

Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY)
Industrial Design Master Class
National YoungArts Foundation (Miami, FL)
Strategic Sketching Workshop
HP Design Center (Barcelona, ESP)
Eating Habits Design Conference
l’École de design (Nantes, FR)
WIT Design Speaker Series
Wentworth Institute of Technology (Boston, MA)
MICA Speaker Series
Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore, MD)
Creative Minds Speaker Series
Steelcase Design Center (Monterrey, MX)
Square One Design Conference
Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago, IL) Tandem Design Conference
Jefferson University (Philadelphia, PA)
The Future of Food Panel
Parsons School of Design (New York, NY)

 

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Where I work.

Baltimore Studio
Located in a historic carriage house in the Charles Village neighborhood, I love this city for its scrappy underdog spirit, eccentric lawn ornaments, and radicals like Billie Holiday, John Waters and Edgar Allen Poe. This location also provides easy access to clients based in NYC, Boston, DC and Philly. I’m currently based here.

Barcelona Studio
Located in a pied-à-terre that’s part of an old flour factory in the industrial neighborhood of Poblenou, I love this city for its infectious bohemian vibe, Rollerblading outfits from the 90’s, and rule breakers like Montserrat Caballé, Antoni Gaudí and Pablo Picasso. I use this location for European based clients. When not in use, I rent it out.