Julia Thompson

Conducted ethnographic research through in-home and in-store observation and interviews for 3 clients: Fiskars, Playtex and Tiger Direct.

The Design Insights team is an integrated component of the Industrial Design and User Experience Design groups at BlackBerry. As part of the Design Planning organization, the Insights team provides timely and actionable research to inspire, guide and validate both hardware and software initiatives.

• Developed in my role from conducting tactical product evaluations to planning and organizing exploratory research programs resulting in strategic directions and opportunities.
• Developed research plans to integrate multi-disciplinary teams in both the research observation as well as the analysis and synthesis of the research findings resulting in value added insights.
• Entrusted to present research findings and recommendations to senior and executive level management.
• Conducted region specific research across North America, Europe and Asia.
• Responsible for the user evaluation of industrial design concepts, CMF and accessories for a range of BlackBerry 10 products and the Bold and Curve line-up of products in order to validate the designs, provide end-user insights and recommend final design directions.
• Contributed to heuristic evaluations with the usability team in support of the design and development of the BlackBerry 10 OS.
• Responsible for the recruitment, hiring, and managing of the Design Insights co-op students.

Designed and developed the company website while adhering to the corporate branding strategy.

Constructed a full-scale proof of principle model to be used for ergonomic study and marketing purposes.

• Developed a skating-aid product in collaboration with a fellow designer for a local entrepreneur.
• Utilized all stages of development: research, concept generation, prototyping, usability testing, and formal modeling to realize a successful product outcome.

• Successfully managed two $100,000 projects to improve the department work environment.
• Facilitated focus group with production personnel to identify department issues and develop countermeasures.
• Completed ergonomic assessments for production processes and prioritized these processes dependent on the risk of repetitive strain injuries (NIOSH lifting index, push/pull force, reach distance, posture).
• Conducted MOST time studies to determine efficient line layout, distribution of workloads, and to determine the impact of part modifications on cycle time.