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Desirée Taylor
Manager / Director Girls Toy Design & Development
Winnetka, CA
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About
I have been very lucky to have my most recent design promoted on LIVE with Kelly and Ryan and on Fox News for Toy Fair 2019. In 2018 my talented team and I won every license we pitched for. Toys are about to launch for Paramount's Motion picture WONDER PARK, and RAINBOW BUTTERFLY UNICORN KITTY. We start with keeping inspired, and up on current trends in the toy, fashion and product markets. I create concept product designs with an expertise in creating award-winning, innovative or challenging concepts from sketches, through to development. My strengths include speed, which allows me to meet demanding deadlines, juggling a large workload, problem solving, & a vast knowledge of the toy industry & development process. Mattel & MGA have valued my ideas & have awarded me for new I.P. concept ideas. I have also been known to meet difficult deadlines, & come up with solutions for factory challenges. I have worked with 4 of the top toy organizations, & also have experience in the design & web fields. And now I am turning to the field of education teaching Toy Design at Otis School of the Arts.
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Education
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Adult Education IllustrationOtis College of Art and Design2002 - 2003
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Bachelor's Graphic DesignCalifornia State University Northridge1992 - 1996
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Bachelor'sDeMontfort University UK1995
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Experience
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LecturerOtis School of DesignLos Angeles, CASep 2018 - Present (2 years 10 months)Design Lecturer - Toys, Design, Illustration
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Manager / Director Girls Product DevelopmentFunrise Inc.Oct 2015 - Present (5 years 9 months)Direct girls design team for all new brands, licenses and/or new IP’s.
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Sr. Development & Design ManagerMGA EntertainmentVan Nuys, CA2013 - 2016 (3 years)Worked with a team of people to produce Lalaloopsy, Bratz Dolls, Moxie Dolls and product from design concept, cost reducing and plant manufacturing. Additionally I worked on Little Tikes design and development. Duties: Trained & mentored new hires to integrate them into the team. * Managed department in absence of supervisor. * Worked closely with preliminary designers to create a rough model doll, and/or related toy product (i.e.. Child-size luggage, new toys or accessories). Helped Little Tikes brand team create and develop products. Created necessary artwork (fabric, decal and control drawings) for toy product. * Developed girl-size product, such as luggage, purses, jewelry, fashion & keepsakes. Traveled to Hong Kong to finalize direction and approve final samples involved with factories & plants. * Kept track of multiple projects and time-lines, & orchestrate corrections & changes through developing product, meanwhile interacting with Hong Kong, Marketing, Packaging, Printing Development, & misc. vendors.
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Lead Toy Designer / Project ManagerJakks PacificSanta Monica, CA2009 - 2010 (1 year)Manage Licensed Product Lines - Winx Club, & Disney Fairies, Dolls, Accessories, Role Play and Playsets. Art Directing & developing new toy concepts for girls toys (dolls, fashions, playsets and accessories). Creating preliminary & final design sketches for fashion and toy products (control art &/or fabric art). Lead presentation of concept ideas to licensee with support of trendboards and swatches. Travel to Hong Kong to check and control product line, as well as travel to Licensee in New York for presentations and meetings. Work parallel with local and Hong Kong vendors to build 3D prototypes, photography, & commercials etc. Setting up, presenting & brainstorming new product concepts. Control product budget and balance line costs within budget and cost reduce where necessary. Keep track of team's progress on projects, and update upper management and outside departments. Brainstorm & design new concept projects for future toy lines.
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Sr. Toy Design & DevelopmentSpin MasterCulver City, CA2009 - 2010 (1 year)Worked on the Liv Doll line design & developing new doll concepts through to production. Art Directing & developing new toy concepts for girls toys (dolls, fashions, playsets and accessories). * Creating preliminary & final design sketches for fashion and toy products & playsets (control art &/or fabric art). Working with vendors on rough models (hair, face, paint, structure, photography, commercials etc.) * Setting up, presenting & brainstorming new product concepts. Overlook final work & following through with Hong Kong to develop final product for production & guide design team to help make changes more clear. * Help manager with workload by informing of, or setting up, deadlines delegating workload & relaying the status on projects through the internal team, & to our expanded team planners. * Keep track of team's progress on personal projects, and update upper management and outside departments
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Sr. Designer / IllustratorMattel Inc.El Segundo, CA2001 - 2004 (3 years)Barbie dolls, and Toys Worked with a team of people to produce quality toys from design concept to cost-reducing & plant manufacturing. Duties: * Same duties as above with higher focus more on creative aspects. Designed Barbie, accessories and fabric arts for customized clients, and developing dolls through to completion. * Managed team in absence of Manager for maternity leave. Lead inner team projects such as inspirational & media brainstorms. Informed group of new technologies & computer program advancements. * Held biannual computer classes for team - teaching tricks, shortcuts & techniques of Photoshop & Illustrator. Trained new hires prioritized work loads for team & distributed projects art directed face & hair aesthetics, 3-D accessories, fabric and labels. * Special projects noted at end of resumé.
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Sr. Website Illustrator & Graphic DesignereToys.comLos Angeles, CA1998 - 2001 (3 years)* Lead Illustrator for eToys.com Duties: * Utilized organizational skills by: training & mentoring new hires within the design department co-managed team meetings co-coordinated & communicated with all levels of upper management regarding individual team weekly agendas creating & maintaining an inner department library with the latest reference materials & notified department of design & artistic events in the neighborhood. Designed multi-media marketing materials, including stickers, embroidered hats, key-chains, flyers, banner ads, wrapping paper, mail-out cards, & other promotional pieces. * Balanced company desire for quality illustrations with concerns about website speeds & worked within format compatibility restrictions. Created a consistent illustrative look & feel across all web pages while maintaining several individual store & sister company (eToys.co.uk, BabyCenter.com, & ParentCenter.com) styles.
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Industries
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Skills
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Elsewhere on the Web
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On Coroflot@designerdesiree, member since 2009
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Following 1
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Followers 6
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