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Product Designer

Leslie Montes

Mountain View, CA
lesliemontes.com
Available Now
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  • About
  • About

    I am a product designer working to bring simple, useful, and elegant everyday objects and experiences to people’s lives. With experience designing both physical and digital products, I have a unique ability to implement the product design process across mediums, from defining problems to crafting solutions.

    As a product designer at Yohana, a startup funded by Panasonic, I helped shape the company's member experience, including helping design, prototype, test, and improve our mobile app. I also helped define foundational industrial design and UX strategy for the company’s hardware program with high level explorations across various industries. Previously I worked at Panasonic Beta, where I was part of a team developing concepts and prototypes for IoT connected appliances.

    Before moving to the Bay Area, I lived in Japan, where I designed, produced, and held a solo exhibition for my furniture collection inspired by my research on Japanese woodworking and sustainable furniture design. Through this work I earned a Master’s degree in Design Strategy from Kyushu University Graduate School of Design in Fukuoka, Japan.

  • Education
    • Master's Degree, Design Strategy
      Kyushu University 九州大学
      2015 - 2018
      As a recipient of the Japanese government's MEXT research scholarship, I researched traditional Japanese woodworking and its influence on sustainable contemporary furniture design. I concluded my project by proposing an original sustainable furniture design inspired by traditional techniques. From my degree in Design Strategy I gained a broader understanding of design as a vehicle for social change on a larger scale.
    • Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Industrial Design
      The University of Kansas
      2010 - 2014
      As a student of industrial design at the University of Kansas's School of Architecture, Design and Planning, I learned to develop and communicate innovative product concepts through sketches as well as physical and digital models and prototypes.
    • Study Abroad, Product Design
      Istituto Europeo di Design (Madrid)
      2012 - 2013
      Study abroad for one year in Spain. Classes were conducted entirely in Spanish. A group project, Arc Tap, was named National Finalist for the James Dyson Award in 2013.
  • Experience
    • Product Designer
      Yohana
      Palo Alto, CA
      Mar 2020 - Sep 2022 (2 years 6 months)
      User experience (UX) design for a personal assistant service and mobile app.
      ・Built the company’s first member app prototype in Figma, bringing static designs to life and providing the first interactive end-to-end view of the member experience.

      ・Led prototyping and visual design for an iterative, comprehensive usability study that laid the foundation for several new features and improvements.

      ・Designed and delivered navigation improvements for the company’s member-facing mobile app.

      ・Designed and documented several responsive design system components and made visual and functional updates to numerous existing ones.

      ・Created an accessible dark mode color palette and defined required structural changes to the existing company-wide color palette.

      ・Defined foundational industrial design strategy for the company’s hardware program with high level explorations across various industries.
    • Industrial Designer
      Panasonic ß
      Mountain View, CA
      Feb 2019 - Mar 2020 (1 year 1 month)
      ・Designed connected home appliances with emphasis on user experience, usability, styling, and manufacturability. Work directly with hardware and software engineers to prototype and test new proposals for home appliances and services.
      ・User experience design to improve life in the home through Beta’s flagship project, HomeX.
      ・Design strategy for a system-based approach to designing connected home solutions.
    • Industrial Design Intern
      Panasonic
      Kyoto-shi, Japan
      Apr 2018 - Jun 2018 (2 months)
      ・Proposed an innovative home appliance design by rethinking the user experience from zero.
      ・Gained firsthand knowledge of the manufacturing process by working in an appliance factory.
    • Product Design Intern
      Okamura
      Minato-ku, Japan
      Aug 2016 - Sep 2016 (1 month)
      ・Designed a high desk and stool set for use in the home office as an intern at a leading Japanese office furniture company.
    • Design Consultant
      Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms
      Kyoto, Japan
      Jul 2014 - Jan 2015 (6 months)
      ・Improved the company’s brand for overseas markets by creating catalogs, brochures, product labels, and promotional photography.
  • Awards

    National Finalist, James Dyson Award design competition, 2013

  • Affiliations

    IDSA

  • Industries
    • Consumer Electronics
    • Internet Applications
    • Mobile Apps
    • Services
  • Skills
    • Furniture Design
    • Fusion360
    • Illustrator
    • Industrial Design
    • Product Design
    • Prototyping
    • Rhinoceros
    • Sketching
    • SolidWorks
    • UX
  • Elsewhere on the Web
    • k
    • 4
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  • On Coroflot
    @lesliemontes, member since 2013
    • Following 23
    • Followers 17
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