Internal documentation (prior to delivery) is NDA-protected; the provided summaries below are derived from real data, deliverables, roadmaps, and processes. Thorough case studies and outcomes are available upon request!
Surface is an innovative content studio and media platform that looks at the world through the lens of design. We create best-in-class content that champions the fields of architecture, art, design, fashion, travel, and everything in between.
We believe the power of design shapes the world around us. We value boldness, imagination, and original thinking. We celebrate craftsmanship and creativity. Resourcefulness, agility, and pragmatism are the guiding principles we abide by. We believe in developing meaningful products worthy of our discerning audience and innovative clients. We are devoted to deep, nuanced storytelling that delves into the design industry’s foremost thinkers and their creative process, and the fabrication of the material things we encounter every day, from buildings to bags.
For nearly 30 years, the global design industry has looked to Surface as the trusted resource that sits at the intersection of creative disciplines. Our mission is to cultivate an inclusive community rooted in collaboration and creative exchange, and set the agenda for what the design world will be talking about tomorrow. Through incisive reporting and an emphasis on breaking news and trends, Surface brings clarity and authority to the industry’s most pressing issues, resulting in essential information that readers can't get anywhere else.
With our global network of contributors, Surface produces insightful and engaging content across numerous verticals, including our industry-leading Design Dispatch newsletter, custom content division Surface Studios, flagship conversation series Design Dialogues, shoppable product guide Design Dose, and annual Travel Awards program. Soon, the Surface audience will have the opportunity to discover our very own curated real estate marketplace, Surface Shelter.
• Led 360-degree product strategy and copywriting to diversify revenue streams in teams of 4-9.
• Identified opportunity, produced market validation, and synthesized user insights into feasible—and commercial—design decisions/omnichannel solutions.
• Grew UX team & structured user flows, wireframes, mock-ups, & other UX artifacts.
• Spearheaded the conceptualization and launch of three technical, B2B2C verticals:
1. Design Dose — a digital product discovery platform and eCommerce marketplace.
2. Surface Area — a curated showroom, content studio, and activation space in Miami’s coveted Design District.
3. Surface Shelter (beta) — centralized real estate directory for design-forward properties.
• Wrote enterprise story features and shaped product roadmaps for large-scale partners, including Apple, Genesis, Squarespace, Airbnb, and others (partnership value varied, but averaged ~$300K)
• Conducted competitive feature audit of subscription-based customer journeys; synthesized user insights to introduce premium content while leveraging B2C sales opportunity (Design Dose Gift Guide MVP, raised $150K in 10 days)
• Introduced new functionality to our custom, internal tracking system (Wyatt) and integrated inputs with Wordpress (our CMS). This allowed non-technical team members to interact with and contribute to our back-end seamlessly, while also bolstering Wyatt's SaaS value to outside adopters.
• Recognized copywriting/editing as one of my strengths and genuine interests.
• How to utilize Agile frameworks toward successful, concurrent product development lifecycles and onboard team members in these areas.
• Gained working knowledge of the meaning of strong UX design in collaborating with stakeholders:
1. Usable: It must be easy to use with a purpose and structure that's clear to all users.
2. Equitable: It must be useful to people regardless of their backgrounds or abilities.
3. Enjoyable: A user’s interaction with the product must be pleasant for the user.
4. Useful: It must be able to solve user’s problems.
• How to design under organizational and budgeting constraints. Surface wanted to reuse many existing components in fresh, revamped use cases (within the aforementioned verticals we launched). I learned how to quickly familiarize myself with existing design systems, how to add to them without friction, how to re-test and establish respective UX research baselines on designs published prior to joining Surface, and how to lead critiques with my team to evaluate whether or not the new iterations would function as proven solutions.
• How to account for new information regarding users' needs and shifting business strategies within the design process. For Design Dose in particular, partners expected a differentiating factor from the PR they were already pursuing. We met this need by introducing a "By the Numbers" module that served to highlight the craftsmanship of each featured product as provided by creators. This fit Surface's design lens, and the unique insights offered by our partners were received very positively by consumers as well. The Surface team was initially concerned about the labor involved if we were to supply thorough write-ups per product, and we also needed to uphold the value of alternate offerings that were meant to be packaged together (editorial content was classified under The List or Digital Issues via Surface Studios, our internal creative house for custom content).
• How to onboard non-technical team members and ensure accessibility in terms of account management. We primarily focused on enhancing Wyatt (B2B SaaS content production and sales/lead tracking).
• How to ensure designs are perfectly translated via interactive prototyping practices.
• DevOps best practices and how to streamline processes with discordant, outside development resources.
• How to face challenges with confidence and articulate/present them (alongside findings/product designs/solutions) in a way that's clear for stakeholders.
Sans Gêne is an intersectional dimension of apparel. It represents a community of those uninhibited by societal constraints and, by the same token, champions social commentary as mediated by fashion. On an individual level, Sans Gêne promotes self-inquiry and aims to position wearers in the same multi-hyphenate space—and state of being—that we understand as Sans Gêne. In this way, Sans Gêne embodies the French appellation for which the brand is named: without (sans) + reservation, discomfort, or embarrassment (gêne). Though the phrase itself accommodates many interdependent meanings, Sans Gêne weaves these interpretations into one resounding ethos: to disrupt the labels that routinely divide us. Its definitions portend the brand’s mission of delineating binary constructs, bringing human issues into focus, and mobilizing fashion as not only a medium of expression, but a vehicle of actionable change through Sans Gêne’s philanthropic partnerships.
Unrestricted by traditional distinctions across the ways in which we describe and participate with the fashion industry, the lines between genres—typically separated and likened to disconnected labels, the distinctions between what constitutes casual and formal dress, and the very concept of menswear and womenswear—are blurred. Imperative discussions around mental health and wellbeing is central to Sans Gêne’s promotion of inclusivity.
Sans Gêne launched its inaugural Pre-Fall collection on May 20, 2022. Each garment is unisex, modular, and made in Italy. As a collection, Sans Gêne offers convertible and multi-functional styling opportunities with an emphasis on luxury, artisanal quality.
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