Stephanie Vacher
Product development and design | San Francisco, CA
hello@stephanievacher.com
References available upon request | Download Resumé

Work Experience:

National Research Council – Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation
and Emily Carr University – Vancouver, BC
Industrial Design Co-Op | May 2009 – April 2010

- Lead industrial designer for a hydrogen-powered kiosk
- UI and Graphic design for the kiosk’s touch-screen interface
- Conducted ethnographic and user surveys for the re-design of the lobby (gateway) space
- Sourced local metal manufacturers and created design spec packages for production of the kiosk
- Developed and integrated LCA/life-cycle assessment

John Fluevog Shoes – Vancouver, BC
Product Design Co-Op/Internship | Jan 2009 – Apr 2009

- New product development of shoes and bags for Fall 2009 and Spring 2010
- Communicated directly with factories in Peru, Portugal and China
- Sourced leather from distributors in Italy
- Created product drawings and spec sheets for fabrication
- Conducted user testing and ‘unfocus’ groups for Spring 2010
- Created visual design briefs and trend/mood boards

Ambiance Collections – New York, NY
Surface & Tabletop Product Designer | Oct 2003 – Jan 2009

- Reported directly to the VP of Design
- Created body shapes and surface designs for hand-paint and decal application
- Communicated with factories in China and USA
- Attended trade shows in Atlanta (AIGM) and New York (NYIGF and Surtex)
- Researched and reported on colour and thematic trending
- Budgeted collections to meet the customer’s price-point
- Created visual design briefs and trend/mood boards for colllections
- Visual merchandising for showroom and trade show booths

Skillset:

Adobe Creative Suite, AutoCAD, Rhino, Solidworks, SketchUp, Flash, Lightroom, HTML/CSS, MS Office, Quark

Project Management, Leadership, User Research & Testing, Ethnographic Research, Trend Forecasting, Rapid Ideation, Life Cycle Assessment, Storyboarding, Teamwork Strategies, Photography, Photo Retouching

Education:

Emily Carr University of Art + Design – Vancouver, BC
Bachelor of Design (BDES) in Industrial Design – GPA 3.6

Recipient of the ECU Achievement Scholarship

Speaking Engagements:

In 2008, I was invited to speak at Northern Voice, in Vancouver, BC. My presentation, “Apparatus for the Future” is a primer about design theory and practice. Slides.

In 2009, I conducted a design charrette at BarCamp Vancouver, bringing 40+ people together to design safer methods to cross the street at dangerous intersections. Slides.