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About Me

(I’m the one on the left)

My first experience with branding was hands-on: I imprinted the flanks of terrified calves who’d been lasso’d to the ground with the ranch’s signature “swinging T” mark using a heated iron rod. I’ll spare you the multi-sensory details of that morning, but suffice to say I was horrified and nauseated… but also weirdly excited: adrenalized. This was at my first college, Deep Springs. Balanced with the ranch work was a fantastic but eclectic academic program; after two years I knew what I wanted to do and transferred into the Rhode Island School of Design.

These days, the sort of branding I do still energizes me viscerally, especially when I see it energize others, and I’m only horrified at when things are flagrantly off-brand. I’ve spent two decades designing for and leading in-house design/marketing teams in consumer electronics, nonprofit, healthtech, and prosocial gaming.

  • Design Identities & Rebrands
    // AnitaB.org • ProUnitas • Replicate Technologies • Chivaz • many more
  • Build and lead in-house design/brand teams
    // Speck • Sol Republic • AnitaB.org • IMVU
  • Concept and execute brand strategies + integrated campaigns
    // Speck: Clever+friendly underdog at events • IMVU: Cause Marketing • Sol Republic: Sub-premium lifestyle challenger • Clover Health consumer launch campaign
  • Lead creative engagement and collaboration with agencies

I thrive leading and nurturing communicative, creative and mutually-inspiring teams. I love applying human-centered design (a.k.a Design Thinking or UX process) to marketing and visuals. I excel at big-idea ideation and details-oriented iteration.

I take to heart ex-RISD president John Maeda’s challenge to designers (and Bruce Mau, Debbie Millman or IDEO’s strong examples) to use lateral and divergent thinking to take on larger problems.

(I’m the one on the left)

Owen was our second designer at Clover and was instrumental in developing the brand and leading the marketing design efforts.

I worked closely with Owen throughout our intense open enrollment selling season. He pushes for perfection, but understands when tradeoffs need to be made to meet timelines and move quickly.

Owen is also passionate about defining culture. His calm and peaceful demeanor is a welcome addition in a high-paced environment.

Louisa Henry

Director of Product Specialists, Airtable

Selected Skills and Aptitudes
Branding

From visuals to voice and tone to marketing funnel-appropriate creative, for brand resonance and relevance with audience insights

Creative Direction

Ideation, direction, creative team growth, mentoring, motivation, and management; working with remote, outsourced, and agency creatives

Design Thinking/UX

My skills and knowledge of user-insights-based human-centered design practice are high. My design practice has mostly been in the “second diamond” of the double diamond model.

Experiential Design

From events and activations to packaging and point of purchase displays using behavior design principles and touchpoint-specific hierarchies and strategies

Copywriting

Naming, surprise/delight writing, brand voice, and tone; I pair well with a skilled copywriter or (obviously, dear reader!) editor

Adobe Creative Suite/Cloud

Decades of expertise in Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Acrobat, Lightroom, proficient in After Effects, and XD

UI tools

Solid grasp of best practices and emerging trends. WordPress. Some experience with paper prototyping, Balsamiq, Figma, Sketch+Zeplin, Framer and Invision + HTML/CSS                  

Other

Google Ad Creator and SketchUp; art direction of photography and videography; letterpress and silkscreen; lettering and illustration; lots more

What they say about me

Owen was part of the core team at AnitaB.org that I worked with on an intensive user research project. From the project’s inception to our final presentation, Owen was a true partner and collaborator in our work.

His commitment to serving the target audiences and users that could benefit from AnitaB’s resources was inspiring. As we embarked on persona development, he was always sensitive of the perceptions often placed upon underrepresented groups; and equity and inclusion was at the heart of all his recommendations and creative direction.

Owen was truly a pleasure to work with every step of the way, and I look forward to when our paths might cross again!

Natania LeClerc

Senior Digital Engagement Strategist, ThinkShout

To work along side a genuine creative talent is truly good fortune . . . and that’s how I view my time working with Owen. His unique, creative style and solution-based approach to marketing was pivotal in delivering growth and traction for our brand and products.

Owen is a transformational leader and his design team thrived under an intellectual and collaborative environment. Further, Owen sought to support our field team in an influential way – by seeking to understand the retail environment; identifying opportunities in a competitive landscape, and producing collateral and merchandising to help establish our place in a cluttered field of products.

Owen tackled each assignment with a sense of urgency, passion and thoughtfulness and made the creative process an inclusive and productive collaboration . . . and his contribution was instrumental in establishing the playful design, fun and recognizable brand we are today.

Terri Rago

VP, Business Development, Premium Retail Services

To say Owen would be a big catch for any organization is a vast understatement. Personally very sincere, thoughtful, and earnest to help his coworkers, Owen moreover is a truly gifted designer, thinker, and collaborator.

I worked alongside him at a Medicare health insurance startup on a small marketing team, and though Owen’s specific role was Senior Designer, he lent on-the-spot project management skills to produce down-and-dirty marketing campaigns on tight timelines. When working with Owen, one has the feeling they’re being listened to, having their viewpoint authentically considered in depth.

Owen’s professional skillset becomes evident immediately upon working with him. What’s more, I have Owen to thank for my introduction to mindfulness practices, as he was solely responsible for developing a daily meditation at our company, which was a staple part of several coworkers’ days and work-life balance. Owen is professionally talented, but more importantly, is truly his brothers’ and sisters’ keeper.

Brian Gilton

Senior Content Developer, Intuit