What do modern, masculine everyday bags look like?

What color & material combinations are popular right now?

What is an elegant way to integrate leather with other materials?

Research & Inspiration Boards

Examples of three boards (row above) and a chart (at right) I created for an internal presentation. Each board answers a question and ties into some aspect of the concept itself.

What does the market look like in terms of price point and masculine vs. feminine aesthetics?

Concepting

While working, I switch between hand sketches, Illustrator renderings and, situationally, 3D modeling. My goal is to never get stuck staring at the screen. If I hit a roadblock, I switch the medium in which I'm working, take another look at the inspiration, or lay out all of the concepts I have so far and see what comes to mind. If all else fails, I watch some funny pet videos online and try to stop overthinking what I’m doing.

For efficiency when hand sketching, I create a mostly transparent sketching template so I have a consistent framework upon which I can build. 

When concepting for a collection of multiple products, I typically work in a large Illustrator document which includes every piece in the collection. This lets me to keep the big picture in mind while I fine tune each piece.

If a product is complex enough and requires premium details and refinement, I rotate among the aspects of the piece I'm sketching. The end result is a presentation showing all of the details for each concept and how they are tied together.

Presentation of concept with details

Refinement

One of the best lessons I’ve learned through the years is to sample smart. I try to be creative about any prototyping on both a small and large scale that can be done without burning up time & resources. Who needs four bags that all have the same construction issues? For one example, with similar styles I try to get one sample right, then use those construction methods to scale up, down, and across the line. 

Research

Sometimes you have that moment with a client or a co-worker where you’re done discussing the new project and you ask when they want it done. They say, “Yesterday” or “ASAP” and then you wait for them to laugh. After an awkward silence with a few blinks and maybe a cough or two but definitely no laughter, you realize you need to alter your normal process to make something happen. In this example, I had only a few days to create concepts for a small, local brewery’s tap handles.  I pulled together a quick inspiration board based on a 20-minute internet search. My goal was to find unique, bold tap handles. Bonus points if they incorporated copper.