Taylor Design, a solution-oriented architecture, environments and strategies firm, has announced that Jen Leonard has joined the firm as Strategies Practice Leader. In this role, she will focus on bringing her human-centered design experience to Taylor Design collaborating across its Irvine, San Francisco and San Diego offices, and inspiring new ways of approaching design challenges.

Leonard brings to her new role more than 10 years as senior design lead and creative strategist at global design and innovation firm IDEO. During that time she honed her human-centered skills across a wide range of projects – from retail and finance to hospitality and health care – for clients such as Nike, Marriott, Visa, and AT&T, helping them make a positive impact through design. Her diverse background also encompasses radio broadcasting and print journalism, as well as co-authoring the award-winning book Massive Change: The Future of Global Design with Bruce Mau, a modern, illustrated primer on the new inventions, technologies, and events that are impacting humanity worldwide.

“We are thrilled to have Jen join our team. Her creativity, influence and design leadership will be integral to fulfilling what we’ve set out to accomplish at Taylor Design – creating design that empowers people to do what they do best,” said Randy Regier, president, Taylor Design.

“I appreciate how design can be a force for positive change in our world,” Leonard shared. “So I’m excited to see this manifest in the projects at Taylor, whose focus areas include healthcare, education and technology. Through design we can positively influence people’s lives and empower both those who serve and receive. 

Leonard is also the host and producer behind Brand New Ways, an interview-based podcast about change making and rule breaking. She received her design diploma from the Institute without Boundaries, at George Brown College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto, Canada, and studied journalism at the Graduate School of Journalism, The University of Western Ontario, in London, Canada. Her undergraduate degrees are in Sociology (Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada) and Anthropology (The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada).

 For more information about Taylor Design, visit www.WeAreTaylor.com