Mel Lim
Principal/ Creative Director

Mel Lim cares to design a better world. She knows that begins with the individual and a commitment to hold fast to one’s dreams, no matter the odds. This award-winning, Malaysian-born design leader began her career at age 13 when she drafted architectural plans using her sets of Rotring Rapidograph pens in her mother’s interior design shop in Penang. Her passion for design led her to receive her foundation design diploma from the London Institute’s Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design and then make the courageous choice at age 19 to move far from home, country, family support, and all that was comfortable and familiar. She attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California where she graduated with highest distinction, earning a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Design.

Listen to Mel Lim speak and you will feel her infectious enthusiasm for design excellence, an enthusiasm well-honed from more than 15 years of international and domestic experience in project management, commercial spatial design, and brand and product development. She has worked with top architectural and design firms in the United States, and since establishing her own firm in 2003 has been consulting and designing for top Fortune 100 companies. Her work, which can be seen in London, Tokyo, Copenhagen, and all the way to the UAE, has been recognized by numerous prestigious accolades including Creativity Annual, PRINT, Graphic Design USA and American Institute of Architects (AIA) LA.

Mel is an active member of America’s Design Management Institute and contributes articles on design thinking, client management, and design and business innovation. Equipped with an inquisitive nature, a drive to explore many disciplines, and the knowledge that one must communicate to educate, Mel writes, speaks, and gives seminars/workshops covering topics from design, entrepreneurship, and innovation strategy, to culture and sustainability. Her design passion spans beyond spaces and experiences. She helps lead the industry in exploring how to use design thinking in business innovation. Intent on actively shaping a better world, Mel is committed to understanding the processes of creating and producing products and ideas, and the ways in which those efforts impact businesses and customers, both socially and environmentally.

Joe Keylon
Partner / Lead UI

Joe Keylon is an “artist’s artist,” equipped with a penetrating perception and an acute eye for detail and distinction. He is our studio’s Icon Master, and is a bit of an icon himself, as he is tall, sweeping in his gaze, and easy to pick out of a crowd. To date, he has designed over 5000 icons for hot gaming titles, software, and web user interface, transforming the way gamers and consumers interact with a device. Joe has one goal; simplify the complex. His ready wit, calm demeanor, sometimes offbeat perspective, and approachable manner make him the “go-to” guy for transforming design challenges into fun ideas.

A native Californian, Joe is at home on a surfboard, in a kayak, or in front of his drawing table. He has traveled extensively in pursuit of new ideas and inspirations, all of which contribute to his unique style. After graduating with Honors from the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, Joe began his career in editorial illustrations with clients such as Universal Studios, Scholastic, and The Wall Street Journal. He still “hand draws” today, making him one of the last few remaining “old school” artists, while ironically leading the User Interface “interaction” design in video game consoles, mobile, and tablet devices. Some of his most noted work includes redesigning Axure RP’s user interface, and Sony’s NBA and Mod Nation PS3 and PSP titles.

Joe’s work has been published in America’s top design annuals, including Creativity Annual 32. He recently collaborated with author Stephanie Bloom and illustrated his first children’s book entitled The Drummer Who Lost His Beat.

Brad Pfautsch
Developer

The inner sanctum of the technology world is a mysterious place of codes, formulas, and acronyms, where inhabitants speak a cryptic language, know how to make the impossible happen, make virtual landscapes real, and are ready, at a moment’s notice, to troubleshoot critical challenges. A developer is as good as his toolbox, and Brad is our studio’s very own MacGyver.

Brad has more than 12 years of experience serving both small and large scale businesses including Bud Light, Domino Sugar, and Peabody Energy, with a specialty in Microsoft technologies [ASP.NET - c#/VB.NET - MVC, all frameworks]. He also has extensive experience with PHP/MySQL, Java/JSP and Perl, database technologies including SQL Server, MySQL and Oracle and latest web technologies including HTML/XHTML/HTML5, CSS 2/3, jQuery (integration and plug-in development).

Visit Brad’s website here at www.bradpfautsch.com >>

Jessie Keylon
Photographer

When Jessie was seven years old, she was given a Vivitar Point ‘N Shoot camera, on a family camping trip and proceeded to document the trip. When receiving the developed film the heavens opened up and angels sang. Here was a way to express herself more accurately than words ever could.

Today, Jessie strives to balance spontaneous moments with a keen eye for unique compositions, taking each photograph to its full storytelling potential. As an avid outdoors woman, pianist, illustrator and teacher, photography combines everything she loves to do into one cleanly presented form of art.

Visit Jessie’s website here at www.jessiekeylon.com >>

Wendy Mills
Business Insights

Wendy Lim is a transatlantic, global sales executive with over 18 years of experience in customer service management. Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs in Penang, Malaysia, she spent her early adolescent years working in her family’s furniture retail and manufacturing business. These traits of entrepreneurship, dedication and fearlessness, would soon become her everyday mantra in her career.

Using her insights from her multi-faceted background and years of immersive travels, she continues to successfully bridge the complexities of Asian business cultures with the high standards of American businesses. It should be no surprise that Wendy is fluent in English, Bahasa, Mandarin, and two other Chinese dialects.

As the former Asia Pacific Sales Director for Qualitrol Co LLC, a subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company, Danaher, Wendy led her diverse team through some of the most aggressive markets in Asia, including Singapore and Hong Kong in the semi conductor industry. She articulated comprehensive yet flexible strategies that exceeded sales growth by more than 120% and expanded Qualitrol’s market share through acquisitions despite the economic recession. She also trained and managed sales reps in 10 different countries. Wendy previously worked at Power One as the Customer Service Manager managing multi-million dollar accounts including CISCO, Sun Microsystems and Nokia.

Suzanne Ito
Designer

Suzanne Ito delights in design that positively impacts individuals, communities, and the places we live, gather, and work. Her extensive experience lies in strategizing, developing, and executing branding and design projects in the built and digital environments for large, multidisciplinary clients.

A San Diego native, Suzanne earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art with an emphasis in Graphic Design and a minor in Sociology from San Diego State University. She indulges her curiosity for emerging technologies as they relate to interactive experiences, such as Ardunio, and possesses an insatiable hunger for learning new things.

Suzanne’s commitment to the larger design community extends to her active service as a mentor of The AIGA San Diego LINK program. The program encourages and educates high school disadvantaged and at-risk youth who demonstrate an interest in art and design.

Among coworkers and clients, enthusiasm abounds for Suzanne’s rich appreciation of the creative process which finds frequent expression in the world of handcrafted baking and Japanese desserts. Her passion compels us all to consider the merits of dessert as a design strategy.