Show us your space: industrial designer Taylor Downes

From light-filled private painting studios to collaborative offices with cityscape views, the varied workspaces of CCAD students and alumni represent the multitude of career paths an art and design school can help forge. Here’s a peek into where several of our students and grads make the magic happen M–F (or, sometimes, 24/7).

Taylor Downes likes working at Evo Design so much she’s become a team member there twice. Downes joined the industrial design and engineering studio in 2007 and worked in its Connecticut studio for four years. After some time at Design Central and FITCH in Columbus, Downes rejoined the Evo team in 2014 as vice president to launch the Ohio office.

Today she splits her time between the Connecticut and Columbus locations and is responsible for leading all business development and managing major accounts. Downes’ specialty is managing research and design and working with engineering to ensure innovation happens.

We caught up with her to look behind the scenes at her Columbus office—and meet one seriously cute office dog.

Can you describe your workspace?

If I am not traveling, I work out of a historic building in downtown Newark. The building has the original 1800’s tin ceilings, which I love. It is a pretty straightforward office with a desk, my laptop, and a whiteboard for planning. I love plants and think they add a lot of life to any space, so we have about as many plants as we can fit in the space. But, about half to the time, I travel to visit clients, attend trade shows, or work out of our Connecticut office, so I work in a lot of different places on the go.

What kind of work do you do in this space?

I spend the majority of my time on the computer writing proposals, emailing, and checking LinkedIn. I spend a lot of time on the phone talking with clients and the team in the Connecticut studio as well.

How do you work?

On the days in the office I work pretty standard hours: 8:30 a.m.–5:50 p.m.  I am almost always working on a few things at once and my email is always open. I typically work during the day and then pick back up in the evening after dinner to catch up on emails or LinkedIn.

What do you love about your space?

Besides the plants? My black lab, Diesel, comes to work with me. He spends most of his time hanging out in the chair in the front of the office watching people go by. I love that we are in a little downtown area with lots of great restaurants and other young professionals.

Learn more about CCAD’s Industrial Design program.

Are you a Columbus College of Art & Design alum making work in an eye-catching, unusual, or otherwise compelling space? We’d love to see it! Fill out the form here for an opportunity to be featured.