| DAY IN THE LIFE
Tomas DeLuna
At 27, DeLuna is the creative force behind GE’s new Artistry™ Series—a family of kitchen products that combine distinctive, even elegant, design with easy usability. 7 a.m.
Wake up, feeling eager to start the day. Before I leave for work, I pause and have breakfast with my wife. We make this a priority each morning.
7:45 a.m
Leave for work with lunch in tow. The drive takes about 10 minutes with traffic, which is just enough time to start thinking about the day ahead and getting focused.
8 a.m.
Arrive at work.
8:15 a.m.
Grab a cup of coffee and do some research to get my creative juices flowing. Many days, like today, I choose to read car blogs, which doesn’t appear to relate to appliances, but provides me with a unique perspective on design. The ways cars tug at emotions is very compelling. I’m a self-proclaimed techy, so I might do some research on tech blogs, too, to see what consumer brands are up to.
9 a.m.
Fire up my email, run through my to-do list and begin tackling today’s tasks—after my one cup of coffee for the day, I’m feeling inspired.
9:30 a.m.
Meet with a large retail customer who has come to Appliance Park learn about our Artistry strategy from our design team. As the designer behind the Artistry strategy, I am in this meeting and others like it to ensure we’re highlighting key aspects of the appliance line. Thus far, we’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback and interest from these groups.
10:30 a.m. Take the customer to our Industrial Design Operations (IDO), where they can see and interact with our actual appliances. This is very important for Artistry, which places a lot of design emphasis on the features consumers touch and interact with. 11 a.m.
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Sit down with our communications group to discuss how to position Artistry. The goal is to deliver a clear and consistent message and a brand statement. I enjoy these meetings because they allow me to help set the direction of products I’m passionate about.
PROFILES IN DIVERSITY JOURNAL
12:30 p.m. Take a break for lunch. I use this time to recharge and to clear my head. I’m extremely focused when I’m working, but when I take a break, I shut that off completely and take a true mental break. 1:30 p.m.
Start my afternoon in our Rapid Prototyping Center (RPC), testing a part of a new appliance. The RPC houses rapid prototype printers with a wide variety of printing technologies that can produce workable models in different materials and sizes. Rapid prototyping streamlines and speeds up the product design process. The RPC is key in the project I’m working on today because it will help cut down on the number of design revisions needed to get us to our goal.
2:30 p.m. Interview with a design publication. This is an important aspect of my role and I’ve gotten comfortable with this type of exchange. 3:15 p.m.
Design team regroups to review the prototypes created today and decide what adjustments are needed. This review process is very important because it allows us to see potential design issues and address them early on.
4 p.m.
Faced with a product design hurdle we haven’t been able to get past, we take some time to brainstorm solutions as a group.
5:30 p.m. Leave work and head home. 5:45 p.m. Arrive home and let out our cocker spaniel. He runs around, enjoying finally being outside! 7 p.m.
Sit down to dinner with my wife. We’ve been making an effort lately to sit together at the dinner table rather than eat in front of the TV. It gives us a chance to reflect on the day and share stories.
11 p.m.
After doing some chores around the house— we’ve been making a lot of upgrades lately, as we recently moved—we go to bed, ready to start all over again tomorrow. PDJ
November/December 2013