Hi, I’m Peter.
Design is my creative practice.
I’m a designer and product leader with a background in innovation consulting. I work primarily at the fuzzy beginning of new products, helping teams build with clarity.
Most recently, I was an Associate Design Director at the Brooklyn based consultancy Smart Design, where I fostered a small team of product designers and built partnerships with some of the most innovative companies.
I live in Brooklyn with my partner, Tasnima (also a designer) and my cat, Luna.
I’m an habitual maker. Outside of design, I write and produce independent music, paint, cook, and collect physical media. I love bringing my community together, especially when I get to feed a crowd.
My role at Smart Design
As an Associate Director leading our Product Design team, I balanced leading the end-to-end design and strategy of new experiences, scaling Smart’s product practice, and securing new client partnerships while scoping and managing programs across clients.
As a designer—
My process is iterative and hands-on; I use deep research and prototypes to evolve ambitious concepts into cohesive experiences that resonate. While I predominantly design software, I leverage my background in Visual Communication and Industrial Design to craft systems beyond the screen.
As a mentor—
I built a small but mighty team of multi-disciplinary designers. I supported primarily entry-level designers, helping them grow into confident senior IC’s with a unique perspective and ability to drive the process and build partnerships independently.
As a business partner—
My underlying magic is helping orgs uncover the emotional core that drives user behavior, push their imagination and ambition, and ship intuitive product ecosystems that stand out.
I got my start in design working high school summers at a print shop in Seattle.
I grew up loving art and books, so learning to design, print, and bind was a gift. It taught me the fundamentals of typography and composition, but more importantly, the focus required for excellent craft.
That foundation led me to RISD, where my thinking expanded into every dimension. I worked on everything: designing Mars habitations at NASA, retail stores for Nike, and experimental audio devices.
A real shift for me though, occurred while designing a support app for concussed youth athletes. Working closely with athletes and their families to build support systems that reduced their isolation was incredibly rewarding. I fell in love with that earnest process of realizing something that someone truly, deeply needs.
I joined Smart Design to unite all my design interests. As a design and innovation consultancy, it was the perfect place to build experimental services and products driven by human insight.
I spent eight years there, maturing from a junior designer to a Director while leading work across a vast range of industries.
