Michele Ronsen

About Michele Ronsen

There are a few things neither a portfolio nor a C.V. address that may be helpful to know. For example, my earliest memory is of driving down the highway with my father. He asked me to look at a McDonald’s sign – the quintessential golden arches. He then handed me a crayon and asked me to draw what I thought the gear inside the sign (that made it spin) looked like. I was three years old. Fast forward to how it played out: Professionally trained graphic designer and design strategist. Learned the ropes at Pentagram and Michael Osborne Design. Moved client side leading design teams to develop product, packaging, merchandising and retail experiences for Nordstrom. Journeyed into finance at BofA and Wells Fargo where real estate development and service design quickly became passions as I learned the mortgage benefits of employment in financial services. Completed the Leading By Design Fellows Program to secure a deep expertise in design and user research, user-centered design, UX strategy, and innovation acceleration. Which brings us to today, consulting for wonderfully diverse clients and teaching design and user research to people around the world. I do my best work when I’m exploring new and disparate ideas, designing across disciplines, and helping others to do the same. I am a strong advocate and practitioner of human-centered and socially responsible design. Entrepreneurial in spirit, and collaborative by nature, I have an equally creative and analytical mind and a passion for tackling complex challenges that lead to positive change. I\'m recognized as a fearless, jolly, and curious entrepreneur and a leader of design, research, and business-led solutions. What I do isn’t a job to me, per se. Rather, it’s a fundamental part of who I am and how I live my life. My journey is to explore and enjoy life in many facets, to set an example for my growing family, and to help build and contribute to my personal and professional communities. I will forever be a student of life. Design thinking is in my DNA.

Experience

1. Founder

   Curiosity Tank

   Jan 2012 — Present

   Curiosity Tank is a consulting and education firm specializing in human-centered research, design development, and AI-informed product strategy, alongside hands-on learning and building programs. We conduct and teach design and user research to people and organizations around the world, including work at the intersection of human experience, emerging technologies, and AI systems.Our solutions are affordable and repeatable. We apply our diverse research methods and traditional graphic and product design roots to deliver formidable results across all platforms, media, markets, and increasingly, AI-powered products and services.Our consulting and training services cater to individuals and teams in the following areas- Design thinking and innovation workshop design and facilitation- Qualitative research- Systems thinking- UX / interaction- Prototyping- Team, product, and service design creation and evolution- UX, product, and education strategy- Human-centered AI research, trust, and adoption- Curricula development and executionLet us deliver something remarkable for you. Or better yet, let us help you do it yourself.Curiosity Tank is led by Michele Ronsen, a professional user researcher, designer, coach, and educator with hours of adult design and user research teaching expertise in academic institutions and 20+ years of corporate training, workshops, design, and research for Fortune 500s, startups, and frontier AI organizations.We love questions! Learn more about us: engagements and other questions: h••••@curiositytank.comClients include Cohere, Gusto, Stripe, Slack, Zillow, Invisalign, Xero, Microsoft, MileIQ, Autodesk, Square, Facebook, Kaiser Permanente, BNP Paribas, Best Buy, Blue Shield, PayPal, Mapfre, California College of the Arts, UC Berkeley, and many fantastic startups, non-profits, and mom and pop shops.

Education

• Harvard Business School

  Certificate

• Academy of Art University

  BFA

• San Francisco State University

  Cont. Education

• University of California, Berkeley

  Cont. Education

• California College of the Arts

  Fellowship

• Syracuse University

  Foundations

Skills

• Adobe Creative Suite
• Storytelling
• Public Speaking
• User-Centered Design
• Presenting Solutions
• Typography
• Concept Development
• Microsoft Office
• Corporate Identity
• Management
• Design Strategy
• Brand Development
• Graphics
• User Experience Design
• Indesign
• Usability Testing
• Experience Design
• Social Media
• Qualitative Research
• Data Analysis
• Interaction Design
• Research
• Adobe Photoshop
• Research Design
• Strategy
• Creative Direction
• Information Design
• Web Design
• Design Thinking
• Marketing
• Packaging
• User Experience
• Teaching
• User Research
• Design Research
• Entrepreneurship
• Corporate Branding
• Information Architecture
• Ethnography
• Product Management