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About
ABOUT DESIGN INTUITION
Design Intuition (formerly A Designer Life) is your online design destination where creativity comes out to play. Here you’ll find awesome products, design inspiration and DIY ideas to ignite your imagination.
WHAT IS DESIGN INTUITION?
“Design Intuition is the ability of a perceptive and compassionate designer to assemble their inner knowledge and past experience into new patterns that lead to the (seemingly magical) discovery of innovative new design solutions. An intuitive design process combines inspiration, insight, imagination, and iteration with a skilled designer’s gut instinct. Design Intuition thus has the potential to generate creative solutions to some of the world’s most challenging design problems, as well as the ability to elicit elements of surprise and delight from apparently simple design solutions.”
– Jessica Lea Dunn
ABOUT THE FOUNDER
She is constantly on the hunt for cleverly designed products, and appreciates the beauty in everything from mass produced items (think Apple) to niche artisan pieces (think Etsy). Jessica shares her findings on Design Intuition, as well as her growing Instagram and Pinterest accounts.
With a vibrant and colourful style that’s professional with a playful twist, Jess creates fresh content that delights her audience every time. Her deep understanding of what makes content shareable and her exceptionally versatile aesthetic makes her a highly sought after partner for a wide variety of brands. In fact, she is one of the best when it comes to understanding what content works well for her audience, regularly producing top results for brand partners in their Pinterest campaigns.
Biography
Want to know even more about me?
(Enough with the third person already!)
In 2010, we came back to Australia together, and I graduated from the University of Technology, Sydney with a combined degree in Industrial Design and International Studies, achieving First Class Honours and being awarded the University Medal in Industrial Design.
Also in 2010, I began working as a designer in early-end product development for the world’s leading tech-driven medical device company. I’ve since worked on many cutting-edge projects, have been granted numerous patents and helped design and bring to market several multi-million dollar products that save lives. This is the kind of life-changing work that inspires me every day, and in late 2017 I moved on from this role to begin studying for my PhD in Design Innovation.
As a passionate product designer, my first experience of online fame happened in 2011 when my graduating design project, a folding motorcycle helmet, went viral around the globe. Due to the success of this project, I also had the chance to speak at the Apple store in Sydney CBD at a “Meet the Designers” event!
Then, in 2012, I became one of the most followed people on Pinterest in the world, and the second most followed Pinterest influencer in Australia.
Antok and I grew our family with our gorgeous (and spirited) little girl Alira in 2013 – and let’s just say that life has never been so busy!
Since 2013, I have partnered with interdisciplinary design leader Alexandra Crosby to bring design students from the University of Technology Sydney on an annual Global Studio to Indonesia to learn about culture, context, alternative design definitions, design thinking and to collaboratively work on projects that attempt to solve important design problems within the community. Alexandra and I also collaborated on the Indonesian Australian Design Futures project in 2016, bringing Indonesian and Australian designers together for international exchange, ideas and skills sharing, workshops, a community hack-a-thon, and most importantly, imagining new design futures.
In April 2017 I travelled to Milan to visit International Design Week in partnership with the Lexus Design Awards. This incredible trip was one of the highlights of my design and social media career. You can read my ultimate guide for visiting Milan Design Week here.
Want to know more?
A few of my favourite things:
- Beautifully designed functional products like these
- Lunch at hipster cafes with my husband
- Creative play with my little girl Alira
- Podcasts (especially 99% Invisible)
- Organic tea (have you tried Pukka?)
- Pana Organic Chocolate (seriously the best)
- Natural health and nutrition (I’m gluten-free forever)
- Vintage shopping (it’s treasure hunting!)
- Yoga (my sacred time reconnecting mind, body, spirit)
- Beach days (can it be summer all year round?)
- Exotic textiles (I want a kilim rug collection!)
- Crystals (my grandmother collected gemstones like these)
- Travelling in Indonesia (Yogyakarta is my second home)
- My beautifully designed watch (technology + nostalgia)
- Supporting amazing charities such as this.
Have you seen some of my most popular posts here? I wrote about this awesome cloud concrete toilet roll holder, these cute Lego men to hold your cables, this awesome DIY branch coat rack, and these easy Halloween food ideas.