My name is Jean-Daniel LeRoy, but people call me JD. 

I'm an egoless, self-starting, designer/fabricator hybrid currently working towards a B.S. in Arts, Technology, and the Business of Innovation at the University of Southern California, which is a fancy way of saying "trans-disciplinary." My studies have allowed me to try to become literate in everything from web development to motion graphics and video production, which has led me to work a few interesting and odd jobs, including gigs with adidas and Fear of God.

How I got here:

Originally from Oakland, CA, I attended Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco. The “head, heart, and hands” curriculum provided me with a diverse technical toolkit and introduced me to the culture of crafting and making things yourself. Within my school’s wood, metal and programing maker spaces, I learned to work conceptually and physically, moving from theory to practice in order to bring the designs of my mind into the physical world. I took classes on “rethinking furniture” to “kinetics”—and in those four years I designed and built a geodesic dome lounge chair and a camera gimbal.

I was accepted into USC as a Global Health major, but interests in product management and interdisciplinary design inspired me to transfer into Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation. When I learned about the multidisciplinary nature of product design, I knew that I wanted to learn skills at the intersection of business, technology, and design and apply them to large scale problems.

The future:

I am a firm believer that good design doesn't exist in a vacuum. We live in a world with tight business constraints and specific technical requirements. I am a business-minded, engineering-informed designer who loves collaborating in multidisciplinary teams. Above all, people are at the center of my design world.  I am interested in the ways that technology shapes our cultural and social environment, and I consider this impact in everything that I design. I aim to use design as a superpower—to challenge the status quo and solve problems that are deeply intertwined in people's lives in a way that is socially-conscious, impact-focused, and inclusive.

Outside of design, you can find me taking 3D film photos on my Nishika camera or bouldering in Joshua Tree.