Amanda Briggs '80
Major: Art
Job Title: Sr. Director, Creative Strategy, Design
Organization: Nike, Inc.
Host Date: Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018
Time: Noon - 5 p.m.
Location: Beaverton, OR
Please note: Students that shadow Amanda will be part of a larger group attending the Nike visit together.
How would you describe your role and organization?
I have worked at Nike within the Design, Retail and Brand organizations throughout my 28+ career at the company. I am currently the Sr. Director of Creative Strategy in Design, working with our Chief Creative Officer to develop Creative Strategy and insight within the Product Design organization. I also lead an ongoing Design driven Insight research study working with Sports Marketing teams to interview our elite athletes, coaches and trainers.
How would the skills and competencies gained through a liberal arts education be beneficial in the type of work you do?
My background in fine art, art history and sociology, as well as an additional degree in textile design (from FIT) has allowed me to be very flexible and responsive to opportunities that have arisen throughout my career. The cross-disciplinary, liberal arts studies and research skills developed during my college years have been critical to success within my professional career.
As a textile designer, my interest in culture and social behavior helped inform my product design solutions. As a designer working in Nike retail, my internal understanding of the Nike brand helped me to bridge and build relevant communication solutions within an external facing, commerce driven environment. As a trend researcher for design and a consumer researcher within the brand organization, my design thinking background insured that my approach to insight gathering had a more human centric, end use focus. My sociology background and experience in consumer research helped me to create an ongoing research project interviewing elite athletes, coaches and trainers to gather insights that help insure relevancy in our product design solutions. And finally, my deep interest in the arts, design, culture, trend, human behavior and problem solving, in conjunction with 28+ years within the Nike brand, fuels the development of creative insight and strategy to help guide and inspire the internal design process.
What can a student expect to experience by job shadowing you?
Expect to be on the move! Students will have the opportunity to tour the Blue Ribbon Studio maker space facilities and the WHQ campus, meet with executives from the design team, and connect with Logger alumni in various roles at Nike.