MARIS DEBRUHL DESIGN
Hi, I'm Maris DeBruhl
(USER EXPERIENCE + PRODUCT) DESIGNER 🔮
I am a Digital Product and Experience Designer, based in Raleigh NC. I am currently a Product Designer at WillowTree in Durham. My background in both psychology and design informs my human-centered, resourceful, and transformational approach.
I am happiest when I am able to think outside the box and find new solutions to old problems. I am driven to get to the heart of the issue and make real-world change. The thing I love most about the field of design is it allows me to tap into my naturally emotional and empathetic nature to create complex products, solutions, and strategies that actually impact people’s lives.
I have been known to #cryatwork, not because I received a rough critique or a client didn’t like my work, but because I care *a lot* about every project that I am involved in. Sometimes that passion spills over and becomes tears of triumph, frustration, or joy. I don’t see it as a weakness, but rather one of my greatest strengths.
My keen eye for aesthetics and determination to turn ideas into action contribute to my most recent success and personal growth at Atlantic BT. There, I used design thinking methods and processes to shape the creative vision and lead design efforts with clients. In response to COVID-19, I launched an internal initiative called “Business as *Un*usual” that focused on empowering my coworkers and fostering innovation during the pandemic and beyond. Meanwhile, my desire to improve the productivity of my department led me to develop and implement creative brief and design synthesis documents for use by the team.
I am always up for a challenge.
If you’d like to connect you can email me at mariskhall@gmail.com
When I am not designing, I am most likely working on a cross-stitch 🧵 doing yoga 🧘♀️ or cuddling with my dog 🐶 Casper.
WHY I DESIGN ❤️
When I was a little girl I used to cut up fabric swatches I found around the house and turn them into clothes for my dolls. I was too young to be trusted with a sewing machine, or a needle and thread for that matter, so I used a stapler *yes, a stapler*. From that moment on I was convinced I was going to be a fashion designer when I grew up. And I held on to that dream for a long time.
I still don’t think I’m a real grown-up yet, but what I know now that little Maris didn’t know is that what I loved about making those doll clothes wasn’t the fashion design or even the art of making. It was the act of solving a problem. I had a goal I wanted to accomplish: new doll clothes, and the constraints with which to work: fabric and a stapler. Those two things are effectively the building blocks of design thinking.
Today I design for the world around me and the humans in it rather than the dolls in my room, but the essence is still the same. I design to create change, empower others, and transform the world we live in *hopefully* for the better.