About — LeVero

A little about me :)

Hi, I’m Kandice. I’m a Creative Director with 15 years of professional experience. When I say my work sits at the nexus of Product Design and Marketing, what I really mean is that I’ve got massive experience with both, and I really never consider one without the other. This way of working started early in Tokyo, Japan. After working as a Design Director for Japanese retailer LS Group, the company gave me a shot at creating my own brand under their guidance. I had a very small team, so I found myself taking on every role from industrial design (the products) to e-commerce design to photo styling, editing and more. As a young designer I understood the separate roles of Product and Marketing, but they really flowed together naturally from the very beginning of my career.

This means that when I’m designing a product- whether it’s an AR cosmetics app or a new learning game for children, I’m already thinking about how it will be photographed and shown to the world, and when I’m working on an omni-channel marketing campaign I want to be as close to the Product Designers and their intentions as possible.

This way of working is baked in, and it is the most successful way to design, build and launch anything.

In addition to this working approach, I take great pride and find immense happiness in coaching a team of artists, designers, producers, and dreamers. In my current role I’ve built and grown my team from one to ten members with great care for their personal career growth including conversions and promotions.

Soft Skills

Mentorship

Brilliant designers often need a helping hand to realize their ideas and flesh them out in practical ways that apply to the overall product strategy. I have 12 years of experience harnessing the raw talent of the most incredible artists, writers, producers, designers, and more.
Creative Vision

How do I build love? First I absorb the direction of the product strategy. Then through extensive visual design research into the market we can start to create new vibes. Thankfully something always sparks fire around this point, and we are able to illustrate the emotional connection.
Adaptability

Do you need to pivot? Does your pivot need to pivot? It’s okay! I truly love seeing where things went wrong and working with smart and passionate teams to make the right choices and adapt quickly. I’ve moved mountains in my career to get teams back on track.
Negotiation

I’ve stepped into incredibly tense situations with big differences in design thinking. I welcome the challenge of creating peace between working teams so they can move forward. When looking back together we have been astonished at the greatness we accomplished.
Cultural Awareness

I have 15 years of experience designing for people all over our beautiful planet. I welcome the feedback from those that know more than myself and am happy to adapt the work according to what is most authentic and will be best received and connect with our customers.
Problem Solving

Design is just a series of problems to be solved. It may be a UI leading the user down a path resulting in millions of dollars lost, or it may be an inauthentic character design that’s cheapening the image. I’ve solved problems in nearly every kind of business sector.
Presentation

I have an incredibly high bar for the way all work is presented, whether that is internally, B2B or direct to consumer. There is no sector of business where I excuse poor presentation. I love aiding teams outside of design to up their presentation skills- it all matters.
Leadership

For the last four years I’ve built and led a team of 10 from the ground up through incredibly tectonic times. I have never lost a single member. I ensure the team understands their value and purpose through the use of Objectives and Key Results and we deliver with joy every time.