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Brandon Rodriguez is a recent graduate from CIA’s Industrial Design Department. Internships—one designing toys, the other designing medical devices—and his time at CIA have helped cement his love for the design process and working in a collaborative environment.

Give us some examples of successes you’ve experienced at CIA.

I was awarded third place and honorable mention at the 2018 International Houseware Association’s Annual Student Design Competition for two different projects. The competition asks students to redesign a current housewares product to meet the needs of the future or create a concept for a new product. For the third-place award, I designed the Novus Home Brewing Beer System, a pod system which lets a novice brewer create fresh craft beer.

What drew you to CIA in the first place?

For me, it was between the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and CIA. Cleveland in itself was more than enough reason to choose CIA. But to be honest, I felt CIA has a unique way of creating an open and collaborative environment in the design studios. CIA has a space that benefits the students and encourages them to communicate and learn from each other. This aspect definitely contributed to my skill and educational development. When you surround yourself with individuals who are strong in areas you would like to improve in, there is always a willingness to teach each other, push yourselves and grow together.

What’s your favorite part of designing?

I love the process—the depth in which I go into the research, user analysis and conceptualization. But at the same time, I love the refinement stages and just detailing every little aspect of a final design.