245 E. 40th

St. Apt. 25E New York, NY 10016 April, 2015

To Whom It May Concern: As a mechanical engineer with a focus in strategy and design, I am excited to inquire into an opportunity with your company. In pursuit of inspired solutions, I bring an energized, creative and analytical perspective to the intersection of design fluidity and engineering parameters.

My diverse engineering background, design experience, work history and business acumen make me a noteworthy candidate for your company. Over the past few years, various positions have provided me a range of constructive and stimulating work opportunities, promoting innovative product and human-centered design with meaningful impact on people’s lives. Within these environments I believe that my imaginative, resourceful and vibrant personality – in addition to knowledge and skill – are assets to project productivity and goal achievement.

My experience has yielded competencies which would provide a positive resource for your company’s design endeavors, including:

Adept at integrating knowledge and skill with innovation and practicality

Experience taking products and ideas from concept to production

Balance design with manufacturing requirements

I recognize the significance of product integration – the delicate orchestration of creativity and human perspective with economic reality, technical possibility, and tangible solutions. I value the prototyping process and the maintenance of an open dialogue between all parties to a project.

Since I endeavor to be challenged and influenced by new perspectives, I specifically chose to study business, marketing and management during my college study abroad semester in Barcelona, Spain. Through this opportunity I was invigorated by the juxtaposition of Europe’s history with its modernity as represented through technology, inventive products, creative marketing campaigns and business practices. It also provided me with a unique opportunity to experience the translation of cultural emotions, behaviors and needs into product development. Keeping up-to-date on cutting-edge trends in the field— I have become aware of this driving value for enterprise through design— and this new found implementation truly motivates my creative thought processes. To further develop skills for my arsenal and my knowledge of “Design Thinking”, I decided to enroll in General Assembly’s immersive “User Experience Design Course.” By the end of the course student create a UX brief, from ideation to annotated wireframes that could be handed off to a developer to be built. There is a large focus on how to dissect and analyze common design patterns. This course taught me how to understand users' problems through research and empathy, communicate designs through deliverables like user research, personas, sitemaps, user flows, and prototype design as well as how to present, defend, and critique design decisions.

The attached portfolio represents a brief insight into my undergraduate engineering technical skills, projects, and design processes. My innovative design work is exemplified through my professional projects, which fall into the category of proprietary information and regrettably only a few can be shared. The quality of my work is supported by the reputation of the design companies with which I have worked (Humanscale, RKS, ECCO and Urban Engineers) as well as the recommendations they have provided. I can share that my experience with them includes a variety of projects in the fields of healthcare, consumer packaged goods, athletic accessories, appliances, sustainability solutions, entertainment, consumer electronics, industrial products and social innovation. And the application of design work included:

Ideation, sketching, 3D CAD

Work with mockups, models, and prototypes

Design for Manufacturability, Materials analysis and selection

Product testing and evaluation

User Experience & Interaction Design

I believe you will find my personal skills an asset for your company: succinct critical thinker; articulate communicator; resolute to problem-solve; detailed and organized; able to work independently, as part of a team, and meet deadlines. I am also a driven individual with a high capacity for learning.

I am confident that this brief summary, accompanying resume, portfolio and letters of recommendation highlight my ability to provide productive and innovative support for your company.

I look forward to hearing from you to further discuss an opportunity. Sincerely,

Joshua Matz Encs.