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About Kim's Design Kitchen

In Kim's Design Kitchen I present a collection of my design work in the form of a restaurant menu. There is a wide range of projects, from paid work to entrepreneurial endeavors to personal projects completed in my spare time.

 

Below is a bit more detail about myself, my experience, and the skills I've picked up along the way.

 

About the Chef

Kim White

Designepreneur 

MSc Product Design

University of Strathclyde

BSc. (Hons) Electro-Mechanical Engineering

University of Cape Town

ABOUT

Summary

I am a “designepreneur”. What's that? A product designer who moonlights as an entrepreneur as I seek to gain an understanding of how businesses work and not just my area of expertise.

Behind all of my work is a strong belief that, at our core, everyone wants to improve their communities, live their best lives and help others to do the same. I want to use my creativity and skills to help find and create the digital, or physical, tools and systems to make that possible.

SUMMARY
EXPERIENCE
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  • Successful use of Human Centered Design methods to develop a new inspection process that initial users (the inspectors) have reported reduces inspection time and likelihood of making errors

  • Implementation of SolidWorks macros to potentially save 3 months of engineering time required to create 4000 new inspection cards.

 

Key Skills: Human Centered UX Research and UX Design, SolidWorks, Programming in VBA

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Co-Founder

Zimbowties, Zimbabwe
June 2016 - Present

  • Designed strategy and branding for starting up the social enterprise, Zimbowties, that has sold its sustainable fashion accessories to people in over 25 countries, is stocked in 10 stores in 4 countries worldwide, has saved over 80 000 litres of water by upcycling fabric offcuts to make all of its product and has sponsored over 30 children's school fees.

  • Built www.zimbowties.com webpage and online store that's had a revenue of over US$2,000 and over 3000 unique visitors.

  • Spoken face-to-face to over 1000 people about the business

  • Won business pitches at 3 startup events (some with 200+ attendees)

  • Designed strategy and content for digital marketing that has gained over 1200 followers

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Key Skills: Digital Marketing, Adobe Creative Suite, Pitching, Customer Relationship Management, Brand Strategy, Design Thinking, Project Management, Webpage Development (Squarespace)

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Freelance Design Engineer
Southern Implants, South Africa

June 2018

  • Successful collaboration with surgeons to redesign and develop a temporomandibular joint prosthesis that was implanted in a patient and reported to be easier to use than older designs and better value for money that other companies' products.

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Key Skills: Customer Relationship Management, Human Centered Design, Project Management, Biomedical Engineering Design

Design Engineer
Southern Implants, South Africa

May 2014 - June 2016

  • Successful design, development and testing of a novel dental implant system for older patients and multiple other components for other dental systems

  • Parallel project management of up to 5 projects

  • Co-lead the establishment of an engineering knowledge base that reduced knowledge silos, reduced training time for new recruits and continues to be used

  • Lead the establishment of a Student Mentorship Program to improve the grades of students sponsored by the company.​

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Key Skills: Project Management, Prototyping, Quality Systems, 3D Modelling, Engineering Drawing, 3D Rendering, Data Management

Consulting Engineer
Kimbry Consultancy, Zimbabwe

April 2013 – April 2014

  • Redeveloped and validated the automated process of surface enhancement of dental implants at Southern Implants, South Africa to meet ISO 13485 and FDA standards to ensure products consistently meet customer requirements

  • Established testing procedures for testing surface roughness and contamination
    using 3D Scanning Electron Microscopy and Electron Dispersive Spectroscopy.

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Key Skills: Process Development, Process Validation, Quality Systems, Operation of SEM and EDS, Project Management, Basic Python

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Experience

EDUCATION

Education

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Certificate in Entrepreneurship

Watson Institute, Boulder, Colorado

Fall 2018 Cohort

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MSc Product Design

University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

2016-2017

Dissertation: Action Research Towards Understanding How to Design a Hit and Not a Flop

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BSc. Electro-Mechanical Engineering (with Honours)

University of Cape Town

2009 – 2012

Final Year Project: Design and manufacture of an automated pipette tip packer

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Cambridge IGCSE Ordinary and Advanced Levels Examinations

Hillcrest College, Zimbabwe

2003-2008

 

CAUSES

Volunteer Experience and Causes

Social Media Manager

TEDxBoulder, USA

April 2019 – Present

Diet Coach and Blogger

Alfreds Banting Comrades, South Africa

April – May 2015

Engineering Peer Mentor

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Cape Town

January 2010 – October 2012

AWARDS

Certifications, Awards and Achievements

Speaker at Ignite Boulder 37​

Speaker at the E&PDE 2017

​Presented a student paper at the Engineering & Product Design Education International Conference for the University of Strathclyde in Oslo, Norway

Beit Trust Scholarship Winner, 2016

Selected from over 1500 applicants to be awarded a prestigious Beit Trust scholarship to study M. Product Design at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

Speaker at the RAPDASA 2015

​Speaker at the Rapid Product Development Association of South Africa’s International Conference in Pretoria, South Africa

LEADERSHIP

Leadership Positions

Southern Implants

  • University of Johannesburg and Southern Implants Collaboration Facilitator (2014-2016)

  • Student Peer Mentor (2015-2016)

University of Cape Town

  • Mechanical Engineering Peer Mentor (2010, 2011, 2012)

  • Head of The Disciplinary Committee, Leo Marquard Hall (2011)

  • President of the Initiative on Campus for Gingers (2011)

INTERESTS

Current Interests

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