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Portrait of Tim Golnik – Seattle industrial designer, product designer, and design leader.

About

I am an innovator, designer, and leader with over twenty years of experience building hardware, software, and connected systems. I’ve developed and shipped dozens of products used by millions of people, driving meaningful commercial impact across consumer electronics, wearables, IoT platforms, medical devices, and software. I build products that unite stunning beauty with refined, purposeful function to create a lasting emotional connection with customers around the world.

As a product leader, I’ve driven large-scale programs and shaped strategy for major product portfolios, including managing the world’s largest lineup of Android Wear devices across numerous global private label brands at Fossil Group. I also built a multidisciplinary design and product organization at Misfit with industrial designers, product managers, graphic and motion designers, as the company grew towards a $260M acquisition. Partnering with numerous early-stage startups, I’ve helped shape zero-to-one visions, bringing the first generation of products to life, and turning nascent ideas into pragmatic foundations that guide future evolution.

As a creative leader, my goal is to align a product, remove noise, and deliver something that holds together over time. I stay with the work from high-level strategy to the smallest details. I work directly with factories to ensure design intent survives tooling, tolerances, and assembly, and I bring the same rigor to software through pixel-perfect detail, animation timing, and system behavior.

Studio

Located outside Seattle, our studio blends modern digital prototyping with traditional wood and precision metal fabrication tools. We prototype with FDM and resin 3D printing, machine parts on a 4×4 CNC and precision metal lathe, and build functional models in a fully equipped cabinet-grade woodshop. This combination of technology and hands-on craftsmanship allows ideas to move quickly from concept to form, and from digital exploration to physical reality.

Product Strategy & Systems Architecture

Defining product direction, platform strategy, opportunity framing, and the decisions that guide hardware, software, and connected experiences from 0–1 through long-term evolution.

Building Physical Products

Industrial design, consumer electronics, wearable technology, IoT devices, mechanical development, CMF, visualization pipelines, 3D rendering, prototyping, CNC machining, wood and metal fabrication, and design for manufacturing.

Designing Digital Systems & Interfaces

UX architecture, interaction design, wireframing, user flows, UI design, mobile app design, prototyping, animation timing, and connected-product experiences that unify hardware and software.

AI-Driven Products & Intelligent Tools

Designing interfaces, behaviors, and workflows for AI-powered products, including machine learning-driven features, adaptive systems, and autonomous device behavior. Integrating AI into the design process through rapid ideation, simulation, user research acceleration, content pipelines, and prototyping tools that expand what can be explored and built.

Recognition

My work has been recognized by Red Dot Design Awards, the Chicago Athenaeum Good Design Award, Japan Good Design, the A’ Design Award, and multiple CES Innovation and industry awards. Awards are never the goal, but validation and recognition of a job well done gains attention for partners and products.

Experience Across Industries

From seed-stage startups to large corporations, I’ve been fortunate to work with some of the best teams in the world.

AgaMatrix – product manager, industrial designer, and design manager experience by Seattle designer Tim Golnik
Fossil – Head of Android Wear and wearable product design by Seattle industrial designer Tim Golnik
Amazon – Principal UX Designer on AI initiatives by Seattle designer Tim Golnik
Google - Android Wear design collaboration with Seattle industrial designer Tim Golnik
Misfit - wearable technology and product design leadership by Seattle designer Tim Golnik

Contact

Feel free to email me, or share your email for updates.