Colin Finkle
Industrial Designer at The Central Group- Claim this Profile
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Bio
Lyndsey Loiacono
As a colleague of Collin's, I am very pleased with his professionalism. Colin’s leadership of the design team is something that I look up to as he is very courteous and approachable. As well as being a great leader, he his a brilliant graphic/industrial designer who’m I look up to and feel inspired by. Colin is someone that loves to see the potential in his co-workers and in return his co-workers see him as an invaluable part of Matrix.
Rochelle Cartaciano
Having worked with Colin for years at Matrix, I felt he took great leadership in the Creative department by tackling, managing and collaborating on projects effectively with the team. He consistently contributes numerous innovative ideas with exceptional creativity seen in his sketches, concepts and 3D designs. Being able to conceptualize and display his talents across the board, it was inspiring to be able to work with someone who took pride in every project thrown his way. His vision, passion and dedication was always projected into his work. As a fellow colleague, he was not only a mentor, but a friend that always provided positive motivation, ensuring that we completed all projects, big and small, with the greatest amount of effort and success. I am grateful and proud to have worked alongside him. Keep inspiring us, Colin!
Lyndsey Loiacono
As a colleague of Collin's, I am very pleased with his professionalism. Colin’s leadership of the design team is something that I look up to as he is very courteous and approachable. As well as being a great leader, he his a brilliant graphic/industrial designer who’m I look up to and feel inspired by. Colin is someone that loves to see the potential in his co-workers and in return his co-workers see him as an invaluable part of Matrix.
Rochelle Cartaciano
Having worked with Colin for years at Matrix, I felt he took great leadership in the Creative department by tackling, managing and collaborating on projects effectively with the team. He consistently contributes numerous innovative ideas with exceptional creativity seen in his sketches, concepts and 3D designs. Being able to conceptualize and display his talents across the board, it was inspiring to be able to work with someone who took pride in every project thrown his way. His vision, passion and dedication was always projected into his work. As a fellow colleague, he was not only a mentor, but a friend that always provided positive motivation, ensuring that we completed all projects, big and small, with the greatest amount of effort and success. I am grateful and proud to have worked alongside him. Keep inspiring us, Colin!
Lyndsey Loiacono
As a colleague of Collin's, I am very pleased with his professionalism. Colin’s leadership of the design team is something that I look up to as he is very courteous and approachable. As well as being a great leader, he his a brilliant graphic/industrial designer who’m I look up to and feel inspired by. Colin is someone that loves to see the potential in his co-workers and in return his co-workers see him as an invaluable part of Matrix.
Rochelle Cartaciano
Having worked with Colin for years at Matrix, I felt he took great leadership in the Creative department by tackling, managing and collaborating on projects effectively with the team. He consistently contributes numerous innovative ideas with exceptional creativity seen in his sketches, concepts and 3D designs. Being able to conceptualize and display his talents across the board, it was inspiring to be able to work with someone who took pride in every project thrown his way. His vision, passion and dedication was always projected into his work. As a fellow colleague, he was not only a mentor, but a friend that always provided positive motivation, ensuring that we completed all projects, big and small, with the greatest amount of effort and success. I am grateful and proud to have worked alongside him. Keep inspiring us, Colin!
Lyndsey Loiacono
As a colleague of Collin's, I am very pleased with his professionalism. Colin’s leadership of the design team is something that I look up to as he is very courteous and approachable. As well as being a great leader, he his a brilliant graphic/industrial designer who’m I look up to and feel inspired by. Colin is someone that loves to see the potential in his co-workers and in return his co-workers see him as an invaluable part of Matrix.
Rochelle Cartaciano
Having worked with Colin for years at Matrix, I felt he took great leadership in the Creative department by tackling, managing and collaborating on projects effectively with the team. He consistently contributes numerous innovative ideas with exceptional creativity seen in his sketches, concepts and 3D designs. Being able to conceptualize and display his talents across the board, it was inspiring to be able to work with someone who took pride in every project thrown his way. His vision, passion and dedication was always projected into his work. As a fellow colleague, he was not only a mentor, but a friend that always provided positive motivation, ensuring that we completed all projects, big and small, with the greatest amount of effort and success. I am grateful and proud to have worked alongside him. Keep inspiring us, Colin!
Credentials
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Learning HubSpot CRM
LinkedInDec, 2020- Nov, 2024 -
Writing a Compelling Blog Post
Lynda.comJan, 2019- Nov, 2024 -
Online Marketing Fundamentals
Lynda.comJul, 2016- Nov, 2024
Experience
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The Central Group
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Canada
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Design Services
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100 - 200 Employee
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Industrial Designer
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Feb 2023 - Present
Ideating and executing permanent display solutions for brands looking to perform at retail. Responsible for design and technical drawings of metal, plastic and wood displays. Define objectives with salespeople, advise creative designers on material opportunities/ challenges, collaborate with fellow designer and engineers, provide engineering drawings for estimators, and problem solve and set standards for suppliers in the USA, Canada, Mexico and China.
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Industrial Designer
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Feb 2022 - Jan 2023
Take permanent retail display concepts from idea to manufacturable design. Working on displays for Canada, US and Mexico. Using existing manufacturing techniques and technology to execute new ideas to a high standard, as well as develop innovatively applications and novel technology to bring retail forward.
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BMB: Brand Marketing Blog
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Canada
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Advertising Services
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Founder, Contributor
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Feb 2015 - Present
Colin built the website from 0 to 150,000+ unique readers. His content ranks #1 on Google for 175+ topics such as brand extensions, brand equity, logo colours, and many more. Colin sends regular content to an email list with an open rate of over 21%. Colin consults and designs brands for entrepreneurs and professionals who reach out after reading his content. Colin built the website from 0 to 150,000+ unique readers. His content ranks #1 on Google for 175+ topics such as brand extensions, brand equity, logo colours, and many more. Colin sends regular content to an email list with an open rate of over 21%. Colin consults and designs brands for entrepreneurs and professionals who reach out after reading his content.
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Nordeau
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Canada
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Design Services
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Founder, Principle Designer
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Oct 2020 - Jan 2022
*Enjoying a 5-star rating on Google My Business while developing logos, brand identities, and WordPress websites with custom themes using Divi. Reduced hosting costs by 64% by developing a LAMP web server leveraging Google Cloud Platform: Compute Engine. *Grew brandmarketingblog.com to 30,000 monthly unique visitors through SEO writing. *Prepared a German bedding brand to crest $1,000,000 (USD) in revenue by defining their brand values, story, and key differentiators. *Found a secure and easy solution for pharmacists to dispose of extra pills by designing a lid to a standard bin with a one-way mechanical slot. *Enabled a local injection molding manufacturer to compete against a patented product by finding an alternative solution to allow a recycle bin to stack and nest with a rotating handle. The bins are now sold at Walmarts nationwide. *Enabled the principal of Sold Right Away to take time off by filling in as creative director for three months. Made improvements to their creative processes and file management and assembled a Mac file server with existing hardware. Show less
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Matrix Retail
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Canada
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Design Services
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1 - 100 Employee
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Studio Manager
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Apr 2013 - Oct 2020
*Won the ITWAL Marketplace, Supplier Performance Award for 2018, recognizing the Italpasta tradeshow booth design.*Hired two great contributors, each with over four years of tenure, by screening and interviewing candidates with the Director of Operations.*Lead two graphic designers and one freelance designer to beat timeline targets on three rounds of updates to the Walmart entertainment section, each requiring 50+ print designs.*Self-initiated a rebrand of Matrix to be perceived as more innovative, intelligent, and friendly. Defined objectives, led brainstorming sessions, and convinced key decision-makers. Managed a team of two graphic designers, a web designer, and a web developer to redesign the website, all marketing collateral, and internal documents within a four-month schedule.*Directed the team that designed all print material for Little Ceasar's locations across Canada.*Improved customer communications and retailer relationships for Italpasta by modernizing Italpasta.com.*Increased the perception of quality of Italpasta by art directing the packaging and branding of the Italpasta Selezione De-Bronzo premium pasta line.*Won a competitive RFP process run by Royal Canin for their business to design and construct the product shelving and signage in all the veterinary clinics across Canada that carried their food.*Grew revenue by signing a large client, Ubisoft, by pitching novel concepts that fit their priorities, franchises, and brand. Show less
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Graphic Designer and Industrial Designer
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Oct 2010 - Apr 2013
*Grew revenue by signing a large client, Ubisoft, by pitching novel concepts that fit their priorities, franchises, and brand.*Furthered relationship with Ubisoft by designing standees referred to by the client as "just perfect."*Won bid for Batman Arkham City Canadian retail rollout by designing innovative concepts.*Increased efficiency of the design department by introducing sketching in Photoshop and Clip Studio Paint as a concept visualization tool.*Decreased time to market and increased production quality by introducing Solidworks.*Cut in half the production cost of a corrugate display by reducing the number of corrugate sheets per display and using 82% of what remained.*Redesigned the entertainment section of all Walmarts across Canada with all-new category signage, endcap signage, and three new feature displays in "action alley." Led the team that refreshed all signage six times over eighteen months to feature new movies, music, and video games.• Signed a revenue top client (Ubisoft) by pitching novel concepts that spoke to their properties.• Furthered relationship with Ubisoft by designing standees referred to by client as "just perfect."• Won bid for Batman Arkham City Canadian retail rollout by designing novel concepts.• Increased efficiency of design department by introducing sketching an a concept visualization tool.• Decreased time to market and increased production quality by introducing Solidworks.• Decreased the production cost of a corrugate display by over 50% reducing number of corrugate sheets per display and using 82% of what remained. Show less
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FX Displays Creative Merchandising
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Mississauga, Ontario
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Industrial Designer
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Sep 2008 - Oct 2010
*Got buy-in from executives at Nestle and Cadbury presenting 3D renderings from Solidworks. *Worked directly with the factory, solving production problems while maintaining the design intent. *Provided technical drawings that enabled quoting, model making, and production. *Greenlit 5 out of 5 product concepts pitched to Kraft for Jell-O for market testing. Won a competitive RFP for Cadbury's primary convenience store display, playing both a design and sales role. *Won a competitive RFP for 90% of Cadbury's Canadian corrugate floor display business. • Had 5 out of 5 product concepts pitched to Kraft for Jell-O move on to market testing. • Won a competitive RFP for Cadbury's primary convienience store display, playing both a design and sales roll. • Won a competitive RFP for 90% of Cadbury's Canadian corrugate floor display business. Show less
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Firebrand Creative
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United Kingdom
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Graphic Design
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1 - 100 Employee
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Freelance Graphic Designer
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Jun 2007 - Sep 2008
*Developed 20+ graphics to illustrate a book published in 2007. *Designed 12 figures for the "Homework Help" website section of Smoke FX (anti smoking group.) *FirebrandCreative.ca became a blog about branding and design that was read by 6000+ people. *Blog article about packaging was republished by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) *Developed 20+ graphics to illustrate a book published in 2007. *Designed 12 figures for the "Homework Help" website section of Smoke FX (anti smoking group.) *FirebrandCreative.ca became a blog about branding and design that was read by 6000+ people. *Blog article about packaging was republished by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)
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Red Leaf Retail Concepts
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Vaughan, Ontario
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Jr. Industrial Designer, Intern
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May 2006 - Sep 2006
Responsible for the concept visualization and graphic design of retail displays for the electronics manufacturers. Worked directly with Red Leaf's founder and principle: Chris Potter. Responsible for the Sony "HD World" display. Sony was the primary client I worked with, but I also serviced Meijer, Bell, and many more. • Successfully sold and executed HD World, selling for $10,000+ each, and $300,000+ overall. • Learned graphic design from Chris Potter, going from basic skills to professional level. Show less
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Canadian Cancer Society
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Canada
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Non-profit Organizations
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700 & Above Employee
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Data Manager
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Jun 2005 - Sep 2005
Used an online database to input, print and distribute tax receipts for donators to the event. Trained employees and volunteers, and preformed tech support. It was a really wonderful environment, with interesting people. Used an online database to input, print and distribute tax receipts for donators to the event. Trained employees and volunteers, and preformed tech support. It was a really wonderful environment, with interesting people.
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Education
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2022 - 2022
The Packaging School
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2022 - 2022
AICC, The Independent Packaging Association
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2003 - 2007
Carleton University
Bachelor's degree, Industrial and Product Design
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