We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joey Zeledón a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Joey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

coming out as trans very publicly and then giving a talk at a design conference about identity, being trans, and design. Why was that risky? I had recently started my studio. It’s already hard enough starting out to find steady clients and build a business while fitting into social norms. I knew by doing this it could set me back in achieving my business goals.

How it turned out?The pros outweigh the cons. It was worth it. At the end of the day, I am happier with myself –who I am and what I stand for. I have more of an authentic spark in my work. And, I can focus my energy on opportunities with people who resonate with me and my work. It also gave me a new found purpose as a designer, using my craft and my talents for a higher purpose in design activism.

Joey, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Joey Zeledón (he/they/she) is an award-winning designer, design educator, and founder of Joey Zeledón Studio, where they love to help products find their higher purpose in life. Joey helps clients tell compelling product stories and design products that embody those stories. Joey is the author of “Design is Trans,” a commentary on the parallels between the design process and transgender experiences as well as Touchy/Feely, an exploration of emotional ergonomics, two professional accomplishments they are most proud of. During their 18-year career, they also worked at industry stalwarts, including HP, Steelcase, Smart Design, Continuum, and Clarks on projects in a range of categories from footwear to housewares, consumer electronics, furniture, consumer packaged goods, and food. Born and raised in upstate NY, Joey is a proud alum of Rochester Institute of Technology. For more information, please checkout www.joeyzeledon.com and @joey.zeledon on Instagram.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I met my business partner because she’s my life partner. We met in 2010 in Boston. She was in grad school and I was working at a design firm. We connected on a philosophical level. We complement each other life and our skillsets and the way we approached stuff. We’ve supported each other over the years financially and emotionally while doing entrepreneurial things. I’m able to take business risk because my partner not only supports with operations of the studio but also financial stability with another full time job. We are bootstrapping. Neither one of us has a trust fund, but we like to say we are each other’s trust fund. We live off one income and we live in Baltimore, which is a very affordable city compared to other east coast cities, and that allows us to take bigger swings with the studio to build a strong client base of values-aligned clients and meaningful projects and work on design activism activities.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My creative mission is to help products and brands find their higher purpose in life through compelling product storytelling and design expression.

More details:

Products and brands are like people. Some are well-liked and contribute greatly to society. Others are not meeting their full potential. They have a variety of challenges to overcome—they might need to solve a problem, change a behavior, break into a new market, adapt to a new context, embody a brand, connect to a digital ecosystem, be more sustainable or find their inner beauty.

I help products and brands overcome their challenges and reach their higher purpose in life. I do this by creating aspirational narrative identities – sticky stories that drive meaning – for object archetypes. Is it just a printer? or could it be furniture that prints? Is it just a coffee maker? or could it be a barista in your kitchen? Is it just a clothes hanger? Or could it be a closet you can sit on? In 2022, I founded a design studio based on this approach, creating purposeful objects for people and market differentiation for clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.joeyzeledon.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joey.zeledon/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joey-zeled%C3%B3n-40355b4/

Image Credits

Headshot: Brady Robinson
Lamp image: Gantri
Printer image: HP
Waiting room image: Steelcase