Stephen Diebold

As the Senior Industrial Designer at OnQ Solutions retail design consultancy, I design dynamic retail solutions for many of the nation's biggest stores and promotions for many Fortune 500 brands. Prior to OnQ, I worked as the Sr Production Artist, at Blackhawk Network, designing installations for gift cards, telecom products and banking. These displays went into thousands of stores for U.S. and international retailers. This field of design caught me off guard, but I have loved creating sculpture and interiors to help consumers better connect to a brand or store. I have enjoyed creating kiosks, décor and displays for many clients including Disney, Anheuser-Busch, Kroger, Canon, Jim Beam, Home Depot, Nestle, Walmart and Apple Inc.

I received my bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While studying at the University of Illinois, I focused my studies on tools for those with disabilities. By the age of 19, I submitted my first patent for a tool for those with quadriplegia. I was honored to be nominated twice for the Lemelson-Illinois Student Prize innovation award in regards to those studies. In 2009, I was the first undergraduate to win the Grand Prize at the international Collegiate Inventors Competition. I was excited to have my designs earn national attention when I was invited to present my assistive design research at MIT, the Boston Museum of Science, the Disability Beat radio program on WEFT, and at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., for their Folklife Festival.

I thoroughly enjoy traveling, which I've had the ability to do often since living in Florence, Italy in 2009. While traveling, I became very interested in photography and drawing, but I can't wait to get my hands dirty and build something. I live for the moments when art and technology come together and marry beautifully. I am an avid outdoorsman, maker, and beer-snob. Recently, I have focused all my free time and design energy into personally renovating my first home in San Francisco, and could not be happier.