Andrew Maximilian Blanch

Toy Design, Development and Creative Consultation for international markets: - For Netflix: Created character, prop & sidekick concepts with an eye towards story potential for a new animated program airing 2027. - For Target: Wrote, planned games & Illustrated a holiday themed activity book. - Concepted and Developed a line of preschool educational electronics for the European market. - Created several lines of baby and infant items with an emphasis on plush for European and Asian markets.

- Lead development of Lakeshore’s first multi-SKU brand estimated to earn millions of dollars in new revenue. - Art directed the packaging, illustration and 3D design teams through detailed briefs & sketches that greatly reduced development rounds. - Originally hired to be a “Toy Industry Guru”, presented a seminar on Brainstorming & Creativity Cultivation to Lakeshore’s primarily ex-teacher staff. - Wrote and edited box copy, instruction manuals & online product descriptions, as well as generating suggestions for further play & learning tips for each item. - Appointed "Chief Builder" for Lakeshore's new building line, responsible for creating constructions that could best show off the imaginative possibilities of the lines for packaging and ads.

• Redefined company’s mission statement by identifying market white space & redirecting focus to core strengths. • Created, developed, & scripted the empathy encouraging feature plush brand, Snuggle n’ Hug Friends. • Orchestrated development of the complex Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge interactive pets line to ensure key approval deadlines were met. • Slashed the development cycle by 3 weeks after taking charge of Snap’s Sesame Street program. • Reconciled communications rifts between Chinese vendors & US design team for Snap’s preschool construction brand resulting in a completed line to show at Toy Fair. • Reduced target price by 25% after redesigning the Party-Jammies doll & play-set line. • Conceptualized a nostalgic Star Wars Ewok line that delighted Disney & resulted in additional orders & requests for line expansions.

• Created & developed prehistoric preschool brand, “Thunder Stompers”, now in it’s 6th year of continuous sales. • Delivered 2 award winning series of trendy collectible mini figures for the previously trapped in development “Lil’ Butters” line by prioritizing & organizing development steps. • Introduced the concept of a Freelance Network, then recruited & managed a talented team of 10 off-site packaging, graphic & product designers. • Improved & maintained the in-house design team’s communication methods with our overseas colleagues in Asia through workshops & follow-up training. • Planned & lead a 2-day company-wide brainstorm that resulted in 3 new feature items for our Girls brands. • Reduced 1 month of development time to 1 week in order to have new brands finalized for Toy Fair.

• Improved and maintained standards of communication between the Hong Kong and US offices after hearing the concerns of our overseas colleagues during business trips. • Established concise style guides & spec package templates which decreased development rounds by half. • Won 14 key Disney bids by executing faithful reproductions of their characters in new & interesting materials. • Maximized efficiency & increased bid wins by reassigning the Design Team members to projects that best matched their strengths and interests.

• Conceptualized & planned interactive game-play for educational Sesame Street apps & iPhone / iPad peripherals. • Ideated toys, UX flow & educational content for a line of English teaching ELAs for the Chinese market. • Conceptualized a collectible doll line & preschool game brand extensions for a Chicago based inventor group. • Developed a light-up musical play-set for the mermaid themed mini-doll brand, Waverly & the Magic Seashells. • Designed & developed STEM items for Educational Insights.

• Created, directed voice talent & planned content, curriculum, scripts, UX & songs for the Sesame Street "Steps to School" ELA brand. • Circumvented organizational silos by establishing knowledge & research sharing links between the Preschool, ELA & MIT-partnered “Future Now” tech teams. • Chosen to be team presenter during Hasbro’s quarterly company-wide line reviews, a role rarely, if ever, assigned to on-site contractors.

• Taught English, Counting, Science & Social Skills to children ages 2-5 through highly interactive lessons which involved stories, songs, dancing, games & fitness. • Launched the “After School" program which taught advanced reading & writing skills to elementary school children. • Pioneered "Young Preschool" class for children aged 18 months & up which increased sales and generated the enrollment of many of the younger siblings of my older students.

• Increased student attendance numbers & lesson sales by establishing a fun, supportive & relaxed learning environment at my branch. • Planned & lead off-site training sessions for up to 20 instructors from area schools. • Orchestrated VOICE Club Nights, themed activity environments where students of all levels had a chance to practice & use English in realistic situations.

• Created & managed all aspects of the "Soft Sensations" brand, a safari themed infant line combining plastic, plush & reggae music. • Produced 32 item line plans as Design Lead for both the Preschool & Infant team committees during VTech’s biannual international line reviews in Macau. • Unified & defined international brand style guides & color palettes after research trips to VTech UK & VTech France head offices.

- Winner of 1999 Fisher-Price Advanced Study Scholarship

- Presenter/ Designer/ Construction Manager on winning team for Annual Museum Exhibit Contest.