Jonah Becker is SVP of Design at Fitbit, the Silicon Valley pioneer of fitness tracking devices who are in the process of being acquired by Google. He joined the company originally to help them build an in-house strategic product design capability that is essential for brand leadership.
The career trajectory that he described in introduction perfectly parallels the evolution of the design industries that occurred through that time. It began with formal training as an industrial designer at CCA, an internship with me at Praxis and then a full on ID job with Frog Design just as they were beginning to ramp up their digital media design and innovation services.
A stint with his own product innovation agency, One and Co., led to acquisition of his firm by HTC the Taiwanese mobile phone maker where he broadened his design leadership portfolio to include brand design, which he has not expanded to include the entire suite of UX design components – app design, web design, content creation – on the team of 75+ designers at Fitbit. As he narrates on, his role is now as much facing the executive team and their strategic needs as it is directing his team in hands on projects.
