Joe designs retail spaces.
Joe Riehl — design across disciplines · Kent, WA
Joe Riehl — design across disciplines · Kent, WA
Process
Fifteen-plus years across industrial design, retail spaces, and architectural visualization have settled into one way of working. No two projects are the same — the process underneath them is:
Every project starts by getting close to the thing — the brand, the site, the product, the people who'll use it. I dig into constraints early, because the real ones are what give a design its shape.
Pencil first. Loose, fast sketches — dozens of them — to find the idea worth keeping. This is the cheapest a decision will ever be, so I spend generously here before anything touches a computer.
The keeper gets built for real: 3D modeling, materials, joinery, manufacturability. I work closely with architects, engineers, and fabricators so the design survives contact with the physical world intact.
Then I make it feel real — photoreal renders, animation, and VR that carry the light, material, and mood of the finished thing. The goal is an image you can stand inside of before anything is built.
From the sketchbook
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Clients & collaborators
About
I'm Joe Riehl — a designer in Kent, WA who has spent 15+ years moving between industrial design, retail & spatial design, architectural visualization, and software. I like designing the whole system, then making every surface of it feel real.
Résumé, loosely
Draw and color in pictures — put what's in my head (or someone else's) on paper or on screen, then work with people to get it made.
Principal Designer · The Bernard Group · Seattle, WA
Design and visualization for retail environments and brand experiences, from first sketch through fabrication.
Senior 3D Artist · Eight Inc. · Honolulu, HI
Pretty pictures of experiential design concepts for one of the studios behind the Apple Store.
Visualization Manager / Senior Associate · Ankrom Moisan Architects · Seattle, WA
Led a team of five 3D artists across three offices — renderings, animations, and VR for design review, competitions, and marketing.
Industrial Designer · Retail Logic · Brisbane, Australia
Retail and fixture design for the food & beverage world — Coles, Woolworths, Masterfoods, Diageo.
Industrial Designer · Built Design · Everett, WA
Products, tradeshow booths, and fixtures for the outdoor industry — K2, Outdoor Research, Arc'teryx, MSR, Osprey.
Retail / Industrial Designer · Formfly Design @ Synsor · Everett, WA
Fixtures, kiosks, and retail spaces for Microsoft, T-Mobile, Nintendo, Starbucks, and friends.
The early years · Resolute Lighting · Avalanche Ranch Lighting · WWU
Custom light fixtures, a rustic-contemporary lighting line, and campus media design while finishing school.
B.S. Industrial Design · Western Washington University · Bellingham, WA
Where most of the personal track on this site was born.