About Natalie Diffloth
Experience
My design experience has exposed me to a variety of media and work environments. In the early 1990s I worked as a publishing consultant, managing in-house design for a full-color national magazine. Then in 1995 I was hired at the Boston Globe, New England's largest daily newspaper, as Art Director for newspaper section fronts in both news and features. I designed sections including Page One, Travel, Focus, Music, and Living/Arts, and completed a full-scale redesign of the Calendar section, for which I was awarded the Boston Globe Editor's Award.
My interest in the internet and in interactive design grew alongside this work, and I began looking for ways to straddle the worlds of print and web design. Working as a consultant for Boston.com, the news web site that hosts the Boston Globe online, I brought my experience with print design to an online format. This solidified my interest in interactive design. Soon thereafter I received an offer to join Viant, a leading internet consulting firm of the time.
On projects ranging from an ecommerce consumer site, to a knowledge management system, to a high-end conference web site, I played a variety of roles — or often a combination thereof — and enjoyed the challenge. As design lead, information architect, and interaction designer, I like seeing how the pieces fit and working to create a cohesive, thoughtful, compelling whole.
Since 2001 I have taken my independent consulting work full-time. This has given me the flexibility to work on a range of projects with clients of different backgrounds — from technology companies such as Palm, Inc. and InBoxer to professional artists such as Alison Shaw. I like the opportunity to work directly with clients and I like the adventure!
I believe my strong suit lies in an ability to focus and listen closely to clients, to problem solve, to collaborate, to creatively develop design solutions that respond to both client and end user needs, and to keep an eye on the big picture, helping to guide project work forward through the design process.
Education
In 1987 I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and American Studies from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, graduating with Phi Beta Kappa honors. After several years exploring work in the nonprofit sector, my interest in studying was renewed, but with a different focus — this time design. I returned to school and in 1995 graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, Massachusetts, with a degree in graphic design.
Some have expressed their surprise at my combination of studies, but to me the connection has always made sense. The in-depth analytical skills I honed while studying Sociology are of continual help in terms of breaking down design and business problems and developing solutions that make sense. And similarly, understanding social influences and context has a direct bearing on communication. What could be more important to design?
Languages Spoken
English is my mother tongue. My French and German are relatively fluent. For work purposes, my preference is to communicate in English, but a mixture of spoken languages poses no problem. I currently live in Freiburg, Germany (where is Freiburg?), but travel regularly to the United States and France.
Design Seminars and Presentations
I have conducted a variety of design seminars and presentations over the years. Topics have included: "Telling Visual Stories," "Making Something Out of Nothing," "Color and Color Palettes," and "Structure and Content: The Anatomy of Newspaper Design." These seminars have been presented for the Society of News Design, the New England Press Association, for Boston Globe staff, and in other fora. I have also participated in the formal evaluation of student design portfolios at the Massachusetts College of Art.
Hobbies
Traveling, hiking, discovering new places, reading the news, going to see independent/art house films.