ADAM BYRNE
Tell me what you’re working on
Design · Build · Operate
I’m a designer who can solve a complete problem. That can mean the brand, the product, the software, the operating system, the story, or the physical space around it.
I JOINED AS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER.
I LEFT AS PRESIDENT.
2002–2015 / US + China
AquaStar was a B2B manufacturer making cleaning products for other brands. We worked with customers on product development and OEM manufacturing, with operations in the US and a factory in Qingdao, China.
Graphic Designer → Art Director → VP Sales & Marketing → President / China GM
$5M → $10M
ANNUAL SALESSELECTED CUSTOMERS
FROM IDEA TO SHELF.
Consumer product
Want to change the color of a light without changing the bulb?
Moodies are silicone covers that fit over CFL and LED bulbs. I developed the product, packaging and brand, then brought it to retail.
My role / Founder
Product development
Packaging · Commercialization
Retail distribution
The commercial / Legal Review
The covers use licensed technology. This diagram shows how they fit over a bulb.
Licensed technology / US 6,155,695 ↗
8 EPISODES. 96 MINUTES OF FINISHED ANIMATION.
Television production
Produced for Seeso / NBCUniversal
8EPISODES
12 MINPER EPISODE
96 MINFINISHED ANIMATION
FROM IMAGE COMICS TO UNIVERSAL + IMAGINE.
Comics & illustration
Image Comics / 4 issues / 180 pages
The comic imagines H.P. Lovecraft discovering a cursed book that brings his ideas to life.
I worked on it as producer and illustrator. Image Comics published the four-issue series and collected it in a 180-page graphic novel.
Creators make the work. Audiences bring the attention. Platforms decide what gets seen and how the money moves.
I wanted to try a different arrangement.
What if creators and audiences could shape what plays—and share in the value they create together?
PoolParty was my attempt to build that: a shared media venue with a public screen, a visible queue, and rules for how community support could influence airtime and rewards.
The waterpark identity was part of the idea, not just decoration. I wanted it to feel like a public place people wanted to inhabit: playful, welcoming, participatory, and visibly cared for.
I developed the brand, product model, interface, programming logic, and working application. I kept going until the idea was real enough for people to use—and real enough to give me an answer.
PoolParty became a functioning product.
It did not become a functioning business.
I never found the repeated user pull that would justify calling it product-market fit. I mothballed it.
That is part of the work too: taking an idea seriously enough to build it, and taking the evidence seriously enough to stop.
PoolParty is evidence of how far I'll go when I believe something should exist.
A HOUSE AS A SYSTEM.
Design & construction
My role / Design, construction management and systems
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
$440,000Whole-home renovation budget
I coordinated the renovation from design through the final walk, bringing contractors and vendors together around structural work, utilities, finishes and exterior improvements.
Select an image to view it full size.
The systems behind the space
BUILT, NOT RENDERED.
Explore the house ↗The product is good. The story, identity, website, or launch isn't doing it justice.
Something important is being held together with spreadsheets, manual work, or software that doesn't quite exist.
The problem crosses disciplines and somebody needs to understand it, make decisions, coordinate people, and move it forward.
Have a different kind of project? Tell me about it. ↗
Get in touch
Tell me what you have in mind, what’s already underway and where you need help.
This comes straight to me. I’ll reply by email.
