Nichole Rouillac is the founder and creative director of level, a women-led industrial design studio in San Francisco’s Mission Creek. With roots at One & Co and HTC—where she shaped icons like Fitbit—she now transforms complex tech into emotionally resonant products for clients like Microsoft, Tempo, AliveCor, and Nex. A former IDSA Women in Design chair, award-winning advocate (2025 Distinguished Alumni, Dezeen Bentley shortlist), and mother, Nichole champions diversity, mentorship, and purpose-driven design that scales from sketch to global impact. Nichole also won for her innovative Nex Playground Active Game System, which received a 2024 Good Design Award. She earned additional 2025 Good Design Awards for Density Waffle, Openwater, and Noctrix Nidra.
These distinguished honors are conferred by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and the European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design, and Urban Studies.

GDN: From One & Co to HTC leadership, what inspired you to found level and pioneer women-led design?

Nichole Rouillac: During my time at One & Co. and later HTC, I had experiences that were both empowering and complex. When I joined HTC, I was the only female industrial designer on the team. Over time, more women joined, but I was often navigating the duality of feeling both out of place and deeply valued. In many ways, being the only woman sharpened my perspective. I saw gaps others didn’t, and that perspective was increasingly recognized and respected as I proved myself through the work.

As my role grew, I was given opportunities I’m incredibly grateful for: presenting to executive leadership, pitching future design languages to carriers like Verizon and AT&T, and traveling across Europe and Asia to represent HTC’s vision. These experiences expanded my understanding far beyond the design studio. I learned how products are sold, how decisions are made at the C-suite level, and what it truly takes to get a product into people’s hands.

Spending significant time in Taiwan and China also transformed my career. I gained firsthand experience in engineering, manufacturing, and DFM, problem-solving alongside teams on the factory floor and carrying that knowledge back to sales and leadership teams in the U.S. This was the early era of Android phones, and I was fortunate to ship many successful products during that time. By the time I left HTC after nearly eight years, I had built deep expertise that few women at the time had access to.

As the organization evolved, I felt a growing pull toward what was next. I explored other senior roles, but I couldn’t shake the desire to build something of my own. Looking around San Francisco, I realized I couldn’t name a single industrial design studio founded and led by a woman. I questioned whether that would help or hurt me, whether clients would trust me, and whether I’d be valued equally. Ultimately, I decided to trust my experience, take a bet on myself, and build the studio I believed should exist. I’m profoundly grateful I did.

GDN: How does level’s hands-on, collaborative approach foster smarter, user-centered innovation?

Nichole Rouillac: Our hands-on, collaborative approach starts with the team itself and the culture we intentionally built at level. Early in my career, I experienced highly hierarchical environments where voices were ranked, creativity flowed in one direction, and speaking up, especially as a young designer, often felt risky. Some of those cultures were frankly toxic, and they taught me exactly what I didn’t want to recreate.

I also experienced the opposite. At One & Co., I saw how powerful a truly collaborative studio could be. From interns to senior designers, ideas were treated with respect, and everyone was encouraged to contribute. The energy in that environment was palpable, and the quality of the work reflected it. That experience deeply shaped how I wanted to build level.

The name “level” is intentional. It represents a more democratic approach to design, where everyone has a voice and influence, regardless of title or tenure. In our studio, junior designers present directly to clients, share their thinking openly, and participate in key conversations. This creates confidence, ownership, and a sense of pride that clients immediately feel when they walk into the room.

That openness extends into our process. We are deeply physical in how we design. We build constantly. Mock-ups, prototypes, and full-scale studies are central to our work, whether we’re designing wearables, furniture-scale products, or complex hardware systems. Stepping away from the screen allows us to test ergonomics, scale, and emotional resonance in ways that CAD alone cannot.

When clients see their ideas take form in three dimensions, something shifts. Their eyes light up. The vision becomes real. That shared excitement, between team and client, is where truly user-centered innovation comes from. It’s not just collaborative, it’s human, tangible, and deeply felt.

GDN: How does level turn ambitious ideas into market successes across projects like Tempo, Nex, and AliveCor?

Nichole Rouillac: Across projects like Tempo, Nex, and AliveCor, market success has consistently come down to two critical factors: deep trust with leadership and sustained involvement through manufacturing.

In all three cases, level worked closely with top decision-makers. At Tempo and Nex, that meant direct collaboration with the CEO, C-suite, and senior leaders across design, engineering, and marketing. At AliveCor, while the organization was larger, we had a tight partnership with executive engineering leadership. These relationships matter deeply in hardware, where every product requires difficult trade-offs. When leadership understands why a design is the way it is, they are far more willing to protect that intent when challenges arise.

That alignment becomes especially critical during DFM. This is the stage where cost pressures, tooling constraints, and manufacturing efficiencies can quietly erode a product’s experience if the design vision isn’t defended. On these projects, leadership stood firmly behind the North Star we set together. As a result, compromises were intentional and minimal, and the final products stayed remarkably close to their original design intent.

The second key factor was level’s continued involvement through manufacturing. For Tempo, Nex, and AliveCor, our team remained actively engaged through DFM, tooling, and production builds. On Nex, our Principal Designer spent weeks on-site at the factory during DVT and PVT, working directly with manufacturing partners to resolve issues and refine execution.

That hands-on presence shows up in the finished product. The fit, finish, materials, and overall quality feel intentional and refined, not diluted. These products don’t just look good in renderings or marketing. When users unbox them, touch them, and live with them, the quality is immediately evident. That consistency from concept through production is what ultimately drives lasting market success.

GDN: As former IDSA Women in Design chair, how do your mentorship programs empower women and close the leadership gap in industrial design?

Nichole Rouillac: The mentorship program grew out of a moment that stayed with me. In 2017, I attended IDSA’s first national Women in Design conference. It was small and intimate, which created space for honesty. During one breakout, a junior industrial designer shared a story that crystallized a pattern many of us recognized. She watched male peers at her company receive informal mentorship, skill-building, and social access from senior designers, while she was quietly excluded. When she asked for support herself, it turned into a formal, awkward meeting that lacked the openness and continuity she saw others receiving.

That story echoed many others I heard that weekend. Again and again, women spoke about the same issue: there were no senior women on their teams to learn from, and seeking mentorship from male leaders often felt uncomfortable or ineffective. I reflected on my own experience at One & Co. and HTC, where structured mentorship created stronger teams and accelerated growth. It became clear that women needed access to mentorship, even if it had to come from outside their companies.

Together with the leadership team at IDSA Women in Design SF, we launched a pilot mentorship program. We paired mentors and mentees through a thoughtful, manual matching process based on goals, experience, and interests. We held in-person kickoff and closing events to build real community, alongside regular one-on-one meetings.

The impact was immediate. Women gained confidence, refined portfolios, expanded networks, landed jobs, and learned how to navigate leadership paths that often feel opaque. By the final cohort I was involved in, over 200 women applied. While the work was significant and deeply collaborative, seeing the program continue today and hearing the stories of growth and empowerment has been incredibly rewarding.

In an industry where women represent less than 20 percent of the workforce, mentorship is not optional. It is essential to closing the leadership gap and ensuring women don’t just enter industrial design, but stay, grow, and lead.

GDN: What personal strategies helped you overcome industry barriers as a woman leader and build level’s success?

Nichole Rouillac: One guiding principle has shaped many of my biggest decisions: I try to live my life with no regrets. When I was considering starting level, I was afraid. I questioned whether I would succeed, whether I would fail publicly, and whether choosing the harder path made sense when safer options were available. But I knew that taking another job would leave me wondering “what if.” That question felt heavier than the risk of trying. Trusting that instinct gave me the courage to take the leap and bet on myself.

As a leader, I’ve also leaned into a more human, values-driven style. I genuinely care about the people I work with, and I don’t see that as a weakness. level may be associated with me externally, but its success is built by a team of incredibly talented individuals. Making sure they feel valued, supported, and appreciated is something I take seriously. I say thank you often, and I’m not afraid to say sorry when I make mistakes. I’ve worked under leaders who never admitted fault, and I saw how damaging that can be. Transparency, accountability, and learning together create stronger teams.

Another important shift was overcoming my own shyness. Early on, self-promotion didn’t come naturally to me. I had to learn to introduce myself, share our work confidently, and speak openly about what level had achieved. Not from ego, but from ownership. We earned our success, and telling that story helps open doors, attract meaningful work, and make women leaders more visible.

Ultimately, building level has been about trusting my values, leading with empathy, and choosing courage over comfort. I hope that visibility helps other women see that there is a path forward, and that leadership can look different and still be deeply effective.

GDN: Looking to 2030, how will level blend human insight with AI to advance inclusive design trends?

Nichole Rouillac: I’ll start by saying that I don’t love the word trends. At level, we’re not interested in chasing trends. We’re focused on creating work with lasting impact, designs that are thoughtful, responsible, and built to stand the test of time. That commitment has always guided the studio, and it remains unchanged as technology evolves.

Looking toward 2030 is admittedly difficult. The pace of change around AI and large language models is moving so quickly that even year-to-year predictions feel uncertain. New tools and software releases are reshaping workflows constantly. Rather than trying to forecast specifics, we focus on being intentional about how we adopt technology and why.

At level, we’re deeply committed to protecting the craft of design. We believe designers are thinkers, problem-solvers, and makers, and AI doesn’t replace that. What it can do is remove friction. Used thoughtfully, AI has the potential to alleviate many of the tedious, time-consuming aspects of execution, freeing designers to spend more time on creative thinking, experimentation, and problem-solving, where real value is created.

Much of the work we’re asked to do involves creating products and experiences that have never existed before. That requires taste, judgment, empathy, and context, qualities that can’t be automated. AI today is largely built on what already exists. It can accelerate and support, but originality and responsibility still come from humans.

As we move forward, level will continue to explore AI as a supportive tool while staying grounded in hands-on making, collaboration, and care. Inclusive design isn’t about speed or novelty. It’s about understanding people deeply and making intentional choices that genuinely improve lives. That’s not a trend, and it’s not going away.