What I do

Prank & Phial is the independent design practice of Taylor Hill, including freelance, volunteer, and recreational work. I have over 12 years of experience as a designer, and while my professional work often revolves around product and UX design, my personal work is more broad and encompasses:

  • Immersive and interactive design including events, games, art installations, exhibits, and workshops

  • Tangible and sensory objects including products, toys, prototypes, models, and found object art

  • Engaging and narrative-rich experiences including scavenger hunts, theme parties, curated gift boxes, props and replicas, event collateral and graphic props

How I work

I describe myself as a design generalist, and utilize a variety of skills and methods to implement my work.

  • My formal education is in product design, UX, graphic design, and mechanical engineering, with a smattering of linguistics. I leveraged the Individualized Degree Program at the University of Minnesota to combine coursework from different fields into a concentration on design as an approach to creative problem solving. I prioritize practical solutions to meet user needs and tell compelling stories.

  • My work is collaborative and multidisciplinary. I thrive on working with other creative people who bring unique perspectives and skills to the table.

  • I’m relentlessly curious and a quick learner, so I relish the opportunity to dive into new industries, themes, or skills with each new project. My expertise is in the process of the work, which allows me to be flexible as to the subjects or tools of the work.

  • I’m a systems thinker and carefully consider all facets of the project and its implementation to ensure a feasible and compelling result.

Capabilities

  • Illustration of lightbulb with stylized pen and pencil crossed behind it

    Practices

    Product Design

    Toy & Game Design

    Immersives, Interactives, & Events

    Service Design

    Prop & Model-Making

    UX & Graphic Design

  • Stylized illustration of three people with lightbulb above their heads

    Strengths

    Design Iteration

    Design for Implementation

    Feasibility Analysis

    Workshop Facilitation

    Teaching & Instructional Design

    Accessible Design

  • Illustration of computer screen displaying stylized gear and pencil logo

    Skills

    Solidworks+ (3D Modeling)

    Figma+ (Software Design)

    Adobe Creative Suite

    Fabrication & Prototyping

    Sketching & Rendering

    Collaboration Tools

Northern Spark_Bike and Crane_WEB.jpg
Solstice 2024_05_Complete_WEB.jpg
Rows of narrow handmade wooden clipboards display station names from the board game Tokkaido with paper instructions attached. Instruction text is not visible/legible in photo.
Illustration: A blue, purple, and red toy car made of construction toy shapes on a yellow background. Individual toy pieces are depicted, and label reads YOXO DOON assembly instructions.
Image: A hand holding two plastic "popsicles" shaped like sticks of butter; one is a cream color and the other bright yellow. Popsicles are embossed with the word "Lemon" on one side, and "For a butter world" on the other.