Esther Levine
Senior Industrial, Product & Toy Design Leader · Creative Direction
Profile
Award-winning toy, industrial and product design leader with 15+ years creating iconic, commercially successful products, including seven generations of the Barbie Dreamhouse, the 2024 Circana Top-Selling Toy in Dolls. Brings innovation and consumer-centric design to every product, with deep experience in transformation mechanisms, electronics and interactive features. A hands-on designer and creative leader who takes concepts from first sketch to production while overseeing projects, product lines and multi-year programs.
Selected Impact
- Designed seven generations of the Barbie Dreamhouse, named the 2024 Circana Top-Selling Toy (Dolls, US, Canada & Brazil), plus the brand’s largest playsets, vehicles and play environments.
- Designed products generating $500M+ in lifetime global sales.
- Created 100’s of designs, including award-winning products and Toy of the Year–recognized lines.
- Defined visual and architectural standards adopted across multiple Barbie product lines.
- Recognized with Mattel awards for innovation, leadership and collaboration.
- Led design teams, product segments and cross-functional programs; mentored young designers and interns at Mattel and through ArtCenter, Otis and CSUN.
Core Capabilities
Professional Experience
- Designed hundreds of products across Barbie and other toy brands, from seven generations of the Barbie Dreamhouse and the brand’s largest playsets to airplanes, boats and cruise ships, closets, campers and vehicles, activity sets and electronic toys, personally developing the sketches, renderings, features and play patterns from first idea to production.
- Led design teams and product segments for Barbie play environments and consumer products, guiding concepts from trend research and brainstorms through global production.
- Drove innovation through new mechanisms, transformation features and, on select lines, electronic and interactive play; validated concepts through consumer research and child testing.
- Personally created mood boards, concept sketches, renderings, CMF direction, foam-core and appearance models, and CAD/control drawings; directed model makers and sculptors from concept through refinement.
- Partnered with engineering, marketing, packaging, licensing, sourcing and manufacturing teams in the US, China and Mexico to protect design intent while balancing innovation, cost and feasibility.
- Presented concepts to leadership, retail and licensing partners; ran brainstorms and design sprints; mentored designers and interns.
Independent product and industrial design consultancy focused on creative direction, product concepts, design development, and consumer-product innovation.
Developed toy concepts and cohesive product lines informed by consumer insight and market trends, shaping visual identity, features and immersive play with design, engineering and marketing.
Mattel (Staff Product Designer); N.F. Nagy Design (Industrial Designer); Altos Computers (Industrial & Graphic Designer)
Education
- ArtCenter
- ArtCenter College of Design, BS, Industrial/Product Design, Honors
- Iberoamericana
- Universidad Iberoamericana, BS, Industrial Design; Minor in Graphic Design
Tools & Additional Strengths
- Design
- Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop (advanced), InDesign, SolidWorks, AutoCAD, SketchUp, physical model making, prototyping, rendering and design presentations
- AI & Visualization
- Vizcom, Canva, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini
- Languages
- English and Spanish (fluent); Italian (conversational)