I'm proud to have worked with many talented people over the years.
I asked a few of them what it was like working with me, and this is what they said:
To whom it may concern,
I met Jeremy in May of 1998. Over the past 18 years, we have worked together, 12 of those years. In that time, he has gone from working for me as a student to working alongside me as a business partner.
I feel lucky to have had the chance to work so closely with Jeremy for the majority of my career. In an industry that values novelty and professional relationships can be fleeting, it is rare to find people who you can collaborate with over such a long period of time.
As a manager, Jer oversaw the largest group of staff at Teehan+Lax (~20 people). He helped hire, manage and mentor all of them. He also had the most diversity of creative professionals in the company; managing video editors, 3D animators, UI designers, PMs and front end engineers.
Jer has the ability to develop rapport and establish credibility immediately. This was valuable with clients but also with co-workers who would instantly trust his leadership, counsel and direction.
I think Jeremy's greatest talent is his insatiable curiosity and willingness to understand something. As a largely self taught designer, Jeremy figured out design technique, skills and tools because he wanted to make things. He brings that same passion to anything he does, whether it is building his home (designing and acting as the general contractor) or starting his own company.
When he decided to leave Teehan+Lax and start Wattage, I saw it as part of Jer's natural curiosity to better understand the intersection of hardware and software. This curiosity leads him to always want to understand what's next and how something could be better.
Whenever i was struggling with a particular tricky product or business problem, I would instinctively walk over to Jer to talk it out. He was my most valuable "sparring partner" when it came to thinking through the implications of some design or product decision.
Over my career I have I leaned on Jer for everything from design execution to business vision. While we are not working together at this moment, I feel there is a good chance, we will at some point in the future.
I am happy to answer any questions you may have. I can be reached at jon.lax@gmail.com or 650-798-7265.
Jon Lax
— Director, Product Design at Facebook
I’m writing this letter to enthusiastically and emphatically recommend Jeremy Bell as someone you should seriously consider hiring to your team
Jeremy was the one that actually hired me at Teehan+Lax, where I worked for 5 years. You could tell right off-the-bat that he was sharp, that he clearly had a love of for design and tech, and yet that he was incredibly warm, friendly and personable.
Jeremy always came off as very confident to me. Far from arrogant, just that rare type of person that simply ‘gets it’. He has a strong passion for all things tech and there’s a drive and a love there to do great things that’s hard to match.
Because of his passion and his talent, Jeremy became a incredibly important figure at Teehan+Lax. He ran the largest team within the company, which I believe was nearly half of all our employees. Not only did his team do amazing work, not only were they the happiest, and most connected, team in company, but I believe they brought in a large chuck of the revenue as well. They were the backbone of the company. They did amazing work, the clients couldn’t have been happier (in fact they just kept throwing more and more work at his team) and Jeremy was the main reason behind that.
Always humble and friendly, Jeremy would sit with his team, not in an office. He would have side projects in the Lab and work closely with that team. He would sit at the lunch table with us and would also be the first one to suggest activities outside of work.
Even though everyone was happy and rooting for Jeremy when he decided to pursue his own start-up, it was pretty tough pill to swallow. I can’t count the amount of times that co-workers would whisper “I miss Jeremy”.
I truly hope one day our paths will cross and I’ll get the chance to work with Jeremy again and, clearly, I think he’d be an amazing addition to your team.
I'm happy to elaborate further, and can be contacted at hodgins.matt@gmail.com.
Matt Hodgins
— Product Designer at Slack
Jeremy was a partner at Teehan+Lax and my manager for over 3 years. We worked closely together, designing and shipping products for companies like LG, Google, and Bell. During his time at Teehan+Lax, Jeremy managed the largest product team in the company, overseeing several projects from different clients at once.
Personally, working at T+L was my first job out of college and first experience in the product design industry. Jeremy's guidance in the early, impressionable part of my career was pivotal in setting me up for success as a product designer at Instagram.
Starting with little design experience, all of my product design thinking ability was developed through working and collaborating with Jeremy. I greatly appreciate that he took a personal interest in my career and made sure I was working on the right projects at the right time. During the time he was managing me, I was given lots of opportunity to make impact at the company, but never felt overwhelmed or out of my element. Through our regular 1:1s, I appreciate Jeremy's careful and thoughtful management of my early career.
Jeremy mastered the balance between giving designers the autonomy they need to ideate/execute and providing his perspective. He's always given concise, actionable, non-destructive feedback both on a broad product level as well as on specific design details. I appreciate his eye for design and maintaining a great sense of taste (which I think is super important!).
On a personal level, Jeremy was extremely approachable, relatable, and one of the easiest people to work and collaborate with.
Should you have any more questions, my email address is justindavidaguilar@gmail.com.
Justin Aguilar
— Product Designer at Instagram
Jeremy was my manager at Teehan+Lax for 6 years. In that time, I was lucky to work with him on dozens of projects. For every project, having Jeremy as our leader instilled a sense of confidence amongst the team. Throughout early conceptual stages, the team knew we could depend on his guidance and vision to point us in the right direction. As projects progressed, his feedback was consistently clear and constructive. When faced with complex challenges, instead of telling us how we should solve them, Jeremy’s style was to give us the tools and encouragement necessary to arrive at a solution. Jeremy trusted his team would deliver and we trusted his leadership would keep us on track. His management style meant everyone felt a sense of pride and ownership of their work, and most importantly, it made us better at our craft.
I was always amazed at Jeremy’s ability to lead such diverse teams. He has both extensive and deep understanding of the variety of disciplines that contribute to shipping great products.
From design and engineering, to content strategy and data analysis, Jeremy clearly communicated our goals and brought out the best from everyone on the team.
Apart from his impressive industry knowledge, something that sets Jeremy apart as a leader is the fact that he’s an incredibly positive, charismatic and caring person. When projects were unusually demanding he’d recognize it and offer encouragement. When a teammate went the extra mile, he’d make sure to call it out and celebrate their accomplishments. Jeremy’s enthusiasm for the work and for his team was infectious which lead to an amazing work culture.
Jeremy had an incredibly positive impact on my career path over those 7 years. I started at Teehan+Lax building relatively simple Flash banner ads. By the end, I had grown my skills to a level where I was able to make the leap to working at Google as a motion designer. I owe much of my growth and success as a motion designer to Jeremy’s mentorship.
If you have any questions, I can be reached at jojomail@gmail.com
TL;DR You'd be crazy not to hire him!!!
Jonas Naimark
— Motion Designer at Google
I worked directly under Jeremy at Teehan+Lax for two years. This included all the day to day hustle and bustle of daily design challenges and also the longer term focus of ongoing projects and career growth.
From both a personal and practical point of view Jer is definitely one of the best design leader that I've worked under. As a creative lead he helped me grow as a designer probably more than any other point in my career and as someone to work alongside he was always calm, confident and quick to laugh. I've worked with a lot of people who are incredible design leaders and I've also worked alongside a lot of people who are genuinely great company who you'd be happy to call friends but rarely do you cross paths with someone who fits both these descriptions completely.
On a day to day basis Jer was always there to help navigate and solve complex design problems and direction. He provided clear paths if the team found themselves deep in the weeds and needed guidance or a strong holistic perspective. More importantly though he created an environment where the team was empowered to take on big challenges and difficult problems with confidence and excitement. This to me was one of Jer's great strengths as a leader; yes he can provide incredibly insightful and intelligent direction when needed but more importantly he excelled at crafting a fantastic team dynamic where we were set up with the support, structure and guidance we needed to produce some of the best work of our careers. This type of magical collaborative hive depends on an absence of judgment and fear of failure. As David Kelley of IDEO puts it:
"Creative confidence is the notion that you have big ideas, and that you have the ability to act on them. It is the quality that human-centered designers rely on when it comes to making leaps, trusting their intuition, and chasing solutions that they haven’t totally figured out yet... In order for you and your team to really deliver, embrace the karaoke confidence that establishes gumption, trust, and often, a standing ovation... Keep your sense of humor, build on the energy of others, minimize hierarchy, value team camaraderie and trust."
To me this really sums up the "Creative Confidence" and "Karaoke Culture" of working on Jer's team. There was a dynamic created where we were excited to dive into projects, excited to experiment on complex problems and excited to work for Jer himself. Not the designers but also the engineers, writers, analysts and strategists. The culture that this fostered, the back and forth of ideas, the positive mood to experiment without judgement and the steady and insightful direction from Jer when needed really elevated our projects to beautiful, new and unexpected places.
I can't recommend him for any leadership position enough and look forward to working with him again someday. Should you have any additional questions, feel free to email me at jaceholland@fb.com
Jason Holland
— Product Designer at Facebook
Working with Jeremy for over 6 years was instrumental in crafting the designer I am today. Over the course of that time he took me from being a Junior designer with no real experience to a senior member of the design team, overseeing large projects autonomously.
While the work he produces speaks for itself, one of his other major skills is in mentorship. Jeremy has a refined ability to spot opportunities for improvement and create spaces where people can grow safely and confidently. One great example for myself was building confidence in presenting work. Jeremy could have easily presented himself but continually gave me opportunities to practice the skill with clients and hone it in a safe environment where I knew he would be there to back me up if I stumbled.
Jeremy brings with him an energetic approach to design that really made me excited to come in and solve problems day to day. Everything from the charismatic way he pitched problems to the open and collaborative nature of our white boarding sessions.
I see Jeremy as a visionary problem solver who is incredibly resourceful. While I saw this lateral thinking day to day on client projects I think the greatest example of this was his adventure with Wattage - easily gathering together a team that would follow him anywhere in their pursuit of a future where anyone could design and build their own smart devices.
When I think of my own career growth into the future I always hold Jeremy up as an inspiration on how to manage teams and mentor other designers.
I'm more than happy to answer any further questions you might have. My email address is chris.r.tanner@gmail.com
Chris Tanner
— Product Designer at Facebook