2025 Designer Dozen Awards: Abby Golden

Abby Golden
Senior Environmental Designer, ChangeUp / Age: 30
Favorite Celebrity: Jennifer Aniston
Favorite Animal: Dog

WHY ABBY

Some of Abby’s key responsibilities include research, competitive audits, creative concept ideation, sketching, 3-D modeling, visual renderings and so much more. According to her colleagues, she was instrumental in Vera Bradley’s latest prototype and remodel. She has also worked with storied retailers Bath & Body Works and Subway – and for Burger King’s Sizzle prototype, Abby was part of a 1100 rollout. Outside of work, Abby is hugely involved with volunteer work in and around Dayton, Ohio, like Habitat for Humanity and 4 Paws for Ability (service dog training), to name a couple.

Abby has worked with a variety of retailers throughout her design career. PHOTO: Mark Steele, Columbus, Ohio

How did you get into retail design?

Since I was a child, I loved art and design. I thrived in art classes and would even create chalk-drawn cities on my driveway and sketch what I now know are section cut drawings through imaginary houses, thoroughly designing each room. Once I was accepted to the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) at the University of Cincinnati, I quickly fell in love with the pace of retail design during one of my internships and haven’t turned back since. I was exposed to working with many big retail brands such as American Girl, Hershey’s, Disney, Men’s Wearhouse, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Levi’s and Kroger.

Describe some of your outside-of-work initiatives.

ChangeUp has a generous quarterly volunteer time-off policy, which has allowed me to provide local support to several causes that I’m passionate about. This includes working the drive-thru and packing lunches at the Dayton food bank, mulching playgrounds at local Cincinnati parks, roofing a house for Habitat for Humanity, and helping new puppies at 4 Paws for Ability where they train service dogs. Being able to give back to the local Dayton community means a lot to me and doing it with fellow co-workers only brings us closer together … I have found that having days off to participate in fulfilling activities like this allows for more inspiration once I’m back in the office.

What’s the biggest challenge you have faced professionally?

One of the biggest challenges I find myself facing is always pushing myself to do something new and unique. We live in a world where people say, ‘It’s all been done before.’ Finding a balance between what is unique and ownable to a brand but still works for them strategically and operationally is a puzzle that I love trying to solve.

My favorite thing to do when I leave the office is…

…walk my dog, Piper, with my husband and work on house renovation projects.

I find (design) inspiration in…

…the little things! Details matter to me, and I love noticing the small things in everyday life that can inspire ideas for projects I’m currently working on.