Craig Nelson

Craig Nelson  brings over 25 years of experience in corporate and freelance design to WVU. His products have been sold in over 120 countries worldwide and have been featured in major print and media campaigns, celebrity endorsements and multiple Super Bowl commercials.

Craig has been involved in character development and performance for internationally broadcast television shows. His work has been exhibited in museums, concert halls, trade shows and cruise ships.  He has also worked for many years as an industrial designer, bringing numerous highly profitable, and high profile, products from concept through development and into to full scale production and distribution.    

Starting out as a designer for several small startup companies to having the title of Creative Director for one of the largest footwear brands in the world, he has become well steeped in many forms of design and manufacturing. Craig is fully versed in all forms of athletic footwear design, development, production and marketing. He has worked with several companies including Zoo York, Ecko Unltd., TAPOUT, 310 Motoring, Hurley, Cabelas, Goodyear, Skechers and Steve Madden.  

Craig Nelson is now a teaching professor of consumer product design. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design and his Master of Industrial Design from North Carolina State University. Craig’s teaching areas are: industrial product design, footwear design, soft goods design, hard goods design, materials and manufacturing processes, anatomy for designers, human factors, graphic design/visual communication, branding and marketing, digital design software (2-D and 3-D), ideation drawing, and technical drafting.