There are changes afoot this month as we both greet and farewell new members of the Locus team. In late February we will farewell Mark Buntzen as he completes his internship with us. Mark has brought his own brand of wit and creativity to the team and we wish him all the best as he returns to finish his studies at Unitec in Auckland.

Our interior fit out of the VIP lounge for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in January saw Vicky Teinaki join the team, working remotely from our satellite office in Auckland. Vicky previously worked with Locus on last year's Life Cycle Thinking Series as a member of the Hothouse.

Fresh out of a Master of Design from Unitec, Vicky brings to the team a passion for technology and usability and is looking forward to the opportunity to practice interaction design in a design research context. A self-proclaimed Mac evangelist and RSS addict with an interest in psychology and philosophy, Vicky can be found in her spare time blogging on the online interaction design magazine Johnny Holland.

Joining us in the Mt Maunganui office as a senior designer this month is Rogier Simons. Eight years of travel following his graduation with a Bachelor of Industrial Design has seen Rogier gain valuable experience in fields such as custom glass systems, sporting equipment, whiteware, packaging, POS, furniture design, plastic product design and interior fit outs.

Rogier left Lexicon Systems in Jan 2009 where he managed the design team and was involved with design strategies, project management, value engineering and the creation of rapid smart solutions. He has now joined Locus Research to contribute and further his skills in the area of sustainable and research focused design.

Rogier is a Dutch born Kiwi with a strong passion for the outdoors; spending most of his weekends missioning around the coast and mountains surfing, mountain biking and snowboarding.