Drew Plakos

Drew Plakos serves as an Adjunct Professor within the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Otis College of Art and Design, where he has instructed Toy Design, Methods & Materials, and Human Factors in Design courses for over 20 years in a creative environment emphasizing free idea flow within a diverse community. His industry career spans prominent brands including Mattel, Schaper, Lakeside Games, Disney, Daiso, and Thermos, with extensive work designing promotional kid meal toys for McDonald's, Taco Bell, Carls Jr., Arby’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Burger King.

Education:

• BA in Industrial Arts from California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA), Los Angeles, CA
• MBA from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN

His research and professional focus centers on Design for Compliance—integrating cost, functionality, aesthetics, regulatory standards, safety, reliability, and quality into toy and consumer product development. This interdisciplinary expertise covers mechanical solutions, materials science, and human factors for toys, games, housewares, and leisure products, leveraging deep industry experience to bridge academic theory with commercial manufacturing realities.

Scientific Awards: No awards, fellowships, or medals were documented in the provided text.

Advising and Grants: Plakos has mentored students through his 20+ year tenure at Otis College of Art and Design, though specific advisees are not listed. His consulting practice InSight Out facilitates industry-academic knowledge transfer, but no research grants or funding sources are referenced.

Labs and Teams: He operates InSight Out, a consulting practice maintaining extensive domestic and international resource networks for end-to-end design compliance solutions, directly supporting his teaching with real-world case studies from major consumer product manufacturing.