Background
Research by Design’s founder and principal, Julie Johnson, is a market research professional with over twenty-three years experience in the market research field and eighteen years of experience moderating focus groups. Ms. Johnson has extensive experience in the areas of new product development, concept testing, advertising and public relations research, and customer satisfaction research. 

Ms. Johnson founded Research by Design in 1998 in an effort to provide her clients with more personal attention and to offer them affordable options for research services that most larger, full-service market research firms are unable to offer.

From 1994 until 1998, Julie Johnson was employed by The Gilmore Research Group as an account executive and focus group moderator. During Ms. Johnson’s tenure there she worked on numerous new product development, communications and advertising research studies for a variety of Portland area clients, such as Nike, Hewlett Packard and Kaiser Permanente.

Prior to relocating to Portland, she managed the research function for Pacific Bell Directory’s New Product Development, Product Management and Advertising groups. She served as Pacific Bell Directory’s research liaison to its advertising agency Foote, Cone & Belding. In addition, she served on a corporate branding task force, which sought to form a corporate brand identity for Pacific Telesis and all of its subsidiaries.

Ms. Johnson has hands-on experience in direct marketing research. In the early 1980s she designed and supervised marketing tests to define markets, assess list characteristics and identify best creative approaches for Allstate, Dean Witter Reynolds and Sears financial service products. 

Ms. Johnson graduated with a degree in sociology from Santa Clara University in 1981.