The Blank Sheet Project: inspiring creative thinking

The Blank Sheet Project is Arjowiggins Creative Papers call to arms and asks creative minds to consider How will you leave your mark? Business Director Jonathan Mitchell explains

riving our commitment to innovate at Arjowiggins Creative Papers is the desire to support creativity

Neville Brody, and founder and global creative chairman of advertising agency BBH, Sir John Hegarty. They talk about the whole process of creativity, from inspiration to finished idea. They nominate the pieces of work that they would leave behind for future generations. They also discuss their own views on the role of paper today, the future of the creative industry and the responsibility of creatives to be ever more innovative, thoughtful and sustainable. www.theblanksheetproject.com

with stimulating sustainable papers that are exciting to use and feel. That is why we have grown our internal innovation programme, The Blank Sheet Project, into an outwardfacing inspiration platform for exploring the power of creative thinking. The Blank Sheet Project recognises that for creative people there is a unique challenge posed by the screaming silence of a Blank Sheet of Paper. It is a call to arms and an opportunity: to create something lasting and memorable, to challenge traditional thinking and to be innovative, creative, even radical.

Game-changing creativity
Sir John Hegarty uses The Blank Sheet Project Arjowiggins Creative Papers first conceived The Blank Sheet Project in 2010 as an internal innovation programme. Since then, it has gone on to address and inspire a global audience of young minds. In addition to its association with D&AD and the creative industries, The Blank Sheet Project is collaborating with One Young World to promote its message. This international initiative brings together the leaders of today with the young leaders of tomorrow. www.oneyoungworld.com platform to challenge the complacency he blames for the decline of an industry he is passionate about, urging creatives to be brave in their thinking, to drive through visionary ideas: I cant think of any other industry in the world that thinks it can succeed by making a product worse. And our product

Great minds think differently

In association with D&AD, the most respected Art Directors Club, The Blank Sheet Project is providing a platform for creatives of global renown to share the way they approach a blank sheet of paper. The first creatives to collaborate on The Blank Sheet Project are ground-breaking graphic designer, typographer and art director 28

has got worse. Thats not an opinion, thats a fact. What were not doing today is coming up with the kind of ideas that are gamechanging, that change the fortune of brands. Our audience, the people we are talking to, their appreciation of what we do has consistently gone down since 1990. . . its now less than 10 percent. Our industry really has to look at that. Great creative work is the result of somebodys individual passion to drive something through and that isnt about collaboration but about having a vision, a vision to do something really great and then bringing people with you. He challenges young creatives to look more widely for inspiration: at books, magazines, galleries, shows and even stuff youre not supposed to read. It really disappoints me, he says, that I go round and look at creatives and theyre all watching YouTube. Why are you watching YouTube? Whats the point . . . its been done! The Blank Sheet Project interview shows many of the great campaigns that Sir John and BBH have conceived. It includes the memorable Levis Laundrette advert (1982), which helped to reverse the fortunes of the American jeans company, set new standards for integrated marketing and put the fledgling BBH on the map . . . not to mention inadvertently boosting boxer shorts sales.

To design is to reveal
For Neville Brody, a Blank Sheet of Paper is a fresh opportunity to break boundaries and create narratives in a digital age when information is available anywhere at anytime to anyone. Digital technology has liberated paper to become a more radical space. Paper becomes less and less important as a space for carrying information but more and more important in being a creative exploratory space. He talks candidly in four interviews on The Blank Sheet Project about his early motivations and work, his views on creative education as Dean of the School of Communication at the Royal College of Art, and why he chose design as an outlet for his creative talents: The role of design is to reveal stuff, not to conceal. It was quite often the role of advertising to conceal in order to sell. Design was born in public service, he adds.

the energy and ideas of global youth to address the most challenging issues of the day. Founded by David Jones, global CEO of Havas Worldwide, and Kate Robertson, Euro RSCG group chairman, the first event, in London in 2010, involved Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Bob Geldof as counsellors inspiring and guiding the young delegates. Blank Sheet Project activities at the event encourage the young future leaders to put down on paper their ideas for resolving the worlds most pressing issues and Arjowiggins Creative Papers sponsored seven young delegates to attend the second event in Zurich.

The power of 2,000 blank sheets of paper . . .

Arjowiggins Creative Papers own Blank Sheet Project started with a process of consultation, culminating in over 2,000 blank sheets of paper filled with ideas and proposals from our employees. From the responses generated within the company, 40 teams are now developing ambitious sustainability projects to reflect our absolute concern for people, prosperity and the planet. Our upcycled reKreate paper, which re-uses fibre waste and contributes to a zero sludge mill, is just one of the many outcomes.

The role of design is to reveal stuff, not to conceal... Design was born in public service. Neville Brody, The Blank Sheet Project

Great creative work is the result of somebodys individual passion to drive something through. Sir John Hegarty, The Blank Sheet Project

Creating one young world

The Blank Sheet Project also supports One Young World, a global youth leadership summit that brings together several hundred delegates age 25 and under from 192 countries. It combines the social power of the internet with

TWITTER: @TheBlankSheet WEBSITE: www.arjowigginscreativepapers.com FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/ ArjowigginsCreativePapers 29

ometimes you get more - and this tends to be the case with clients who use CWD, a London-based industrial design

studio who pride themselves on adding value to clients products. CWD offer world-class design with a wide range of services and people able to deliver on a variety of projects and market segments. With over 15 years in the industry, their ethos is based on their belief in the designers intuition. Flexible in their approach and not tied to rigid processes, CWD cover all aspects of the creative process. This includes research, brainstorming, user centric design, product design and FMCG, right through to solid implementation. They offer as much or as little as the client requires, but at every stage push for that extra piece of excellence that will move the design or product up to the next level - even if the starting point is just a pen and paper idea. CWD work in an open and honest way, reflected in the fact that they have a great client list already. Part of this is not only down to their willingness to be open and honest with their clients but also in the way they work with them and for them, be it a large multinational, an individual or other design agency. Mighty small is how some people have described CWD. This comes from having a strong core team backed up by a network of talent, integral to their studio and their success. The members come from CWDs experience of working with the best in industry, where they have identified a strong mix of innovators in new technology to leaders in packaging design. With mutual respect they work well together, often at short notice for time critical projects. What this means is that for any project

You dont always get what you want!

CWD prides itself on delivering top service - heres how
undertaken a team can be tailor-made, large, small or diverse. The clients own brief will determine how the team is created. It will only be what is right for the job at hand with no inhouse excess. By being mighty small, CWD minimise overheads while producing the best possible work. It also allows them to manage each project at every single stage, working closely with those involved. Every aspect required will be overseen by CWD, from initiation to implementation, giving clients a seamless, hassle-free service. Whats been done already? Well, CWD have already made an impact with the launch of products for brands that are household names. From Samsung to Swatch, Philips to Panasonic, CWD inspired designs are out there in the market. CWD have been invited to many design awards and are proud owners of a number of IF Awards, but their biggest reward is seeing their clients success when people start buying and using the products they have designed. So how is this achieved and whats a typical process?

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An existing client, Raymarine - leaders in instrumentation and radar for the boating industry - wished to inject life and fresh new thinking into their products. They wanted to move away from grey box thinking and were looking at innovative ways of combining intelligent functionality and ease of use in an elegantly designed product. Raymarine set an open brief allowing CWD to have the freedom to explore, provoke and challenge their whole product line-up. Being aware of CWDs experience in mobile communications, the home appliances industry and consumer electronics, it was an exciting challenge to create a whole DNA for the marine electronics market. Developing an understanding of the user experience of the products was key for the success of this relationship. This ranged from what vessels they were on and how and where they were used, to the potential high risks and extreme conditions they could be exposed to. Once CWD had a good understanding of the user experience they collaborated

with the internal engineering department, specialists in their fields. They challenged each other in all areas of design, engineering and production. CWD designed several different directions that considered a technically robust approach with a premium look and feel that also took into account the extreme environmental conditions in which the products work. The process encompassed component configuration, sketches and form models used for extensive PUI testing. It was then on to 2D and 3D CAD where CWD focussed on form and surface details in parallel with colour, material and finish. CWD participated in the follow-up engineering reviews right up to tooling sign-off and early production. The global launch at the Sydney boat show saw the first wave of these exciting new products being released. Initial feedback was amazing not just from the public and peers but also from competitors. It also had the benefit of reenergising Raymarines team members to move the new look and thinking on to other products. T +44 (0)20 7193 9820 www.cwdlondon.com 31

Good behaviour
Nick Mival explains how DCA continues to expand as a business and to develop its design provision
based product design and development consultancy again topped the Design Week rankings for product design, won more design awards and improved its position in the Sunday Times FastTrack 100 for international export. These awards demonstrate the quality of our work and the rate of growth in our business, reflecting the fact that over 70 percent of our work continues to be for the export market, says director Nick Mival. During the last twelve months we have focused on delivering the highest design quality to our existing clients while steadily expanding our size and services. In moving, over recent years, from a mediumsized to a large agency, DCA has had to balance bringing in the structure and systems to run a large agency effectively while 32

hrough 2011 DCA enjoyed another year of internal development and external recognition. The Warwick-

attempting to keep its original friendly and approachable spirit in its working culture. 2011 saw DCA grow by over 20 percent in terms of staff numbers and the company is developing an expanding campus of offices and workshops across Warwick town-centre. Indeed, Mival senses that the consultancy is at the centre of a burgeoning creative hub in the heart of England: With us, Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin, and a number of other great, innovative companies based locally, there is serious growth in creative services in the region. In the past we might have struggled to get the best personnel, but now an attractive network of like-minded people is developing. During 2011, DCAs core business has continued to be medical device design led by managing director, Rob Woolston. Other key successes have been led by DCAs technical director Rob Bassil in the commercial and industrial sector, with launches of the X-Net anti terrorism vehicle arrest system and a Red Dot and IDEA win for 3Ms M series headgear. Building on our expertise in train design, during 2011 DCAs transport sector has expanded to work in automotive and aircraft interiors, explains Mival, while in our consumer sector we have continued to build our expertise and expand our service offer in product and packaging design for FMCG and consumer healthcare brands.

Mival, who leads the consumer sector, explains that this year he has been focussing his clients on product design quality. In the West we have had 20 years of the factory moving further and further from the design team at the same time as design steadily moving upstream to the executive suite and the world of strategy. The latter is great, but now, more than ever it is important as product designers to remember we are delivering a product and to keep in touch with the craft of product design. He adds: As our consultancy is over 50 percent engineering, we are still very involved in making things. We want to help our clients avoid falling into the trap of

having a great strategy and a great concept, but ending up with a poorly executed product through a lack of care and rigour. Connected to this, increasingly, DCAs multidisciplinary teams are developing new ways of exploring, defining and controlling the way that products behave. The consultancy has always had a strong provision in defining the 3D visual brand language for clients projects. However, the visual aspect is not the entire story. Obviously a consistent visual brand language can reinforce brand value, says Mival. But our teams, made up of researchers, industrial, interaction and usability designers, engineers mechanical, electronics and

software - are now developing interactive brand languages for large organisations which look at all aspects of sensorial design across a large range of products. This includes how a products feels, how it sounds, even how it smells and tastes. We are mixing subjective intuitive techniques with rigorous testing and objectivity to add consistency and control of the behaviour of product across a brands portfolio. When asked for a general outlook for 2012, Mival stated: 2011 has been great for us; 2012 could be even better. Contrary to what we keep reading in the press we are optimistic about 2012. We are helping our clients fuel economic growth through great design. We are consolidating our successes of the last few years and will continue to carefully expand the team, ensuring we only hire the very best, allowing us to continue to deliver the value and quality our clients have come to expect from working with us.

T: +44 (0)1926 499461 W: www.dca-design.com

Rigorous design
OPPOSITE PAGE Clearasil PerfectaWash Touch Free Dispensing System for Reckitt Benckiser TOP RIGHT Stella Artois Chalice Can graphics TOP LEFT 3M M Series headgear BELOW LEFT Lantus SoloStar: a registered brand of Sanofi Aventis
Lantus SoloStar is a registered brand of Sanofi Aventis

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Challenging ideas
Designworks addresses the challenges of a diverse and prestigious client list, creating award-winning solutions that work for consumer, brand and business

W
one roof.

ith over 20 years in the industry, weve learnt the best ways to understand what

electronics, medical, childrens products, FMCG, retail and luxury lifestyle. We can adjust and apply our flexible process to suit the various specialised needs across these industries, helping our clients realise their product and innovation programmes. Were a truly global company, with offices in the UK, Australia and Hong Kong, helping us offer a highly flexible, globally networked service to our clients.

consumers want and how to help our clients go from identifying the market opportunities and devising a product strategy, through to design and prototyping. The unique nature of Designworks means that the different stages of our process blend together seamlessly, with designers, modelmakers, engineers and strategists all working under Our approach allows vital information to flow freely between departments, providing a creative environment where cutting-edge design works hand-in-hand with industryleading modelmaking and fabrication talent. At Designworks, we help future-proof businesses by using creative thinking to look at what consumers want, and developing solutions to meet and exceed those needs. We work with brands to identify opportunities to enhance their offering in their current market, or help them move into different categories with new and exciting propositions. We believe that using creative thinking to explore the market and identify opportunities helps stretch brands in ways they might not have considered previously. Our highly visual way of communicating insights and data means that ideas are tangible and contextualised, not jargon heavy and difficult to comprehend. Our design experience stretches across a broad range of industries, from consumer

Delta Q
Designworks worked closely with the leading coffee brand in Portugal, Delta Cafs, to create its most advanced and desirable fully automated capsule coffee machine to date for the new concept Delta Q (single serve portion concept). The machine uses unique Delta Q capsules packed with fresh coffee so users can experience Deltas incredible coffee, brewed perfectly, from the comfort of their own home. The process grew from sketches and simple concept drawings through to multiple development rigs working closely with the

manufacturers. The brief evolved throughout the process, changing the machine from a simple manual machine to fully automatic whilst retaining the overall size. This resulted in a very advanced yet compact machine.

Asalus
The Surehold Atraumatic Manipulator (SAM) concept was conceived as a device for the atraumatic manipulation of tissues and organs during minimally invasive surgical procedures. The key innovation is the use of suction rather than physical grasping to hold, stabilise and manipulate the tissue. The

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use of suction and the design of the device also allows for the inclusion of additional functionality such as irrigation, aspiration and electro surgery. During the developments phase, varying types of prototype techniques were utilised allowing for testing to be performed in-vitro and in-vivo where applicable.

recognisable personal care products around - talcum powder. For too long, talcum powder has been perceived by consumers as messy and inconvenient, often sold as a low-value commodity product, gradually losing shelf presence and disappearing from bathrooms in the UK. We believed that with new positioning, packaging and proposition, talc could become a high-value product again. After exploring the landscape, gathering consumer insights and identifying some

viable market opportunities, we created DRI SPORT - a motion-activated body powder that keeps you drier and fresher, reducing the risk of chafing during sports and enhancing your performance. During our discovery work we found that consumers saw talcs key attribute as being highly absorbent, and were also used to seeing it used in a sporting environment. The need we identified was that sportsmen and women require a product that can help reduce chafing between sweaty skin and clothes, whilst being mess-free, easy-to-use and portable. Our solution - compressed talcum powder tablets that are crushed in the hand and then applied to the body. By using a tablet format, mess is vastly reduced in comparison to powder, while also allowing us to radically redesign the packaging into an easy-to-use, ergonomic dispenser. We even developed the design into some high-quality aesthetic models, complete with branding for an entire range. DRI SPORT is a great example of how we can identify an opportunity and deliver a proposition that will disrupt the market - from consumer research, through to design and prototyping.

DRI SPORT
At Designworks we like disruptive thinking so we looked at improving one of the most

T: +44 (0)1753 842 404 W: www.designworkswindsor.co.uk 35

Sitting comfortably
Continued evolution by Factorydesign of the Superlight Ultra aircraft seat for Acro Aircraft Seating now includes the integration of the seat-based in-flight entertainment system called Aura, also designed by Factorydesign for Intelligent Avionics. Both save significant weight, and therefore fuel, making more money for the airlines and keeping the planet alive
determined ambition to reduce part count, improve ease of maintenance and increase passenger benefits with better comfort and features such as increasing leg room. Factorydesign were selected as the design partner and the Superlight was created for the launch customer Jet2.com. Designed for single aisle aircraft applications, the first production seat is the lightest in its class, providing real fuel savings to airlines, more comfort for passengers and a significant environmental advantage. Installing Superlight on a typical low-cost aircraft such as a Boeing 737 could mean a saving of 950kg, which would equate to fuel savings of USD150,000 to USD200,000, per aircraft, per year. Factorydesign bring refreshing creativity, invention, knowledge of trends and the aviation market - Acro would not have achieved what we have without them, says Chris Brady, commercial director at Acro Aircraft Seating. The reduced part count resulting from the simple design brings many benefits to Acro and customers. Less parts means fewer suppliers, minimum administration and an easier to manage supply chain. The low part count and attention to detail of manufacture means a shorter assembly time. Less complex parts means less need to source specialist suppliers, creating a locally (UK) based supply chain. More choice of suppliers means a more competitive supply of components which reduces costs. Fewer, simple parts, the elimination of trim panels and the deconstructed nature of the design, also means the seats are very robust and easy to maintain, with any part easy to access and replaceable with a standard Allen key in minutes. The low part count also benefits airlines with a lower stock and spares holding requirement. 36 Much like the complacency that existed within the mobile phone market until Apple introduced the iPhone, the Superlight has shaken up the market such that the established seat manufacturers are all racing to produce a product that matches the performance of Superlight. Put simply, Superlight has made the industry question convention and will continue to provoke significant change in the market. Recognition has come from both the design and aviation industry as the Superlight was shortlisted for the Crystal Cabin Awards, nominated by the D&AD, won a Design Week Award and, most recently, has been awarded a coveted DBA Design Effectiveness Award. Through the success of the design, supply and final realisation of the product, Acro have gone on to secure business in Lithuania, Russia and Italy. Building on this success, the product range is growing with the addition of

he multi-award winning Superlight aircraft seat was initially designed for low-cost, short haul carriers with the

the type R (recline version) and the Ultra, which provides enhanced facilities such as the integrated Aura in-flight entertainment system. Aura is different. Aura is flexible, light and powerful, providing big processor power and storage locally in each seat without the need for the heavy servers that come with conventional IFE systems. With screen availability at 99.99 percent that means only one hour of screen down time in every 10,000, plus a five-year exchange warranty and lower ownership costs, even the business model is being set up to challenge convention. We are delighted that Factorydesign has become a key development partner to help us move AURA from prototype to a flying product that will delight passengers and airlines worldwide, says Martin Cunnison, founder and managing director of Intelligent Avionics. He adds: Factorydesign has done stellar work for a range of clients, and their success largely derives

from a practical combination of engineering, aesthetics, and innovation. They take time to understand our needs as a client, those of our airline customers, and those of the passenger. We think that approach will help us deliver the four elements of our brand promise: ultra lightweight, more reliable, lower ownership costs, and happier passengers. The year ahead is looking very exciting for all three companies, with interest growing rapidly in the Ultra seat and Acros customer base increasing. This demonstrates that customer power is never stronger and continues to contribute to the evolution of the product. Meanwhile, the Aura in-flight entertainment system continues to develop into a truly valuable advance in the offer to passengers. Airlines all over the world are experimenting with a variety of different approaches to in-flight entertainment. From those simply replacing tape players to step into this century, to others relying

on the passenger to bring on-board their own equipment, and to those airlines determinedly sticking with over-weight, burdensome and inflexible, server based systems, there is a huge opportunity that Intelligent Avionics are poised to exploit. You will be able to see them both at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg in March. Finally, Factorydesigns year ahead will embrace both these sectors of aviation seating and technology, plus consumer goods, luxury goods and domestic appliances, for customers in the UK and Europe, USA, Middle and Far East. Have a good year.

T +44 (0)20 8748 7007 www.factorydesign.co.uk 37

Improve peoples lives!

GP designpartners aim to make life better through design
almost overnight, customer behaviour becomes more and more difficult to predict and products are dematerialising. Technology is available to everyone so differentiation by the shape of the product alone is not enough anymore - it is the accompanying service that makes the difference to the customer. The problem: If a company cannot hold pace in this economic world, it will get run over by new, young competitors that are able to bring a new generation of services in whatever way to the market; as a product, a service or a process. It is no longer about a new object with a new form factor and with hundreds of new features and dazzling tech specs. It is about a product that is perfectly embedded in a finely-tuned product eco system that makes sense to the user (not just the customer, the user!) What is the aim? To thrive in this situation it is necessary to use design in a more general way, as a cross-departmental function. It is important to deploy design in areas where it brings the highest impact first, i.e. in the future it will be necessary not only to present a product portfolio to the market but also to have a business model portfolio. It may make more sense to redesign service processes, but it might also be necessary to redesign the product and, in particular, the interaction concept. Additionally, a new online service could also strengthen customer loyalty. 38 Advantage by design GP designpartners helps clients to jump to the next curve. They offer design consulting, business model design, service design, industrial design and interaction design. Most of the design capabilities exist within the team and are completed by a proven network of experts: graphic designers, information designers, anthropologists, sociologists, philosophers, and so on. GP designpartners are able to initiate a business model innovation procedure, if it

here do we go? We are living in a fast-moving world; everything is changing, markets disappear

The solution! This means it is advantageous to work with a design partner that has a wide scope of services - a partner that can provide exactly the right design service at exactly the right moment. GP designpartners might be just the design team you are looking for.

seems useful after the preliminary audit. At times it makes sense to start right away with the shaping of a new product and take care of the business model later or not at all. In other cases its better to start with the redesign of the service behind the product. Whatever the scenario, GP designpartners starts a co-operation through a thorough investigation of the market and its mechanism. We search for what makes the users tick and find out what is the real job to be done from the users point of view. GP designpartners adapts to the users like a chameleon to fully understand what is going on, what needs to be done and how design could improve their lives. Why should you be interested in improving peoples lives? Because it pays. To quote Raymond Loewy: The most beautiful curve is a rising sales graph.

LEFT
For those suffering from diabetes, blood testing becomes a routine like checking the time on a clock. That is why we gave a friendly face to the Wellion Callas, so it becomes more of a personal tool than a medical device. There are only three keys used to navigate, save or retrieve. Diabetes also affects the eyesight severely, so focussing on the vital purpose of the meter, we decided to use the full height of the screen for displaying the metered value

BELOW
In 2005 we designed the registration process of the JCI world conference in Vienna. Delegates needed to get their conference badges and bags as fast as possible, so we designed a brand new way to register the 5,864 people. In order to take as much load as possible off the system we offered to deliver conference kits for whole delegations to their hotels. Several additional actions were created to optimise the flow through the registration system at the venue. In the end it worked so well that delegates congratulated us - a German delegate told us: Instead of the expected two hours, I only had to wait for 55 seconds.

BELOW
The new e-charger for the City of Vienna is designed to be radically simple, in the manner of a friendly service. The e-charger resembles a kind of supersocket, easy to identify and intuitive in use. It is a very distinct and iconic design, clearly set apart from e-charging stations in other metropolises

LEFT
Twinline is a shower and a bath rolled into one. The innovative concept is based on a simple truth: in European bathrooms, 80 percent of people have a shower and 20 percent a full bath. The Twinline merges these two functions into one product. This has created not only a new archetype, but a new market segment as well. The clean-cut and straightforward design reflects the core meaning of an universal product, independent of style

Accomplish two things at once and ... improve peoples lives! Call GP designpartners.
T: +43 (0)1523 35980 W: www.gp.co.at 39

Top quality
IDCs managing director Stephen Knowles looks back over a successful 2011 and looks forward to a busy year ahead
developments to benefit our customers. Foremost was the opening of our office in Shanghai. In addition to our UK base, in Datchet, Berkshire, we now have a presence in China with designers and engineers working on projects for Chinese and international companies. The office, which currently has six staff, is helping clients who have interests in China, but need reliable and high quality support. Certainly this expansion has been a big undertaking and commitment for us, but, now in place, the operation is growing nicely. Clients are benefiting from it in moving their businesses forward and have given us very positive feedback. We have taken the best of our development process in the UK, which has been successful for our clients for a number of years, and aimed to replicate that

011 was a very important year for Industrial Design Consultancy (IDC); we put in place a number of key

quality of service and design in China. Our Shanghai base is more than a manufacturing and sourcing office. We want to do design that is appropriate for the Chinese market with the levels of quality and intellectual property security that you would expect from a UK company. Currently our China office is focussing on the medical sector. However, we are finding, because of our track record over the last 40 years, clients are coming to us with industrial projects and consumer electronic devices. Although the medical sector remains a key focus for our overall business, we are by no means sector specific. Fundamentally, what IDC is about is providing high quality industrial design; where we really excel is in technical problem solving and moving a concept towards manufacture. In medical devices, for example, there are a lot of technical issues at the same time as a need for user-focussed, human-friendly design.

One of the highlights of the last twelve months was the launch of the Venner Video Laryngoscope, a device used during anaesthesia to introduce an endotracheal tube. IDCs design won the Best of the Best at the 2011 Red Dot Awards as well as a Medical Design Excellence Award. This recognition acknowledged the two sides of what we do: high-end design and engineering attention to detail in problem solving. In 2012, as IDC celebrates its 40th birthday, we will be continuing our dialogue with clients to understand what they want and supporting them in their journeys as they look to ensure their products are successful and address changing business needs. One factor of increasing importance is sustainability, an area in which IDC has been active for a number of years. We anticipate that through 2012 sustainability factors will become more and more integrated into the mainstream of design and, therefore, the skills

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sustainability and it is becoming further embedded in design culture. Despite the tough economic conditions, the trend is still towards more consideration of sustainability issues rather than less. Of course, sustainability is just one piece of the jigsaw and needs to be balanced with other factors such as usability, attractiveness, good function, and cost-effectiveness. IDCs approach is about understanding users and scratching beneath the surface to find innovation, to discover the point of difference that makes a product special, and then, having captured the essence of a concept, to deploy the necessary attentionto-detail to make a great concept into a great product. IDC designers have the tenacity and dedication to make concepts into fantastic realities. We are looking forward to an exciting year in 2012 solving problems and delivering successful products. T: +44 (0)1753 547 610 W: www.idc.uk.com

and experience we have in the sustainability field will offer our clients significant advantage, whether it be in the transport, medical or industrial sector. Last year we launched our sustainability tool, the LCA Calculator, which offers a quick and intuitive means for designers

and engineers to understand, analyse and compare the environmental impact of design decisions. IDC will launch a new version in the first quarter of 2012 with a roll-out, supported by Jaguar Land Rover and other big automotive clients. There is a growing awareness of

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ood design reflects the society in which we live and works on different levels. Financially, it can

stimulate day-to-day sales and add to the market value of a business. Practically, it can blend engineering with the desire to create solutions that look great and are efficient to manufacture. Emotionally, it can create and maintain a brand that captures the attention and loyalty of customers...great design changes the society in which we live! Designing desire Good or great design is never an accident. Yes, there is sometimes a brilliant one off solution...a dazzling inspiration that turns a simple product into an iconic must-have. But it is rare, and usually fails to make the leap from a niche to universal acceptance and even rarer is a sustainable success, something that builds on the brand, the only true differentiator. Successful design is a complicated process. Many things must happen when the

Design: art or science?

KISKA questions the meaning of great design
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customer meets a product: of course, the design must look great at first glance. But then it must also communicate and anchor the positioning and values of the brand. For the customer, it is like meeting a friend or even meeting a new friend, somebody that will stay with you for a lifetime. A great design carries emotional overtones that go far beyond practical benefits. This is why designers are so interested in emotion and talk about brand creation. We know that emotions underpin many decisions. They stimulate the mind and help people to process information. They are the door openers that create curiosity and make people want to try something new, or make you return time after time whether in familiar everyday purchases or the latest technologies. Designers who can capture emotion within their designs are, in effect, designing desire: they make products desirable, and make customers desire to own them. 100 creative professionals from 15 nationalities As a creative consultancy, KISKA aims to design solutions that communicate the right messages to the right people, consistently, thoroughly and coherently, across all relevant media. We call our approach Integrated Design Development (I.D.D.) and use it to help us focus on key issues and concepts as well as establishing strong brand directions and strategies. For us, design is a dialogue as well as a

process. We work closely with our clients at a very high intellectual level and employ nearly a hundred specialists from over a dozen nationalities. Our consultants include PhDs and MBAs, graphic designers, desktop publishing experts, industrial designers and transportation specialists. We give them room to think in our own purpose-built offices. Comprising some 5,000 square metres, this 10 million investment gives us a setting in which we can share ideas across disciplines and combine the skills, cultures and passion of all our employees to build exciting brands for our clients. Integrated Design Development Guided by the principles of Integrated Design Development, we manage each project in a systematic and unique way. First, we consider each clients positioning and competitors. Then we analyse the factors that make the client special both internally and externally. At this point we also help the client to frame requirements and discuss a preferred brand direction and more importantly how to achieve this through their own unique organisational structure. To obtain an accurate brief we may run workshops to consider all relevant business, market and product issues. Through this process we emerge with a list of factors that will help us to make the clients brand proposition visible through product design and communication. We always aim to emerge with a single brand message. Multiple messaging dilutes a brand and makes it hard

for customers to build a relationship; solutions that the client is not able to bring to market efficiently and effectively are also quickly put on the back burner. Designing brands Our unique approach makes a real difference, and over 80 percent of our business comes from clients that have worked with us for over five years, from KTM where we have had a successful relationship for over 20 years, helping it to become a respected brand in the motorcycle industry that doubled its market share during the last recessions, to Adidas where we have recently signed a three-year strategic partnership. Clients from A to Z from AKG, Atomic and Audi to Zeiss work with us at the very sharp end of professional consumer goods development forging strong relationships and even stronger brands through a joint integrated design approach. Companies such as these trust KISKA to think differently from other agencies but deliver professionally, successfully and sustainably. We believe this is how all consultancies should be. If you agree, please contact us:

E: (Steve Masterson) s.masterson@kiska.com W: www.kiska.com 43

New horizons
In 2011 LA Design celebrated its 30th year in business - director Leslie Stokes reflects on what has changed in the world of industrial design consultancy during this time

ompared with the 1980s, many design companies today take considerably more responsibility for a products

with the virtual world. We started with a small group of people with common skills and have developed into a team of industrial designers, mechanical engineers, communication designers and modelmakers. We used to offer creative services to established manufacturing companies and we now, in addition, help establish strategic direction, brand development, market acceptability, manufacturing methods and promotional channels for both multinationals and small entrepreneurial start-ups.

Previously, the approved methods for water purity testing were manual, requiring specially trained staff and fixed 18-24 hours incubation delays. ENDETEC, a Canadian based company and part of the global Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies group, had developed a modified spectrophotometry method using a patented partitioning technology. This had the potential for making water testing safer and 20-80 percent faster but possible barriers to acceptability were related to established working practices and confidence that the new technology was robust and reliable. LAs involvement included mapping and analysis of possible supply chains and user requirements for the consumable sealed cartridge that formed an essential part of the process and

ultimate success in the marketplace and deal with many additional defining factors, including research for product and service opportunities, creating and testing propositions, producing targeted creative concepts, designing for manufacture and in the case of LA, producing valuable promotional material. These things have changed but some essential core principles remain the same and help to differentiate industrial designers from others involved solely with technology, mechanical engineering, market research and business management. We still design for people, we observe, we listen, we understand what makes things genuinely better and we can collaborate with other experts, communicating complex, multidisciplinary ideas to everyone involved with the process. This experienceled design approach has served us particularly well in simplifying complex technologies and systems for users, especially through wellconsidered user interface design. The other big change has been the emergence and continued development of Computer Aided Design and the biggest equivalent challenge has been to harness its power for good and to avoid this awesome technology hijacking the essential industrial design core principles. To this end, LA has continued investing in workshop-related activities to ensure that tangible, people size models and prototypes are built in parallel

ENDETEC - TECTA B16

TECTA is an example of LA using a fully integrated design approach to translate patented technology into a successful, user focused and modular product for automated water testing. This involved deploying a number of different design methods and techniques with carefully managed collaborations.

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PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
OPPOSITE PAGE TECTA B16 BELOW TECTA interface RIGHT Sonatest

The original veo product proposition was very challenging as it brought together the requirement for extremely powerful hot processing electronics in an enclosure sealed to IP65 with the capability of withstanding severe drop testing. Working with Sonatest engineers in the UK and Canada, LA developed the enclosure concept to combine hard and soft plastics in a novel way - providing external business model. LA was also responsible for the touchscreen user interface design, developed in conjunction with detailed user scenario research and the system sequencing to ensure fail safe laboratory practice. The design of the actual TECTA product was informed by all these factors but also had to meet stringent temperature control and optical requirements in addition to practical considerations like cleaning and maintenance. The product development was undertaken in collaboration with ELGA, another Veolia company and LA client. Just as important was the need to develop the appropriate visual brand values and user confidence for a new technology, a new product and a new method of working in a mature and conservative market. This was helped by a fully digital promotional video, produced by LA, showing how the new technology related to current methods but also improved quality standards, accuracy and speed of results - very important when you are responsible for the monitoring of contamination in municipal water supplies! protection and grip but also the means to flexibly mount heavy electronic components. veo is the only product in a highly competitive market that combines this level of extreme processing power with a fully sealed solution. The product was launched in 2011 and has had a very disruptive impact on the market place, elevating Sonatests position and reinforcing the product range values in a very positive way. T: +44 (0)1442 862631 www.LA-design.co.uk

SONATEST - veo
LA has worked with Sonatest for many years and over that period, developed a unique range identity, communicating the message of easy to use, rugged, reliable, technically advanced products in a simple but elegant way. The veo Phased Array ultrasonic flaw detector reinforces Sonatests reputation for innovative user focused product development in the Non Destructive Testing environment.

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Meso: making ideas more

Meso Design discuss innovation, success and their unique way of working

nderstanding the relationship between design and commercial success is key to the growth of Meso Design, one

of sectors. Its that diversity that gives us our strength. Meso has built its success on forming longterm collaborations, providing design counsel to their growing list of UK and international clients, or setting up joint ventures to help bring new products to market. Whatever the model, the objective is still the same - to deliver well-engineered products that are commercially successful. Its latest collaborations, including smartphone accessory Popa, (pictured right) embody the Meso way of working. Popa is the brainchild of Manchester based Beep Industries. When I was using the iPhone, I thought that it could be better for taking pictures with, says inventor and

Beep founder Brendan Dawes. It wasnt as easy or practical as it could have been, so I started working on the idea. Inspired by his late father, a photographer, Dawes worked with Meso Design to create Popa, a lightweight device which transforms the iPhone into an instant camera. Its already a commercial success, with around 50,000 pre orders on the US creative arts website Kickstarter. It has even won backing from Hollywood, with Oscar winning actor Tom Hanks expressing an interest. Another successful collaboration is mobislyder (pictured left) - a portable consumer camera slider created for Scottish company Glidetrack, one of the worlds leading suppliers of camera dolly systems. The compact, portable device allows amateur film makers to produce steady, sweeping shots, using their smartphone or digital camera to recreate the cinematic feel of big budget movies. Meso worked with Glidetrack to design and manufacture the new device. Glidetrack director Alastair Brown says: Meso have allowed me to convert ideas to products in a very short space of time, and taken Glidetrack in a positive and exciting new direction. By working in close partnership, and

of Scotlands most innovative product design companies. The award winning company was formed in 2008 by three design engineering graduates - Danny Kane, Gregor Aikman and Craig Lynn - and now employs 12 staff at its base in Inchinnan, near Glasgow. With a passion for delivering engaging design and clever engineering, Mesos motto is making ideas more. Director Danny Kane explains: While some design agencies bring a project from concept to design stage and no further, we work with our clients through every stage of the products journey, from design to engineering and manufacturing, and ultimately to market. In short, Meso make ideas more. Since its launch, Meso has worked on more than 50 projects for clients - from entrepreneurs to multinationals - across a range of sectors, including food and drink, toys, consumer electronics, packaging, industrial equipment, medicine and transport. Fellow director Gregor Aikman says: We have a proven track record in a huge variety

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Gregor Aikman adds: We want to create a facility where inventors can share their ideas, where students can learn new skills and where Scotlands ingenuity for design and manufacturing is given space to flourish. Meso recently won a prestigious Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce ROCCO Award for Innovation and Technology, beating Rolls Royce, no less, to secure the coveted award. Chamber chief executive Bob Davidson praised Mesos youth, attitude and truly innovative approach and way of working and described Meso as a young company ... with big ambition, global reach and great potential. The team have also won praise from politicians in the Scottish Parliament. Meso is a great example of a growing company that is showcasing Scottish innovation and design, to international recognition and acclaim, said Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney MSP bouncing ideas off each other, we are taking our products to an even higher level. Thats good for the customer as it allows us to design eye catching products that are highly attuned to their needs. The Meso story is an evolving one. Until now, the company has largely focussed on collaborating with others. But from 2012, Meso aims to design, build and market its own range of products. Director Craig Lynn says: We will continue to provide product design support for our diverse client portfolio, but we are also increasingly looking to develop our own exciting range of products, designed, manufactured and marketed entirely in house. That is a big transition for Meso, but its a challenge we relish. The company also has ambitious plans to develop a purpose built 2 million centre of excellence for product design in Scotland, perhaps as early as 2013, that will combine their design, engineering and manufacturing processes under one roof, and provide education and networking facilities for the sector. 47 T: +44 (0) 1415 688240 www.mesodesign.com following a recent visit. With several commercial successes under their belt, a range of new products in the pipeline and ambitious plans to grow the business, Mesos philosophy of making ideas more looks set to take the company in an exciting new direction in 2012.

Formed in 2007 by Steve Mosley, the studio works with a growing list of clients through its main studio in the UK and more recently its satellite studio in Qing Dao, China. We all care enormously that our work both hits the mark and is also personally and commercially successful: people talk at great lengths about the deep philosophical meaning behind what they do, and while understanding this is clearly important we like to think we also succeed through a lot of hard work and a deep understanding of who we are designing for, says Steve Mosley. Mosleys background is mixed; originally part of the British design duo Mosley meets Wilcox, which was a partnership resulting from his studies at the Royal College of Art, but then seeking broader commercial experience, Mosley worked at Nokia Design as senior designer and creative lead for the Fashion & Premium Business unit. He admits that much of the thinking behind Mosley& is a

osley& is a British design consultancy made up of an international team of designers.

No-nonsense approach
Steve Mosley explains his studios no-nonsense approach
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recent films such as Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows and Johnny English Reborn. This relationship has resulted in a diverse range of clients for the studio from The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd to some of the worlds largest consumer electronics brands. The three companies share resources. The partnership with Effect By Design allows Mosley& to have a state-of-the-art model making and prototyping facility to hand which is embraced throughout every stage of a project - from early form models through to working prototypes and full appearance reflection of his time and experiences at Nokia. It was invaluable working within a corporate giant and overcoming all the inherent frustrations which that brings, he says. The consumer insights and design strategies developed whilst at Nokia complement much of the work we do here at Mosley&. Despite being a relative newcomer to the industry, the studio has a textbook consultancy approach - when asked about the trend of the superstar studios the response is that they have no interest in this. We are interested in working with clients to develop their brand and create great innovative products that are commercially successful - this is really important to us. Mosley believes that the studio offers a very direct and no-nonsense holistic approach to what it does: We try to knock down the barriers that can appear when people with business and creative backgrounds work together, he explains. When asked where this no-nonsense approach comes from, Mosley jokes that it must be his northern roots, but adds that this was also the thinking behind the name Mosley&. Adopting a multi layered approach to its work, the studio believe strongly that you cant begin the process of designing unless you fully understand who you are designing for. We work really closely with our clients and feel that it is vital that before we start working together we understand fully what our client wants to achieve and who the clients customer is, Mosley states. Surprisingly, it is not always who you might imagine; often the customers are retail buyers who have a very different outlook on what makes a successful product. Opening the Qing Dao studio in 2011 was a big step for the studio and acknowledges its growing interest in Asia. Mosley& also has two sister companies: Muted Suit who are a British manufacturing company working in the music industry making luxury limited edition products, and Effect By Design who work in the film special effects industry working on T: +44 (0)1245 330330 www.mosleyand.com 49 models. This sums up much of the studios approach - combining traditional techniques such as hand crafting models to utilising stateof-the-art rapid prototyping technology to develop working prototypes. We are very lucky to work with a diverse range of clients. On a daily basis we are never too sure who will turn up at the studio, Mosley concludes. For the past two years we have worked closely with Pink Floyd designing a range of luxury, very limited edition products to celebrate their remastered campaign Why Pink Floyd. Its the diversity of work that we do that feeds the energy and innovation into the studio.

A good year
PDD reflects on 2011 and beyond...

011 has been a very good year for PDD. We extended our global reach through our alliance with MAYA Design

skills in taming the complexity of information ecosystems with our expertise in end-to-end product design will enable us to combine two key components - information and devices - to create usable, scalable and desirable experiences for our clients customers. The alliance will leverage the core strengths of each organisation; our team

designers, electrical engineers and information architects work to improve the interactions between people and information. This global partnership will help us to leverage opportunities in key markets, specifically focusing on emerging opportunities within the US and EMEA. PDD and LUMA In partnership with the LUMA Institute we conducted two highly successful HumanCentred Design (HCD) workshops in London, one in July and one in December. The HCD workshops are specifically

in the US, enhanced our expertise in humancentred design through the LUMA Institute partnership and did great work for our clients, winning a number of high-profile awards. PDD and MAYA PDD formed an alliance with MAYA Design, a leading technology design and innovation lab, to bring superior connected experiences to companies across the globe. Pairing MAYA

of anthropologists, trend forecasters, user experience specialists, designers and engineers offers integrated innovation experiences across a wide range of sectors, while MAYA cognitive psychologists, computer scientists, game

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structured to be practical and hands-on, covering methods that participants can take back and start using straight-away as well as a few methods that require more experience and practice. Theyve also been designed to fit the needs of people with different objectives, providing valuable tools and tips for those who want to learn more about HCD, those who want to improve their skills, as well as those who want a clearer idea of how to integrate HCD into their organisation. We had a fantastic mix of people in the workshops from a wide range of roles, including human factors consultants, design & innovation engineers, mechanical design engineers, industrial designers, software engineers, interaction designers, product managers, innovation managers, marketing directors and even a talent development

coach! The mix of companies was impressive, ranging from medical devices and industrial controls to consumer appliances, toys and business consulting. Of course the proof is in the pudding. Weve had really great feedback from the participants, such as: The course was extremely thorough and gave great insights into tools and applications that can be directly applied with speed and ease in my organisation. Instructors were really knowledgeable and approachable. Best course I have ever attended! And: The workshop was very fun, well-planned and the leaders showed great enthusiasm which was amazing. I would do the workshop again! PDD - Award winning work In addition to extending our global reach and

sharing the joy of human-centred design, weve also been recognised for our work with clients. We won a second Gold DBA Design Effectiveness Award with the Merck Serono easypod, as well as a Gold in the International Export Award. This is the second year running PDD has won GOLD DBA awards, demonstrating the excellent returnon-investment that an intelligent, creativelythought-out and professionally executed design strategy can achieve. So heres to 2012.

T: + 44 (0)20 8735 1111 www.pdd.co.uk

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Positive approach
Bruce Renfrew discusses a successful 2011 for Renfrew Group International and outlines his hopes for 2012

ne of the countrys best-known and longest-established design consultancies, Renfrew Group

remain focussed on novel engineering. Clients appreciate the assurance that their product will fly, and the new intellectual property is always sought after, says Renfrew. When we talk about taking concepts from the lab to the market its because we become involved with new tech products at a very early stage, often carrying out the experimental work in our own labs and studios. And of course we have the tremendous benefit of having our own

manufacturing facilities on site, which allows our clients to see samples and prototypes created under the guidance of our design team. 2011 was another positive year for Renfrew Group International, with the consultancy increasing its activity in security and safety products, machine tools, medical infection control equipment, and hightechnology personal products. The automotive sector continues to be a key area of operation,

International, has been converting ideas into useful and desirable products for over 20 years. The award-winning business, headed by Bruce Renfrew, continues to offer clients inventiveness and cross-disciplinary thinking. Like most of our contemporaries we major on user-centric innovation, but we also

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challenging the design team in terms of speed of development and the uptake of novel technologies and materials. Furthermore, work has also resumed on a number of projects in the motorcycle arena following a break in this sector in 2010. In October 2011, following a collaboration with NHS Blood and Transplant services, the consultancy unveiled its design for a new chair to enhance the blood donation experience and improve the whole process for support staff. The design of the Donation Chair makes it suitable for use with whole blood or component donation in a variety of environments, including mobile sessions. The chair is far more comfortable and easier to transport - its easier to clean too. In contrasting projects, the consultancy was asked to create 100 soft but durable polyurethane footballs to house GPS tracking devices as part of Cadburys Spots and Stripes Catch publicity campaign ahead of the London Olympics. They helped Steritrox with the design of the Meditrox, an innovative water vapour

and ionised oxygen generator for removing airborne and surface borne infection from the hospital environment. The patented process leaves a whole room safely decontaminated within less than one hour. The group were also nominated for a Plastic Industry Award for their Duo Bird Feeder, a novel feeder that is specifically configured to allow for easy dismantling and cleaning prior to reuse. Renfrew reports that whilst the demand for design support services has remained buoyant through the recent period of economic uncertainty, timescales and dwell times between development stages have changed. Clients have been working through the process one step at a time - feeling their way forward through market reaction and business sentiment, he says. There have been subtle changes in client expectations but nothing really dramatic, he continues. Everyone has been treading really carefully, with measured steps and a far greater focus on their competitors activities. Our commissions have seen more emphasis on the

examination of IP than in recent times. Looking to the year ahead, Renfrew hopes that the consultancy will continue to expand its engineering provision and will build further links with China in order to secure more contracts with South East Asian brands. 2012 will see us continue to address our responsibilities in terms of longevity, material selection and the end-of-life deconstruction of products. Designing products with multiple uses and more metal content will continue a trend that started a few years ago. Most importantly, we will focus on designing products for manufacture in a higher wage economy.

T: +44 (0)116 2531961 www.rg3.com 53

Creativity despite restriction

What does 2012 have in store? Mariel Brown and Karen Rosenkranz, trend researchers at Seymourpowell, offer their predictions for the coming year
However, we want to highlight the positive trends that have emerged from the recession the good that can be derived from restriction. Creative minds are well-positioned to respond to adversity in new ways. At Seymourpowell we have seen a number of brands wanting to invest in research because they want to feel more certain in the choices that they are making in these unstable times. Whilst a significant part of the future can be found in the past - indeed, nostalgia has been an important trend for our clients in recent years - we want to focus on things that feel fresher, newer, even. We have identified three macro trends and NIKON J1
BELOW The Nikon J1 camera. Images Nikon

e are living in uncertain times; as we enter a double-dip recession public feeling is far from upbeat.

Paul Cocksedge
ABOVE SestoSenso, Milan 2011. Client: BMW and Flos. Photos Mark Cocksedge

a number of smaller trends within them which, we believe, will emerge through 2012. The first we are calling Neutral Bliss. The drivers for this trend are over-saturation of information, technology and choice linked to feelings of political, economic and ecological instability. We are observing a trend for people wanting to make their lives more manageable and to find happiness in less. Translated to design this means a focus on the essential and the meaningful. Within this there is a sub-trend for

invisible tech: having technology just where you need it and where it will really offer a human benefit, rather than just having it for the sake of having it. One example from the 2011 Milan Furniture Fair is lighting designer Paul Cocksedges work with BMW and Flos called Sestosenso. He created elegant conical light sculptures that hide the source of their illumination instead of a traditional light bulb. Another recent example is the Nikon J1 camera marketing campaign that focuses on

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Annemarie Scheibner
ABOVE Annemarie Scheibner of the Design Academy Eindhoven presented her project Coming Home at Dutch Design Week 2011

Peter Zumthor
ABOVE Peter Zumthors Serpentine pavilion Peter Zumthor. Photography by John Offenbach

Peter Zumthor
ABOVE Peter Zumthors Serpentine pavilion Peter Zumthor. Photography by Walter Herfst

the seamless flow between the user and the technology. In the food industry we have noticed a sub-trend we call Simple Pleasures. This trend reflects the luxury that can be found in less choice and less complexity. In line with this a number of brands, such as Pepsi and HagenDazs, are paring back their packaging and taking a more minimalist approach. They have realised that simplified packaging and product messaging can create a greater impact and on-shelf appeal. What is exciting from a product design standpoint is creating products within an environment of people wanting less. The trends that were around pre-recession were starting to feel excessive or lacking in meaning. It can be good for creativity to work within constraint. Now the designer is focusing on the designers traditional role of making things better. Our second trend is Sense and Tactility. People are looking for reassurance and comfort through the physical in an increasingly digital landscape. People want to focus on the joy of the moment because there is so much uncertainty around. They want things to be slower, to take the pace out of life. One key example is Peter Zumthors pavilion for the Serpentine Gallery. A garden within a garden within a park - the visitor does not quite know what to expect when they walk in. Attention is drawn to the light falling on the plants; the atmosphere is serene, almost

spiritual. It is a symptom of the recession that, in difficult times, people want to focus on the now and enjoy day-to-day being. We found another good example of this trend at a graduation show in Eindhoven. Called Coming Home, the designer created three objects that build rituals and tactile experiences around returning home. We are keen to observe how the idea of tactility gets built into digital products over the coming year. Our final trend is Survivalists. This trend is concerned with how people are desiring products that give them independence. It is driven by ecological instability as well as a sense of disenfranchisement from government and corporations. It is an exciting area in terms of product design as it influences all areas of the home - cooking, waste management, lighting and so forth. An interesting offshoot of this has been people self-monitoring and collecting data on themselves. Seymourpowell recently designed the EcoManager. The project was really about empowering people by allowing them to understand what they are consuming. Something else that has really interested us within this trend is the development of an open source mentality. A great example of this, developed by Open Source Ecology (a network of farmers and engineers), is The Global Village Construction Set - a collection of the 40 different machines it takes to create

a small civilisation. In the spirit of open source sharing, they have published all 40 designs, schematics and instructional videos online. This is a fantastic example of a network that exists beyond government. It is fascinating to see how the role of the designer is changing; the designer is becoming the facilitator. The trends of Neutral Bliss, Sense and Tactility and Survivalists are connected. They are all concerned with things becoming more meaningful and promoting independence. 2012 will be about focussing on the things that really matter and feeling good about getting control back. T: +44 (0)20 7381 6433 www.seymourpowell.com

Author information
Mariel Brown, head of trends, has been at Seymourpowell for six years. She works closely with clients and the product design team to translate trends research into meaningful product insight. Karen Rosenkranz, head of social & lifestyle foresight, joined Seymourpowell five years ago and works in the trends and research department. She is particularly interested in consumer tribes and social trends.

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Experience led innovation

Geoff McCormick at The Alloy explains the beliefs behind the companys design process
practice industrial design. We believe that design has a role beyond the aesthetic to inform and enhance innovation effectiveness. Our approach seeks to harness the power of the design process to deliver better user experiences.

lloy is an employee-owned consultancy that was forged 11 years ago with a mission to embody best

As the role of digital technologies in our lives increases, the importance of the software, interfaces, services and the systems that these create become critical links in the user experience. Alloy has a rich mix of interaction designers and industrial designers to ensure that we can understand and clearly specify the required user experience across digital and physical brand manifestations.

What we do
The complexity of experience creation requires Alloy to extend the traditional role of the designer, to enable our designers to understand the technical capability and business objectives as much as the semantics of form. To do this we train our designers to equip them with skills and knowledge that enables Alloy teams to understand the

What we believe
Experiences occur when a person (user) interacts with another person, object or interface. Experiences matter because they drive human behaviour and decision making, and therefore profitability. People return to a good experience, and will share bad experiences. Experiences are the ultimate brand touchpoint. Experiences are complex - they are subjective, have multiple user touchpoints, and are often independently controlled by different departments within an organisation. The subjectivity and complexity of experiences means that we cannot create experiences, but we can choreograph how a person interacts with a product, interface or organisation. 56

project called Inclusion Society. Alloy are part of a multi-national consortium of universities, hospitals, and software developers exploring how to improve the levels of care and the quality of life for those with long-term conditions, and those who are simply getting old. The problem of an ageing population is complex interplay between strategy, creativity and technology to deliver a balanced perspective that delivers commercial benefit. The growth of the BT business from copper (voice) to a fibre (data and content) network is reflected in the work that we have completed, not just new product types, but in the nature of our work - helping BT explore new product development, brand extensions and new services. The latest manifestation of this relationship is Hub3, the third generation of BT Home Hub we have designed. One of the more extreme recent examples of Alloy work was supporting MBDA, a military systems supplier. We worked with them to explore how they could apply their skillsets, knowledge and technology 20 years in the future. The challenge was to help the rocket scientists understand the needs of the users (young soldiers), and how such a system could be configured in a way that would allow optimised use. The resulting conceptual personal missile system was launched at the Farnborough Air Show in 2010. More than just an exercise in designing a concept, the project sought to embed a new way of using design within the innovation process, where design informs the why and the how as much as the what. This same experience-led innovation approach has been applied to an EU funded T: 01252 712 000 www.thealloy.com Blog: http://thealloy.blogspot.com Linkedin company page: The Alloy Alloy twitter: @thealloy 57 well-known. The complexity of the challenge is to integrate hugely diverse data streams, user groups, and required levels of care. Alloy have worked with the consortia to define what such a system could deliver, how the differing user groups might interact, and why users would want to engage with such new technologies. Indeed, the key challenge is no longer about creating new technology itself, but how it is applied in the most compelling manner to users. We help marketing-led businesses utilise new technology better, and help technology-led businesses connect with their users more powerfully.

We call this the Alloy way.

At the heart of the Alloy Way lies our Experience Mapping process. Experience Mapping explores the customer journey - the interactions they encounter, and how such interactions can be choreographed in a way that provides a better experience for the user. Our approach is infinitely scalable; we have worked with start-ups and global conglomerates, and on baby products to cloud computing. Our work is manifested in new strategies, new products and new interfaces that help change our client organisations.

Who we work with

A founding client of Alloy is BT. Alloy acts as an outsourced industrial design department to BT retail. The length and nature of this relationship perfectly reflects Alloy. We have completed thousands of projects, working with numerous teams to define product propositions, and to support those teams as the designs progress to OEM manufacture.

the news. Our politicians have a tough time agreeing on anything; the Euro and living beyond our means have caught up with us. What remains is an individuals or business owners frustration and the feeling that the situation is out of ones hands. Design seems sidelined with little impact. As an industry we are a marginal player. This is probably justified as design alone cannot pull markets out of recession. Design to this day often remains an afterthought. Everyone wants Apple, but few have the infrastructure or processes in place to replicate their

e are living in interesting times, to say the least. Global recession and market insecurity are dominating

successes. The companies which do, tend to dominate their respective markets. For Thinkable our best strategy has been to face the storm while focusing on our core ability: to think outside the box and innovate, because thats what we do best. For our clients our simple focus on good design has brought them the obvious advantages: market share, revenue, customer loyalty. Good design has paid off for them. In turn, Thinkable has benefitted from growth and gone from strength to strength in spite of todays difficult economic times. A small consultancy, Thinkable Studio has been providing full turnaround design support for the entire spectrum of product

development from concept creation to product realisation since 2005. With a solid team of talented designers, we are able to be laser-focused on our customers needs. We have invested in all the latest hardand software. We provide surfacing in Alias, as well as production-ready engineering data in ProE or Solidworks. We are one of just a few consultancies to have the highest end rapid prototyping printer to put our data to the test and increase turnaround time. Our high-tech infrastructure and our talented team allow us to build special relationships with our clients. Know your tools, be smart and above all, be nice!

Thinking outside the box

The team at Thinkable Studio explain their innovative approach to design

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Thinkable has recently finished a few projects for Motorola Solutions. Among them is the worlds first handheld presentation scanner DS9808 to seamlessly integrate RFID technology. It solves ergonomic issues while providing class-leading performance. Thinkable has been involved in its research, design definition and implementation to production over many years. The end result is unlike any competitors device in the market and the sales success reflects our diligent research and unique implementation. Thinkable is currently designing the worlds first headset computer, Golden-i, a truly game-changing device for Kopin Corp. and Motorola Solutions. Golden-i brings the worlds first handsfree mobile, head-worn computing experience that enables the orchestration of multiple devices through cloud computing, allowing businesses to significantly improve the safety, productivity, and efficiency of their workforce. Golden-i is a lightweight (three-tosix ounce) Bluetooth/Wi-Fi head mounted

computer with a near-eye, 15-inch virtual PC display and near-ear speaker. The Golden-i monocular display system can be adjusted to be used below either the left or right eye and comfortably worn with glasses, safety glasses, hard hat or helmet. Golden-i was designed for spontaneous information snacking. Using natural speech recognition and six-axis gesture sensing, it provides users with hands-free, spontaneous access to virtually any information in the world, on-demand - including digital information, internet services and broadcast programming such as real-time, full-colour high-resolution streaming video. Additionally, users can control multiple independent devices or networks simultaneously - PCs, mobile phones, company servers and more - in more than 20 languages. The Golden-i headset computer enables the user to maintain and use multiple 15inch virtual display screens spatially about the user at one time. With the addition of an optional 2 ounce detachable camera, Goldeni enables the user to record and/or send 59 T: +44 (0)1235 550740 W: www.thinkable.co.uk real-time on-demand 1080 HD still images or streaming video. At Thinkable we believe that good design revolves around clever new ideas implemented by great teams. We can help you tell your stories. We can help you succeed. See our latest stories at thinkable.co.uk or mygoldeni.com.

Refreshing perspective
Dan Harden, President and Principal designer at Whipsaw, explains how their work with Eton rejuvenated the product line
its brand was languishing. It had lost its edge, the category was stale, and product sales channels were relegated to catalogues. Our challenge was to infuse design and innovation into every aspect of the company. In short, we were asked to help Eton to get its edge back. Whipsaw was tasked with the strategy and design of a complete line of products and the identity around them, including messaging, sub-branding, and exhibition display. The goal of the programme was to increase Etons revenue, growth, and brand awareness, and to build a thoughtful product line that truly helped people. Our initial challenge was to invent, design, and develop lines of unique products. Since 2006 we have created over 30 Eton products including lines of emergency field radios (FR and FRX Series); American Red Cross radios (TurboDyne series); rugged outdoor multidevices (Raptor line); Apple iPod solar stereos (Soulra line); Rukus solar Bluetooth stereos; and an Apple iPhone charger line (Mobius). Part of the strategy in revitalising this company was to identify opportunities for innovation, including integrating green energy technologies like solar and dynamo hand cranks; creating emergency assistance products that featured useful information such as NOAA weather band, wide band, twoway communication, and cell phone charger; building on Apples popularity by creating 60

hipsaw began working with Eton in 2006. Eton had been around for decades producing radios but

unique outdoor solar-powered iPod stereos; and capitalising on the growing outdoor market by creating rugged multifunction devices that would help campers and adventure-seekers. Several external factors beyond corporate needs influenced our design approach. We live in a dangerous world - natural and manmade disasters happen often, as the Haiti earthquake, Katrina hurricane, and Japanese tsunami remind us. Combine these with man-made events like 911, and people have become scared. They are reaching out for

comfort, safety, and security. Our challenge was to create a line of products that alleviated these fears and provided real value in the case of an emergency. Another influential external factor was global warming, so we sought to integrate the most appropriate and effective energy sources into a line of green field radios, especially since these products were aimed at the eco-adventure outdoorsman or the consumer who aspires to be one. Several methods were used to define and conceive our strategy for Eton, beginning with customer analysis and interviews,

competitive market analysis, and eco-tech research. An interesting part of this strategy was the investigation of the psychology of fear. We wanted to mitigate anxiety as much as possible with the products, so we had to delve into the brain first. We analysed fearcaused elevations of pulse and blood pressure rates and how to alleviate them. We then sought form cues, symbols and colours that invoked confidence, comfort, and calmness. We sought design elements that would instantly communicate safety, protection, durability, and peace of mind. The roll cage on FRs is a good example of designing in this sense of confidence - it was inspired by rally car frames and brawny monster truck chassis. All products feature solar and/or a foldout hand crank dynamo to supply electricity to the unit and to charge a cell phone. With dynamo and solar, users are never left without power, which is reassuring especially in an emergency. Dynamo and solar are good for users and the environment - users get peace of mind and even a little exercise, and batteries arent consumed and thrown away. The strategy breaks new ground when it comes to aesthetics and functionality. Each line has its own unique signature look and its own unique usability features. Large shapedifferentiated controls, knobs, and graphics are super intuitive, which is helpful especially during an emergency when you cannot think, and you just want information now. Each product has a beefy handle for grab and go action. The design strategy has had a dramatic impact on Etons brand, image, and bottom line. The brand has achieved vastly increased recognition, as the system has been featured in Metropolis, Wired, Maxim, National functions in a single gadget, none of which needs a power supply for operation! (Ecofriend.org). The FRs are a wonder of compact chic utility. (Red Ferret Journal). Etons svelte-but-sturdy FR1000 is a toughas-hell self-powered communicator thatd make the sissiest city-slicker happy to find himself hopelessly lost in Jellystone Park. (Maxim). Whipsaw and Eton continue to innovate together in a partnership that is built on a shared vision of creating important, useful, green, and fun products.

Geographic, and many others. The system

was inducted in the Smithsonian Institution and has won a dozen design awards including the Best of the Best Red Dot, iF, IDEA, and many others. Financially it has paid off too. Eton has shipped millions of these units and sales continue to grow every year. Esmail Hozour, Eton CEO, said: Based on the design strategy we have set, Eton will profit for many years with these iconic units. Not only are these designs popular but the press likes them too, with remarks like: If I were to die stranded in the wilderness, I might be slightly less upset clutching one of these beautiful machines. (Brian Lam,

Gizmodo). Here are amazing gadgets to

pamper the environmentalist, with useful

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