June 2011 – Slurp, Life, BabyBloom

Try2Cycle

‘Try2Cycle’ from the Belgian designer Arnaud Eubelen is a progressive bicycle for 2 to 5 years old children. It helps to learn children, in a progressive way, how to ride a bicycle. The piece which allows the conversion of tricycle to bicycle mode is very easy to move. Once in bicycle mode, that piece is reused to keep the bike fixed upright once put away.

Hand-Held Fire Extinguisher

This is the first completely hand-held fire extinguisher we’ve seen. Apparently the one-time-use DKL can shoot suppressant about 10 feet out of the nozzle.

Life
Life from Andreas Ponti is a recycled paper-made water container. The idea is to dissuade people from using plastic bottles and use this one-day-use bottle instead. It’s crafted from natural cotton and recycled paper layer and it doesn’t use any chemical ink or adhesives that are tough to recycle. The handy green cord makes it easy for you to carry it along.

Babybloom

In a regular incubator, prematurely born babies can suffer brain damage due to overexposure to light and noise. Parents feel sad and powerless because of the limited contact. Heleen Willemsen graduated a few years ago on an improved design that invites parents to embrace their child and to sit in a comfortable position. A flower shaped cap can shut out light and noise. “The friendly design brings back the ‘babyness’ in the hospital”. Now the product is almost ready for market introduction. Watch the video /

Slurp

There have been many efforts in making digital gestures more tangible, and the Slurp digital eyedropper is another very interesting concept. It is a tangible interface for manipulating abstract digital information as if it were water. Rather than plug a usb drive into the port that corresponds with a specific file seen on a screen, just suck the file directly off the screen itself. Slurp is used like an eyedropper, it vibrates and displays light to indicate it’s state to the user. Watch the video /

Water purifier

This is an innovative reverse osmosis purifier, but it actually looks like a piece of art, not an appliance. The design is minimal and meant to be slightly organic – fluid like water. Hot, cold or room temperature – serve it up however you like.

Enamor

Enamor (an anagram of “one arm”), by designer Grace Lim, gives users with only one arm the opportunity to expand their cooking skills. The kit is simple and easy to clean and consists of both vegetable and meat cutting units that hug tightly onto any counter top.

Efficient design: enlarge sales and marketshare

What impact can design have on your business performance? A very large one. Especially if you implement design for a specific goal, so that it will give measurable results. In this serie about efficient design this time how design can be used to enlarge your sales and marketshare.

Do you compete mainly on price because your products do not dramatically differ from your competitors? Also other companies suffer from that. Mostly they will add more and more features to the product or come up with countless product variations.

That is how they loose contact with the consumer, who might not need those features and hence they loose more market share. As we design for experience, we help corporations to come up with new adorable offerings, that help them to differ from competition, raise higher margins and gain back market share.

Case: Music Centre
We designed a totally new concept with 250% higher margin potential then the present products of the company and we found a new distribution channel willing to run this product with 600 stores and a better shelf position, leading to more market share.

Client
Dutch manufacturer of consumer electronics

Strategy
Using design for experience, research into positioning of competitors, user friendly design, a lot of attention to details and attractive styling.

Case: Snooc
We developed a fully new hair styling product with 400% higher margin potential compared to competition offerings for the European markets. We received new distribution offerings for this product for Europe and the USA, leading to more market share.

Client
Asian manufacturer of personal care products

Strategy
Design for experience, testing with hair stylists, cross pollination by using automotive design styling, much attention to details.

Quickstart
Did you not work before with a design studio? Or do you like to try out our way of working, compared to your partner design office?

Then the Design Quickstart is an excellent project, offered to you for reduced rates. Read more about a quickstart project /

Turn-key product design
Do you want to realise a turn-key design project from plan to production? Do you need extra knowledge or capacity for your product development? We love to work with your team and take care of your concerns.

Our speed of product development and the possibility to develop both the product as the electronics and software are two reasons why companies work with us. Read more about turn-key product development /

Design News
David Carter’s POP UP

It’s not magic . . . It’s the power of your imagination! Follow the instructions and embark upon a magical journey! Each page of this surprising, irresistible book instructs the reader to press the dots, shake the pages, tilt them, and even blow on them – who knows what will happen next!

Kevin Angeloni Gris 12

Another way of seeing the gray pencil that everyone knows and is an indispensable tool for all creative minds.

Rubber Glass

Looks like glass, breaks like glass, but feels like rubber. This is a polyurethane that enables you to create glass and ice-like objects without the hassles of conventional breakaway plastic products. Unlike other plastics, this product cures at room temperature; once cured, it is odorless and easy to handle. You mix it up and shape it into whatever you need.

The Scroll Bookshelf

The Scroll Bookshelf is one of the most basic ways of managing your books in a tidy fashion. A metal sheet covered with a plastic sleeve and two sturdy end-rolls is what its all about.