Industrial designer says brand loyalty tied to self-esteem

By Geoff Hedges | Published: September 2, 2011 

Industrial designer, Lance Hussey, says that consumers turn into brand evangelists when a product makes them feel good–not just about the product, but about themselves. 

“The moment of truth is really after the purchase, when they bring home the product to loved ones and they get a response like ‘that was a great purchase!’” Hussey said those affirming moments enhance self-esteem and in turn create brand loyalty.

Industrial designers can and should take steps to promote that kind of response with their work, he said. At RKS, for example, designers have adopted a process that integrates research and business strategy into its industrial design.

“The key is really understanding the people and what’s important to them, understanding the brands in the target space, and mapping a particular aesthetic approach back to any product we create.”

If that sounds daunting, the company has written a book on its process, Predictable Magic by RKS CEO Deepa Prahalad.

Besides a string of successful clients, RKS’ process has also earned awards from IDEA, Good Design, Spark! and many others.

During the webinar, Hussey reviewed RKS-designed products, including the popular Zyliss salad spinner, audio devices from JBL and Alpine, and an innovative tattoo machine from Neuma.
While many companies use RKS to fully design their products, some, like LG, reach out to RKS just for research and ideas that it then develops in house.

In later articles, we’ll talk about how Hussey says Creo’s direct modeling approach fits into the RKS process. Until then, why not explore RKS’s award-winning product designs.

RKS Shares Top Tips for Innovation and Concept Design Tools

By lindseychristensen | Published: August 23, 2011

 

The term “innovation” is thrown around a lot when we talk about product design– it’s been a buzz word for some time now. But how do we know it when we see it? Can we measure it? And perhaps more importantly, how do you actually facilitate innovation within your organization?

I’ve learned that behind an innovative product tends to be an effective concept design phase. But can we pinpoint real-life examples to how and why?  To tackle this subject I turned to an expert.  Lance Hussey is VP and Creative Director at RKS Design, one of the top ten Industrial Design firms in North America.  Lance and his team claim to have a “proven, repeatable system for strategy-fueled inspiration” (and have the charts and success stories to back it up!).

Want to know their secret sauce?

Join the live webinar Top Tips for Selecting a Concept Design Tool: How to Facilitate Award-Winning Innovation Like a Best-In-Class Company.

On Thursday, August 25th at 2pm EST.

If anyone knows how to encourage and execute this mystifying notion of “innovative product design,” it’s Lance.  As partner at RKS, he oversees the design of virtually every project that comes in the door. He holds numerous patents and has received multiple design awards including: IDEA(12), Good Design(24), Spark(19), and CES Innovations(9), among many others.

Hope to see you there too! This PTC-sponsored TechBrief’s webinar includes the presentation followed by a Q&A session featuring both Lance and our own concept design guru Paul Hamilton. [Ed- We’ve mentioned Creo customer and innovation-masters RKS in this blog a few times- their products are too cool not to. Check out their customizable guitar and futuristic water bottles.]