Hand Tools
Redefining a brand of fastening tools
Design of a New Product Platform for a family of hand tools by an Industrial Designer
Summary:
A highlighted project by our Industrial Designer, the project sponsor needed a refreshing new visual brand language to match their newly engineered intellectual property. The first item of this series would define the aesthetics and usability of the rest of the collection.
This project highlights the need for careful design attention to maintain brand strength while exploring and executing a new and exciting visual language and color, finish, material strategy. The importance of communicating the value of the new integrated technology for driving a 1″ nail with a hand powered staple gun is evident by the carefully detailed work performed by the Industrial Designer.
Responsibilities:
Concept Development
Concept sketching and concept cad development early in the initial phases help to establish the target specifications for the new product platform. The Industrial designer is a crucial design leader throughout the process of developing a new platform.
Design Integration
Adapting design CAD and design intent to the concurrent development teams focused on sourcing and manufacturing issues is an effort in design management and requires well developed communication skills between the industrial designer and the engineering team.
Brand Stewardship
The Industrial Designer establishes the Visual Brand Language and defines the application of such standards throughout the life of the new product platform and works with marketing professionals to create a VBL rulebook for the product and platform’s lifespan.
Gallery:
The Industrial Designer and the engineering team are organized in this case as parallel path development teams. Lines of communication are open, but the human factors, CMF, aesthetics, ergonomics, look and feel are designed by the industrial designer to effectively to the needs of the user and adapt to business objectives and clearly defined specifications.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Principal Design approaches every project methodically, and each stage of the process is an opportunity to realign the strategy to the objectives. The success of our product design process for product development depends on a purposeful, user-centered design approach. The Industrial Designer effortlessly employs design methodologies that are effective at generating or discovering opportunity for adding value, and reducing risk at later stages like manufacturing and marketing. The Industrial Designer balances exploration with execution. Our creative strategy is divergent to leverage resources and discovery, and convergent to select for the best opportunities.