Yesterday Bright Innovation hosted a workshop, Prototyping for Pennies. This workshop deals with issues around creating cheap yet informative prototypes. These prototypes are based on mental models, or personas, that are based on generalizations about real-people who we have interviewed and observed when we conduct user research. As we design objects and services we think about how we would meet the needs and lifestyle of our personas.
This user-centered component, like personas, is discussed briefly in Prototyping for Pennies as topic to help participants collaborate and zero in on a design solution. Bright Innovation is designing future workshops specifically around conducting user-centered research. Using design and research tools to disseminate observations into useful product ideas is an important part of the design process and is the focus in future sessions. An upcoming user-centered workshops will be empathy training called, “Be Your Customer.”
In this case study from the March 3rd, Prototyping for Pennies session, we had a small-group, but a diverse group. The workshop attendees included: consultants, business professionals, Bright clients, design professors and students. We hosted the event in our design studio classroom.
Very worthwhile. Great tool for driving the design process and initiating conversation. – Bright Tools Attendee
Prototype from Group 2
Prototype from Group 1
The workshop was a great success, and we are looking forward our next workshop on April 28th!
We attended the Greener Gadgets Conference in New York City this past week. The opening keynote speaker was, Yves Behar, founder and designer behind fuseproject. fuseproject is an integrated design agency who focused on developing emotional experiences of brands through story telling. His goal to push green notions; green can be sexy and desirable. He talked about several products his team worked on that pushed this idea, one being his partnership with PACT.
“Change starts with your underwear.” – PACT underwear
PACT is a line of underwear that is design driven and material conciseness. The goal of this line is to not only make green sexy but to make people aware of where their products come from. The biggest challenge for the designers at fuseproject was sourcing materials within 100 miles (everything from cotton, to sewing, to inks). Berhar partnered with this company to help not only with the design but the branding as well. As design partner they had the ability to launch several products as well as create the branding and message. This become more than a short term project, it develops into a legacy. Through their design and branding they were able to launch several lines of PACT designs each for a social or environmental cause.
Behar’s had three main take –aways from Greener Gadgets:
- Push green notions, green can be sexy and desirable
- Reinvent the business of design, look beyond short term projects Think about how you can be a partnership with a client and create a legacy.
- Bring design where it’s needed, to people and places where design will have the greatest impact.
Why Are We The Experts?
We help our clients focus in on the opportunities and then develop a product or service. Look at our work. We’ve helped large companies such as Alcoa, Bayer Material Science and Mckesson. And, startups such as Plextronics and Clearcount Medical Solutions to create innovative products.
What Are We Teaching?
Bright Innovation hosts a series of workshops centered around sharing the same design tools and ideas we share with our clients everyday. We have honed our process over the years and are ready to share it with anyone involved in the creation process. Why share our secrets? We do it, because this is our passion – we would rather help make better products and services that solve real problems.
Client Example
The tools Bright employed to solve this particular problem included researching the users needs, how they work and where the product is used. Bright shared an array of rough, foam models that helped nurses critique the device. Users were able to rule out various models to focus their attention on key ideas and features. Rough models are great at quickly describing functions and features to people. Surgical medical devices are particularly tricky, as the design team felt the pressure of creating a device that possesses the power to save someone’s life.
Clearcount Medical Solutions approached us with an idea. An idea to make patients undergoing surgery safer. Published studies indicate that today one in every 1,000 to 1,500 intraabdominal surgeries results in a sponge left behind in the patient. A retained sponge incident can lead to serious complications…(Clearcount, press kit pdf download). Bright Innovation and Clearcount developed and designed a device that is able to digitally find and count the sponges used in surgery. This innovative product saves lives, and is a solution to a life threatening problem.
What Is The Upcoming Class?
The next workshop is Prototyping For Pennies, one of the tools used during the Clearcount project. This workshop deals with experimenting with various solutions by creating quick, cheap prototypes. Prototypes are built to suit the problem at hand. This workshop begins by helping students sensitize themselves to the needs of the people for which they are problem solving. It then advances to testing an idea with those same assumptions and refining the form by refining their prototype or model.
What Do You Get?
Join us in one of our upcoming workshops. We will arm you with the ideas and tools that will help you lead and inspire teams of professionals. Now is the time to devote some time and resources to education and planning so when an opportunity presents itself you will have the ability to fully take
advantage and produce truly innovative work for your company.
At all of our events we ensure we will not only provide you with lasting, inspirational ideas that you can execute in your work or with your team we will also provide you with materials to help you share these ideas.
When is it?
Our next workshop will be Wednesday, March 3rd. The workshop will include breakfast and costs $89, but if you become our fan on Facebook save $10 off the admission price. All students get a $10 discount. Spaces are limited, please call us to register today! Call Bright Innovation at 412.325.6705
Tune In! Wednesday February 24, at 4pm Tom Kubilius founder of Bright Innovation will be a guest on the Pittsburgh Business Radio. He will be talking about Bright Innovation’s latest workshop, Prototyping for Pennies, that’s coming up on March 3, 2010.
Marketing is tough in a slow economy. Driving business to your company is not easy. However, our friends and Pinkergreen Design in Boston have a secret weapon, Hostess Sno Balls! Bright Innovation were recipients in their latest marketing campaign. See what we received in the mail and why we applaud them for their original and creative marketing strategy. read more…
Hints for better livng (source Fast Company)
Hints For Better Living from Mike Afsa on Vimeo.
Several of Bright Innovation’s designers are part of a volunteer group call the ecoDesigners Guild (eDG). We help non-profits whose efforts support green and sustainable programs in Pittsburgh. We use our design backgrounds to assist them with graphic work, design strategy, and design of spaces. Our latest project, was a logo design for a new group call Farm Corps. Farm Corps’ mission is to develop a workforce for farms and cultivate new farmers.
Through a series of meetings, conversations and brainstorming sessions we were able to develop a logo design for the Farm Corps team. Here is a sampling of what came out of those meetings and our design process.
Through our initial conversation with Farm Corps we were able to get a better understanding of the mission and goals of the team. We talked about imagery that they related to the group, such as, vintage victory garden posters from WWII and other established ‘corps’ logos. read more…
The Story of Design is not a place for abstract design jargon. It is a website with the sole purpose of sharing the methods and processes of product designers and design researchers with professionals involved in creating things. Welcome to the Story of Design a new blog by Bright Innovation, we look forward to sharing our story.
The NE Ohio Chapter of the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) is hosting an event featuring Chris Varley from Goodyear at the Ohio Aerospace Institute.
Tom Kubilius, president and founder of Bright Innovation, will be on the Pittsburgh Business Radio today from 3-4pm. Listen in on the conversation about product design, research, and process.
Stream the show! Pittsburgh Business Radio: http://www.pittsburghbusinessradio.com/
