This summer we are hosting an event called CigarBQue in our courtyard. It’s an evening of food, cigars, cocktails, beer and wine with some of the country’s best chefs. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Cigar Family Charity … read more

Our design team attended the Chicago Auto Show this past week to check out the newest trends in the automobile industry. The show is considered the smallest of the five North American auto shows, but the largest in terms of … read more

As designers, we are always intrigued by the work of other artists and those in the design community. We came across an article on Hemmings Blog that speaks about an artist, Jonathan Brand, who built a replica of his 1969 … read more

It’s not every day that artists are given the opportunity to transform a well-known Chicago landmark into an interactive experience. From now until February 20th, “Cloud Gate” (known to many Chicagoans as “The Bean”), is transformed after dark into an … read more

As a strategic design firm, one of our key capabilities is developing a visual brand language for our clients. A great branding strategy helps define who the company is or who they want to be. Recently, Fast Co.Design sat down … read more

At Beyond Design, we can’t stress enough the importance of composition in print for portfolios and online content. A great portfolio should tell a great story. It is important to pay attention to the type size and style, the color, … read more

The importance of prototypes within the design community is unquestionable. Prototypes help prove functionality, highlight trouble areas in the design, and ultimately make the next iteration of the product an improvement. Client feedback helps tremendously as it gives the … read more

Over the past few months, 3D printing has become more popular in the world of technology. For those who may not be familiar with them, 3D Printers are machines that produce three-dimensional objects from digital data by printing layers of … read more

We recently had a costume made for our design of the BuzzBrush® to use at trade shows. It made its debut at CES in Las Vegas. Check out some photos below. To learn more about the product, please visit the … read more

As a product development firm, our goal is to create products and/or services that can ultimately be manufactured with ease. Our design team is skilled in all aspects of Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and we offer extensive prototyping services for … read more

When Google Wallet first came on the market a few months ago, I was thrilled. I have been talking about something like this for years. I don’t carry a purse and instead have to stuff my phone, wallet, keys, etc. … read more

The 2012 International Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigerating (AHR) Exposition was a huge event. It rivaled the Auto Show in size, and had well over 6,000 booths. There were common themes throughout the show that many companies were emphasizing and … read more

We saw this story on the news this morning and thought it was pretty impressive. Two Canadian students, Matthew Ho and Asad Muhammad, used a weather balloon and foam box to carry four cameras and a toy Lego man high … read more

As blogging continues to be on the rise, and the push to stay connected with friends and followers is as high as ever, Sony unveiled the newest edition to handheld video documenting when they announced the Sony Bloggie Live at … read more

As seen at CES in Las Vegas, the number of companies designing and marketing products that help consumers to stay active or improve their fitness level is on the rise. Nike recently announced their Nike Fuelband—a rubber wristband that aims … read more

I’m sure everyone has had the experience of dropping their cell phone at one point or another. If you have an iPhone, we all know how bad its exterior can react to a fall. Nissan (yes, the car company) just … read more

We took a lot of photos at CES, some of which we have already shared, and even more below. You can also download our highlights from the show in more detail at the end of this post. Enjoy!

Read more … read more

This past week our President, Michael Prince, was interviewed for an article in the New York Times about the Chinese take-out container and its packaging history. At Beyond Design, we are involved in all steps of the product development process—including … read more

After a week at CES, Patrick is back just in time to celebrate his birthday. Happy Birthday, Patrick!

It was another day of innovative concepts and product designs at CES. Below are some highlights from the day. Once we get a chance to go through all of the photos we took throughout the week, we’ll be sure to … read more

After a great week (and weather) in Las Vegas, we come back to this. The first Chicago snowfall of the season!

CES never seems to disappoint. Nearly all of the major electronics brands (aside from Apple) are showcasing new products this year. Day two was full of new technologies and product innovation. An abundance of super thin TV’s, Smart home technology, … read more

Day one at CES proved to be a success! We were able to check out a number of cool products, and are looking forward to seeing even more over the next two days. Below are some photos we took of … read more

Our design of the Trane ComfortLink™ II thermostat, which won a CES Innovations Award last year, and, most recently, a Good Design Award, is on display at CES!

Read more about the highlights from CES 2012 by downloading our recap … read more

We’ve arrived and are so excited to be here! We can’t wait to check out all of the innovative products and concept designs over the next three days. Check back daily for updates and highlights of the 2012 show!

This past Friday we celebrated one of our intern’s, Jae Won Chang, last day in the studio. Jae has been a part of our team for almost a year and initially came to Beyond Design from the Art Institute of … read more

The Taipei Fine Arts Museum hosts a large-scale exhibition of the Chinese dissident artist, Ai Weiwei, with his new work, “Forever Bicycles.”
“As part of what the museum bills as the first large-scale solo exhibition of the artist’s work to be … read more

Since we didn’t get a chance to post this yesterday, we figured it’s better late than never…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICKEY!! We hope it’s your best year yet!

Fab.com, a New York–based startup, is a member-only site that showcases a catalog of unique product designs. Users are able to purchase daily design deals on the site. Most recently, an inspiration wall was launched that allows users to share … read more

2011 has been an exciting year us—receiving a number of awards for our product designs, expanding our team, and launching our new website are just a few of the highlights. Thanks to all those who have supported us this year. … read more

Everywhere you look you are surrounded by products that are designed by someone, or, most likely, a group of people. At Beyond Design, we spend our days designing products and services that fulfill users needs and wants—things that will make … read more

We recently received two Good Design Awards for our design of the Trane ComfortLink™ II thermostat and the BuzzBrush®! The Good Design Awards remains the oldest and most recognized program for design excellence worldwide.

The Trane ComfortLink™ II Thermostat is … read more

We recently had our holiday party at Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro—great food, great people, and an entertaining gift exchange! Some photos from the party are posted below.
We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

We are excited to announce that our design of the Remington Pro Power Series Haircut & Beard Trimmer, in collaboration with Spectrum Brands, was selected as a finalist for the 2012 Housewares Design Award in the Personal, Health, and Garment … read more

One of our interns, Andrew Anspaugh, from The Ohio State University finished his 6-month long internship last week. When he first joined our team in June, he was very eager to learn all he could about the design process, as … read more

Google has been experimenting with driverless cars for a number of years, and, after applying for a patent in May of this year, they received word that their patent for driverless car technology was approved. The patent includes a plan … read more

“I chose to study industrial design because I love how much of an impact a single line in a sketch can have in someone’s daily life.”
Rachel Sandoval, from The Ohio State University, had her last day in our studio this … read more

We found the infographic posted on DesignTaxi’s website pretty interesting. It shows how the most popular children’s holiday gifts have gone from teddy bears and board games to more electronic based products—such as the Nintendo Wii and XBox 360. More … read more

Nearly everyone knows about the success Scott Wilson found through Kickstarter for his TikTok and LunaTik wristbands—which turn an iPod Nano into a stylish watch. He is back again with his idea for a touch pen that is inspired … read more

Consumer products need a jolt of energy and boldness, which is why it’s the perfect time for Pantone to name Tangerine Tango—a spirited reddish orange hue—the 2012 color of the year.
Over the past several years, orange has grown in popularity … read more

We often check out Kickstarter’s website to see all of the exciting new ideas out there, and recently we came across the LandingZone™—a docking station for the MacBook Air. The elegant design serves as a dock for your 11” or … read more

This past weekend a few designers from our team gave an introductory presentation to the EDI (Engineering Design and Innovation) students at Northwestern University about Industrial Design and, more specifically, about our proprietary 4XD process at Beyond Design.
TJ … read more

Bryson Stewart joined our team today as a Mechanical Engineer. Bryson attended the University of Maryland and has spent his time since graduation working at a research and development facility in the Maryland area. He specializes in parametric modeling for … read more

Check out the animation for the BuzzDrive™ below! It’s the newest sister product of the BuzzBrush®—offering the LCD screen cleaner with a USB drive. The video was designed, animated, and produced by our animation team at Beyond Design.

To learn … read more

Today is World AIDS Day — a day dedicated for people around the world to unite in spreading awareness about the disease and to contribute towards education and finding a cure. Over the past few years, we have noticed more … read more

We saw an article a few weeks ago on Design Taxi and couldn’t help but think of the BuzzBrush®. The article, titled Did You Know: Computer Keyboards Five Times Dirtier than Toilet Seats?, points out the most disgusting electronic items … read more

Toyota recently launched a concept car called the “Fun-Vii”, which stands for Vehicle Interactive Internet. The idea behind the Fun-Vii is to treat cars like a Smartphone with the touch screen display and customizable skins. It gives the user the … read more

At Beyond Design, the creative design process always starts with a sketch, and later moves on to 3D models to explore the design proportions and volumes. I recently came across a video that demonstrates how CATIA V6 (CAD software) allows … read more

We hope you all have a great holiday weekend!

As an effort to continually stay up-to-date on international design trends, we found an interesting trend report written by CBi China Bridge (a design firm in China) about the 100% Design Shanghai show. The show is a unique exhibition in … read more

Sean joined our team in May of this year with a six-month contract working as a Mechanical Engineer. He spent his last day in the studio on Friday, and left over the weekend for the long drive home to California. … read more

We featured the Blimpus in one of our posts back in July, and we finally have our very own!

Thanks to Tony Ruth for sending one our way!
(More photos to come)

Happy Birthday to Beyond Design! Today marks the start of the 18th year that Beyond Design has been in business. The company was formed in 1994 by Michael Prince, the President of the company. In the beginning, it was Prince … read more

We are excited to have Chris Kulujian join our team at Beyond Design! He has been an Industrial Design Consultant in Chicago for 11 years, with experience in a variety of industries, including: electronics, fitness, housewares, contract furniture, and commercial … read more

I saw this video and found it fascinating that Honda has come so far in developing this robot that replicates human motion. Honda has always been known as a mobility company—first developing motorcycles and then automobiles. Not many people know … read more

For the development of the BuzzBrush®, we are working with manufacturing partners in China to assure implementation and quality control. Injection molding is the method we use most often for producing plastic parts. It is an extremely versatile process that … read more

Our design of the Rubbermaid Paint Buddy was a 2005 IDEA Bronze Award winner and noted as one of the “50 Coolest Products of the 21st Century” by Businessweek. A few years ago, ProMo Costumes, a custom costume company based … read more

Adobe Systems announced that it will stop developing its Flash Player for mobile browsers. Good news for us, as we will now have improved browsing experiences on our iPhone’s and iPad’s!
Adobe says they will focus on the HTML5 web … read more

We are always keeping an eye on the future of materials and how they can improve or influence our industrial design. In this interesting development, BASF has been working with Smart Car to develop polymer wheel rims for their smart … read more

A few members of our team spent this past Sunday at the Kenmore Live Studio in downtown Chicago helping with the Student & Professional Portfolio Review hosted by IDSA. At Beyond Design, we understand the value of a great portfolio … read more

A few members of our team attended Institute of Design’s (IIT) annual Design Research Conference in Chicago last week. The conference started with a half day workshop followed by two days of presentations. Speakers from various disciplines of design (industrial, … read more

I came across a Japanese blog that highlights the major graphical changes between Apple’s ios4 software and their new ios5 software that was released with the iPhone 4S. The photos in the blog show how much attention to detail was … read more

Lizzi Skalka is a 17-year-old student attending the Educational Center for the Arts (ECA) in New Haven, Connecticut. She has been attending ECA for three years and is currently applying to a number of art schools to study drawing … read more

Curve Magazine, a source for industrial design and the latest innovations in product manufacturing, featured our design of the Aero Pakmat® in the October issue of their print magazine. The issue features various products that won red dot awards and … read more

Happy Halloween from our team at Beyond Design!

Yesterday, a few members of our team facilitated a Branding session at DePaul University for a class of MBA students. The goal behind the exercise was to strategically arrive at new market/product opportunities for existing brands. The students began … read more

We recently watched a video on the Photoshop Image Deblurring application that Adobe is currently working on. The advances in photo editing are incredible. The sneak takes a blurry image and exposes more detail—essentially making the image unblurry. Jue Wang, … read more

The BuzzBrush® is currently being exhibited at the Mega Show 2011 in Hong Kong. The show is the most important sourcing trade exhibition for the gift, housewares, premiums and toy industries in Asia-Pacific, and has taken place every October since … read more

We recently came across Lytro’s revolutionary light-field camera and it looks amazing. The camera completely redefines the traditional interaction between photographer and their equipment by allowing the user to select the focus of the image after the photo has been … read more

We saw this video on Gizmodo (posted by Andrew Liszewski) and had to share. Amazing.
“You don’t need to be a physicist, a PhD student, a geek, or even a member of the Insane Clown Posse to appreciate the … read more

There’s a big difference between being a good designer and being a great designer. At Beyond Design, our team is constantly trying to grow, learn, and improve our skills in the design world. We spend time educating ourselves about the … read more

We recently read an article in Product Design and Development magazine, one of many different trade magazines we read to stay up to date on the latest trends in design and manufacturing, about the A5 Amphibious Aircraft designed by ICON … read more

Headphones today are designed to fit the needs and comforts of a range of consumers. Over the past few years, larger, over-the-ear headphones have become extremely popular. In our studio, the majority of designers who listen to music are wearing … read more

Last Friday, around fifty students from the IDSA chapter of Iowa State University visited our studio for a tour of our building and to check out what we do here at Beyond Design. Michael Prince gave a presentation to the … read more

Design trends are constantly changing. Most recently there has been a trend in the workplace, beginning with workers at Google and Facebook, of standing while working. Whether the motivation stems from medical reports claiming that sitting all day leads to … read more

Chicago Ideas Week is making its debut this week throughout the city with more than 100 speakers and big thinkers from forward-thinking companies brought together to discuss innovation. On Tuesday, a few members of our team attended the two-hour Creativity … read more

Looking for a cheaper TV entertainment option? Well, here is an affordable solution. A few months ago I cut my cable account and purchased an Apple TV. The Apple TV was a bit expensive priced at $99.00, and I keep … read more

Stéphane joined our team as an intern in February of this year, and left the States last week to return to France. He is in the process of finishing his second Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering with a specialization in … read more

Last Friday, over fifty students visited our studio from the IDSA chapter of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Michael Prince gave a studio tour, as well as a presentation on who we are and what we do here at … read more

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love … read more

Thank you, Steve, for changing the way we see the world and for showing us that anything is possible.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the … read more

As designers, we can’t help but love anything and everything Apple. A few of us in the studio are especially excited to check out the new iPhone 4S that was just released yesterday. While the design doesn’t look much different … read more

I came across the Mutewatch last year when it was first shown as a concept, and noticed that it just recently arrived on the shelf. The Mutewatch, designed by Norra Norr, is a Swedish company based in Stockholm. The concept … read more

This past weekend was the annual Ravenswood Artwalk where over 200 artists showcased their work at various businesses along the corridor. We opened our doors to the public and had six artists feature their work in our studio.
The artists … read more

As one of the top 75 nominees in the Chicago Innovation Awards, Michael Prince, Beyond Design’s President, had the opportunity to attend The Practical Innovator session at the Kellogg School of Management in Evanston. The daylong event included several inspirational … read more

Check out the story on Trevis in the Fall issue of IDSA’s INNOVATION…along with all of the great designs that received an IDEA Award!

“The IDSA Conference in New Orleans was extremely motivating and focused on co-creation and the future of the designer’s role.” —Trevis Kurz

Trevis Kurz, one of our industrial designers, attended the IDSA International Conference in New Orleans a couple of … read more

Nikon finally introduced its first mirrorless single-lens reflex (SLR) camera this week! The release shows how the company is trying to catch up in this market after seeing what rivals such as Sony and Olympus have achieved. While Sony, Panasonic, … read more

The original tear-open ketchup packet design has been around since 1968. Forty-three years later and Heinz has released a new design—which we really like. It combines the tear-off-the-end technique with a new open-and-dip style. Heinz conducted extensive field research to … read more

The 10th Annual Chicago Innovation Awards drew 410 nominations this year — 100 more than last year’s competition. We are honored to be among the 75 companies nominated for a 2011 Chicago Innovation Award for our design of the Aero … read more

In Fast Company’s 2011 design issue, they focused on American design and highlighted who they believe to be the top 50 designers of today—in both the virtual and physical world. They range from interior designers and architects, to car, clothing, … read more

One great thing about being a designer at Beyond is having access to the latest technology, my favorite being the Wacom Cintiq. It makes sketching and rendering much easier and more efficient. Earlier this week, Wacom announced their new Cintiq … read more

We now have a Twitter account…please follow us!
@beyonddesigninc

In relationship to our earlier post titled, Understanding the Maker Subculture, check out Fast Company’s recent article: 11 Inspiring Examples of Handicraft, From Makers Across the World. It showcases products from an exhibition, The Power of Making, that is all … read more

Khodi Feiz is a good friend of Michael Prince, Beyond Design’s President, and owns a design studio in the Netherlands called Feiz Design. Feiz’s studio handles all areas of design from brand building products to furniture. Most recently, they collaborated … read more

Rachel Sandoval recently joined our team from The Ohio State University as an intern for the fall semester. She is currently a senior in their Industrial Design program.
“I chose to study industrial design because I love how much of … read more

At Beyond Design, we often use consumers as subjects of observational research during the discovery phase of our design process. We found an article from the Huffington Post titled 17 Crazy/Brilliant ‘Life Hacks’ that features some interesting ideas from consumers. … read more

The relevance and impact of research methodologies in our design process at Beyond Design is increasing exponentially. We are constantly searching for new insights that can bring in new experiences to existing paradigms. The annual Design Research Conference held by … read more

We get a number of resumes and portfolios submitted every day for both internships and full-time positions, and there are always a select few that really stand out. Over the years, we’ve found that the way you present your work … read more

Michael Prince, the President of Beyond Design, spent the past two weeks traveling China, meeting with manufacturers, and discovering new global trends. With the introduction of the BuzzBrush® this year, he had the chance to meet with the manufacturer and … read more

At Beyond Design, we constantly stay on top of the latest technology in the design world. One of the coolest new products I’ve seen lately is the Inkling by Wacom. The Inkling bridges the gap between traditional, freehand sketching and … read more

Over the past couple of weeks, Aldis Rauda, who recently relocated from California after working at BoomBang Inc., spent time in our studio and worked with our design team to explore lifestyle trends and technology integration to automotive steering wheels. … read more

At Beyond Design, branding encompasses all aspects of a product, service or business. Through proper branding, including the logo design, identity design, and packaging, we are able to create a personality that identifies a client’s product, service or company and … read more

“I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know,” Mr. Jobs said in his resignation letter. “Unfortunately, … read more

The following two videos show specific videogame hardware hacks that allow for innovation beyond their intended purpose. In the first, the Wii remote is used to create an interactive whiteboard, and, in the second, the free-moving Kinect is used to … read more

We recently read an article on Fast Company that speaks to designers everywhere. In the article, Lee Green, vice president of IBM’s brand experience and strategic design, talks about his three essentials for creating innovative new products.
“Onlookers often think … read more

Check out our design, in collaboration with Encompass Lighting Group, of the railtones® wireless speaker system in the Chicago Tribune. For more information on the speaker system, click here.

I first learned about the Simkom sketch site when I was interning at a small design studio in Austria about three years ago. It was a small site at the time and it seemed to have mainly a word-of-mouth … read more

Rapid prototyping is a big part of what we do here at Beyond Design—clients come to us with an idea or need and we turn it into a tangible item. Along the way, however, we often need to get … read more

We recently read an article on Business Insider titled The Best Gadget Designers Alive, in which they talk about eleven of the most talented product designers responsible for all of the coolest gadgets of the past decade. Some of our … read more

One of our summer interns, Alisa Rantanen, had her last day in our studio yesterday. She started her internship at the end of May and goes back to school next week at Notre Dame. When asked one of the most … read more

The following was written by one of our CAD Engineers, Mark Eyman, about his interest in the “maker subculture”.
“The maker subculture is a contemporary subculture, representing a technology-based extension of DIY culture. Typical interests enjoyed by the maker … read more

Check out Core77 Design Directory’s new look. Very simple and sleek. Great improvement!

You can browse the entire site here.

Every summer we host a party at our studio to show gratitude to our clients, family, friends, and employees. This year we had a reggae DJ, a hula hoop contest (which was very impressive!), and plenty of food and beverages. … read more

With our recent introduction of the BuzzDrive™, we found an article from inspirationfeed.com particularly interesting. The article, titled 55 Creative Examples of USB Designs, showcases photos of a number of creative USB drives. We especially liked the ones shown below.

Our … read more

“The ability to be creative and quickly adapt is crucial for an industrial design engineer at a design consulting firm, where the change of focus and daily tasks can change as swiftly as the winds of the Windy City. What … read more

A few members of our team attended the IDSA Midwest Conference in St. Louis a few months ago, and picked up some iD cards that we have since shared with everyone at Beyond Design. No matter how little or how … read more

Providing students with real-world product development experience is extremely important to our team at Beyond Design. We devote much of our time to mentoring design students from around the world through our internship program. We recently had two students, Joakim … read more

We recently came across this ad in Wired for the Trane ComfortLink™ II. Our team collaborated with Trane to develop both the user interface and the hardware for this cutting-edge thermostat. You can check out details and photos of … read more

Our team collaborated with Waterpik® and designed a customizable water flosser for children. The Water Flosser is intended for children ages 6+, with a small and simple design that makes water flossing easy. It includes removable cling decals that are … read more

We recently saw the Ray Charles animatronic doll that our team designed in 2002, in collaboration with Design Integrity and Cosmodog in Chicago, in a small shop in Arlington Heights. The doll sings and sways along to two of Ray … read more

One of our friends and fellow designer, Tony Ruth, recently launched a new line of inflatable character canvases called Blimpus with graphic designer Mike Serafin. Using Kickstarter, Ruth and Serafin pledged a $7,500.00 goal by March 31st and surpassed that … read more

Last week a few members of our team spent some time at the ASI Show at the McCormick Center in Chicago, to get the word out about The BuzzBrush® and its sister products, the BuzzDrive™, the BuzzWrite™, and the BuzzSpray™. … read more

The concept behind the 4th Amendment Wear is simple: to get a few people to think a little more about their constitutional rights.
One of the more thought provoking designs we’ve seen in a while is the 4th Amendment Wear … read more

At Beyond Design, our designers and engineers work closely every day in order to create a product that is both functional and meaningful to the user. This article was written from the viewpoint of Michael Prince, the President of Beyond … read more

This Friday will mark the end of the first annual Core77 Design Awards. Over the past week, a number of great projects have received recognition in a broad range of categories, from interactive and web-based programs, to service design, product … read more

Twelve of the nation’s most influential industrial designers from the 1930’s to the 1960’s are now being honored with a new set of stamps that highlight their most significant work. The collection, announced earlier this year, honor designers Peter Muller-Munk, … read more

Relating to our post, Creativity in QR Codes that was posted on June 24th, this is something we haven’t seen before.

An Israeli man, Yoav Medan, chose to embed a QR code in the tombstone for his mother’s grave in the … read more

The rapid advancement of technology has had a huge impact on how generations grow up today. Young children are now playing with Xbox’s rather than out in the backyard, and using iPad’s and Smartphones instead of a notepad, coloring book, … read more

What exactly does “design thinking” mean? Over the years, it has been easy to find films about designers, design disciplines, and objects. A film about design thinking, however, is nearly impossible to come by. Thanks to Kickstarter, a team … read more

By now we’ve all seen, heard about, or own Scott Wilson’s TikTok+LunaTik for the iPod Nano that was made an instant sensation last year through Kickstarter. Until now, there has been no real competition out there for this watch. Gadget … read more

The red dot award ceremony took place over the Fourth of July weekend in Essen, Germany and we wish we could have been there! Our team was awarded the red dot seal for two of our product designs, the Aero … read more

How has the discipline of industrial design impacted the way you lead your life? First declared in 2007 on The International Council of Societies of Industrial Design’s (Icsid) 50th anniversary, World Industrial Design Day is celebrated each year on June … read more

We are excited to announce that the BuzzBrush ®, designed by our team at Beyond Design, is now on the shelves at Bed Bath & Beyond!

The BuzzBrush® is a unique 2-in-1 computer cleaning product that incorporates a cone-shaped brush … read more

In recent weeks, you may have noticed a “+1” symbol next to every search result and ad throughout the Google search engine. Nearly a year after Facebook “like” buttons spread in popularity, Google announced its own “+1” button. It allows … read more

The IDEA Award winners were announced last week and there are several really great projects. Out of 524 finalists, 27 were honored with the Gold Award, while 68 received the Silver Award and 96 won the Bronze Award. Our team … read more

This year has kept us very busy and we’ve had some great people join our team. As a reward to everyone who has worked so hard this year, we decided to take the day off and attend the Cubs game … read more

On Monday, June 13, our team attended a NeoCon kickoff event at design firm Minimal in Chicago. Design Bureau was the media sponsor for the event and posted some great photos from the party on their website. You can check … read more

We are excited to announce that we recently won a Green Good Design Award for our design of the Aero PakMat®. The Green Good Design, an extension of the Chicago Athenaeum Good Design competition, awards the world’s leading sustainable design. … read more

Design personas are an imperative part of our strategic development process. They help us to better understand users with varying lifestyle traits and the emotional and physical aspects which define them.
We think this article, Six Ways to Screw Up … read more

If you happen to notice a black and white square on a business card, in the corner of an ad, or even on a product, you might want to get out your smartphone. While QR codes have been popular in … read more

We are excited to have Trevis Kurz back in our studio as a Junior Designer! Trevis joined our team as an intern in the summer of 2010 and chose to extend his internship through the fall/winter of last year. He … read more

Monday night we attended Swagapalooza, an event that consists of a room full of bloggers, tweeters, and digital influencers who gather to judge five-minute presentations from creators of new and unique products. Alex Krupp, the founder of the event, described … read more

We are excited to welcome a few new interns to our design team! Our internship program offers young designers the opportunity to learn in a professional environment. We’ve had interns from all over the world—including England, Sweden, France, Italy, Turkey, … read more

The Trane Hyperion™ Air Handler, which our team completed the industrial design work for, was awarded a Bronze EID Award in the Major Appliances & HVAC category in appliance DESIGN magazine.
“This air handler is constructed more like a refrigerator … read more

“Discover thousands of innovative products and resources for corporate hospitality, healthcare, retail, government, institutional and residential interiors from more than 1,200 showrooms and exhibitors.”
Neocon, the continent’s largest exhibition of contract furnishings, made its way to Chicago yesterday, filling the … read more

Our team recently received a Gold Excellence in Design (EID) Award from appliance DESIGN magazine for our design of the Encompass Lighting Group railtones™. Railtones™ is the first wireless speaker system that is mounted to and powered by a low-voltage … read more

We recently read an article on Innovation Tools website, titled 3D visualization: A potential driver for new product innovation, that speaks about how prototyping may change in the years to come. We too are a big believer in the value … read more

We are proud to welcome Hao Hua to our expanding design team. Hao, who has joined us from Worrell Design, is an outstanding product designer with an immense passion for solving problems and designing for the real world. His background … read more

A few members of our team recently attended the 2011 National Hardware Show in Las Vegas. On the show floor, the aisles were filled with excited attendees scoping out the latest products and trends while networking with retailers, distributors and … read more

We just launched our new website, and, with it, this Whiteboard section. Please check back often to find out what our team has been up to, as well as what’s going on in the industry!