New products for new markets

DESIGN DRIVEN INNOVATION

Design driven innovation is a form of business innovation structured around the proposal of radically innovative products and services in meanings and languages. It means looking to the future transformations of the socio-cultural and technological context. We design new ways of understanding the product or service in a multidisciplinary and radical way and we provide tools and management for structuring and applying the strategic innovation program.

USER-CENTERED INNOVATION

The User-Centered Innovation is an incremental type of innovation that starts from the direct analysis of the needs of the user and develops products and services that can respond to their needs. We build user-centered strategies and manage their application, we carry out user’s analysis and ethnographic surveys on selected targets,  and we design products that arise from interaction with users.

MARKET-PULL STRATEGY

The design-oriented market pull strategy is a form of incremental innovation that adapts the stylistic and qualitative level of the company’s products and services to the expectations of the market segment in which it intends to enter or stay. Innovation is intended to bridge the gap between the current level and the reference level. We perform analysis of competitors, best practices and competitive benchmarketing, and we structure strategies of brand and product empowerment

ART DIRECTION

We invent an identity and a style for products and services, we analyze the goals and values of the company, the tastes of the target audience and the characteristics of their cultural environment.
Art direction is a strategic and sophisticated activity that provides creative inputs to the various organizational levels of the company and monitors their application.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Innovation is to be understood as a project that occupies specific resources of the company and must be managed. We plan, execute and control the development of new products or services within a general project of innovation. We coordinate outsourcing resources of the company or temporary multidisciplinary teams.

BRAND MANAGEMENT

We coordinate the activities between marketing department, art directors and product manager. We develop strategic and executive plans for the launch of new products or services by analyzing the market research and production characteristics of the company, in line with the chosen innovation strategy.

RESEARCH

Every innovation process begins with a research phase. We perform analyzes on the development of products and services, on stylistic trends, on design methodologies, on socio-cultural and behavioral changes in consumers as well as on the integration between technology and Design.

ANALYSIS OF COMPETITORS

We analyze the best practices of competitors in the sector of reference and compare them with those in different sectors, to extrapolate the best and most creative processes useful for company innovation. We perform product benchmarking, on their formal, stylistic, productive and functional characteristics.

SOURCING MATERIALS

Nowadays technological development and research generate new materials. We carry out research into new materials for Design, build reports by visiting industry fairs, and research the best producers of technological and sustainable materials.

SOURCING ITALIAN MANUFACTURERS

Northern Italy offers the highest concentration of small, technologically advanced companies for the production of design objects. As well as the highest concentration of artisans able to provide traditional manual processing for prestigious finishes and prototyping.
We carry out research and networking for companies wishing to access and use this geographical, technological and cultural heritage.

SOURCING TECHNOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

Tomorrow’s technology is today potentially contained in scientific research. We look for new perspectives of technological development crossing different sectors, to outline ways that can be followed tomorrow and applicable to Design. We contact and involve university departments and advanced companies to provide useful reports to establish the competitive advantage of our customers.

FOCUS GROUPS

We organize Focus Groups on statistically selected targets to test the product concepts before they are put on the market. Through a phase of prototyping and visual rendering we submit ideas to select the best stylistic and functional aspects, as well as giving indications on the effectiveness of the expected prices.

USER ANALYSIS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

To understand the effectiveness of a product or a service, sometimes they must be analyzed within the real world. We provide ethnographic research on consumer behavior and use, making interviews, videos, reports and analyzes extracted from direct contact with users of our customers’ products and services.

CONCEPT DESIGN

–  At the beginning, the idea –

We create an innovative product starting from the definition of technological, stylistic, material and sustainability characteristics. We define the requirements in collaboration with the customer’s technical department and multidisciplinary teams that provide a detailed framework and guidelines necessary for the subsequent design phases.

SKETCHING

– From the idea to the first form –

We translate the requirements and the inputs of the concept into initial design sketches, to evaluate the maximum appearance of the product, its formal characteristics and its overall dimensions. Hand-made or computer-processed works, necessary to make the first evaluations in collaboration with art directors, marketing and product managers.

3D MODELING

– Switching to the third dimension –

We elaborate 3D models based on the approved sketches, using various design techniques, such as modeling for volumes, surfaces and meshes, already oriented to be realized in 3D printing. The virtual 3D model allows a better and realistic evaluation of the overall shape of the object, as well as of the connections between the different elements that compose it.

CATIA  DESIGN

– Maximum control and precision –

We develop the product by designing it in Catia, to provide a parametrized three-dimensional model. Since the formal generators are controllable and modifiable, it is possible in this phase to evaluate with precision the exact shape of the forms and to modify them in relation to the technical needs, the Fem analysis and the realization of the technical drawings.

2D DRAWINGS

– Orientation to execution –

Starting from the definitive 3D model, we can provide 2D dimensioned drawings, created in collaboration with the customer’s technical offices and calibrated on the different production methods of the supply chain.

PARAMETRIC DESIGN

– “Nowadays zeitgeist” –

Parametric design is becoming an increasingly important phenomenon in the artistic field, especially in the design of surfaces. We provide a specific application aimed at industrial design by designing parametric surfaces applicable to three-dimensional models of objects and finishing materials.

PRODUCT RENDERING

– Appearance and analysis –

The realization of product rendering is an advanced phase of the design process, in which the material, surface and chromatic aspects of the object are assessed. We provide several variations accompanying them to psycho-perceptive and usability analysis. Finally, integrating in rendering the semiotic elements necessary for increasing the usability of the product, we prepare the drawings to be usable in the context of focus groups.

TEXTURING

– Mathematical decoration –

Decoration is finding new expressive space through the use of computational softwares and new production techniques. We design geometric textures to be applied to the surfaces of the products we design. We provide a service of customization of geometric shapes for restyling and re-design processes.

3DP PROTOTYPING

– Between real and virtual –
For a more effective understanding of the characteristics and details of the product, we provide models in 3dPrinting starting from the creation of three-dimensional virtual models. In step with the evolution of printers, we use a wide range of materials and techniques.

REAL MODEL PROTOTYPING

– Back to reality –
Through the collaboration with the network of companies specialized in the production of prototypes, we can provide the first real prototype of the product using pre-definitive materials, providing the necessary drawings and following their development. In this activity of real prototyping in outsourcing, we collaborate with the customer’s technical office to optimize the drawings for their engineering, production and certification activities.

PROJECT  PRESENTATION

– From the product to the presentation –
We create integrated product display projects, studying the most suitable form for the customer or supplier, depending on the location in the supply chain. Multimedia presentations or packaging, coherent with the type of object and with the communication needs. We study particular solutions for the  presentation of prototypes or patents to potential investors.

BRAND IDENTITY

“Know thyself” was written on the temple of Apollo at Delphi. The good Socrates then assumed it as a maxim of his ethical philosophy. Who are you? In the narrow perspective of a brand image this is more or less equivalent to providing the distinctive signs to be clearly identified by the user. We take care of a coherent structuring of brand identity: vision, mission, naming, payoff, logotypes and communication materials must align in order to be coherent and generate a clear perception in the mind of the user and the consumer.

WEB&MOBILE DESIGN

It is useless to reiterate how the virtual identities of companies run on the web today. Starting from a user experience analysis, we create web pages using various scripting technologies, integrating and coordinating desktop functions with the mobile world. In collaboration with marketing experts, we develop a strategy of technological enhancement of multimedia equipment to achieve market objectives desired by the customer.

EDITORIAL DESIGN

Dear old sheets of paper. Like a grandfather who observes grandchildren run and play on the web. But a grandfather of great culture, with an immense tradition that needs to be organized and structured, for the value it brings to culture, to society and finally to businesses. This is why we design layouts for publishing companies, magazines and corporate communication materials, with passion, creativity and respect.

VIDEOMAKING

Everything flows. Today’s visual culture is a great river of images in sequence, organized with technical precision so that the narration, on the one hand can accurately explain the contents expressed, on the other hand it interacts in a dreamlike way with the more general processes of signification of the human being. Shooting, editing, 3dmodels for anime, stop-motion, cartoons, are just as many paragraphs of the contemporary mythological saga.

PHOTOGRAPHY

It is said that while living in a world that flows, what you remember are still images. We realize photographic services crossing advanced photographic techniques, for product presentation, services and events, for websites, advertising campaigns, commercial catalogs, web campaigns and social marketing.

ADVERTISING DESIGN

Who does not remember at least one advertising that has remained particularly impressed? Advertising means first of all interacting with the emotional and mnemonic processes of the observer. The contents will find space in technical and commercial catalogs, but the memory is the place where to record the images and the words most effective for consumers. We create advertising pages for magazines, web and social media.

STORYTELLING

Today we talk a lot about storytelling. It is not just a narrative, an explanation, a question of Seo or a commercial sales pitch. It is above all an understanding of the character and the psychology of the user, with whom to enter into dialogue using the right words. It means raising the user at the interlocutor level. Starting from psychological profiling methods, we work to create texts that are able to activate a profitable and lasting relationship with those who read our clients’ communications.

WEB&EDITORIAL POSITIONING STRATEGY

“If you have 100 euros, invest 90 in advertising”. Old saying that runs in the worst bars frequented by creative and advertising … Yes, but where do you invest them? Magazines? Web? Social media? And then again: which magazines? Which websites? And finally, according to which strategy, which times, which methods, which techniques? We try to provide answers to these questions …

DIRECT&DIGITAL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

In the word “campaign” there is something martial. Recall the battle, the clash, the emphasis on victory. We are not joking. Here it is not about striking victories of Pyrrhus. But it is a matter of structuring a constant relationship activity with users, who, according to their psychological profile, use social media in a specific way and choose you to be accompanied in their processes of information, acculturation and growth. Direct marketing campaigns, mailing lists, newsletters, landing pages and social media activities need to bring us to be perceived as a resource for personal development.

PRINT OFFICE

Rhythm. Sometimes it’s a question of rhythm. Say the right thing at the right time, on the right day, at the right time, with the right speed. And of course, in the right place. This is the approach with which we organize the press office activities of our customers. Corporate communications, press releases, media relations. We provide guidelines on content and communication methods according to a planned activity program. Every month, every week or every day.

TRAINING

“If you want to feed a man, do not give him a fish, teach him how to fish.” How many times have we heard this phrase … The concept is correct. To structure a constant activity of growth and innovation, companies must train internal resources. We provide teaching and support on learning the main graphics and layout software, 3D modeling, communication and storytelling techniques and on web and digital marketing tools.

DESIGN NETWORK RECRUITING

“Searching means finding”, they say in Italy … But to try you have to know. We provide research and selection services for professional, technical and managerial roles in the Italian Design world. Starting from the requests of the client and his development projects, we find and contact the profile that best suits the needs. Looking especially at those companies that want to take advantage of the professional circuits of Italian Design.