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The Journal by Speck Design is a platform to initiate design-minded thinking and conversation through journals, blogs, insights, and news releases.

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And Then There Were Two: Designing Physical Products for a Virtual World

Insights
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4.28.2023
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5 Min Read Time
One of the most exciting parts of designing for virtual reality innovations is the blue sky thinking it allows industrial designers to engage in, untethered from our typical real-world constraints. The same can be said for the design thinking approach we must take to make a reality schism a good thing.
as industrial designers

Understanding XR, AR, MR, and VR in Product Design

Blog
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4.19.2023
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04 Min Read Time
To understand extended reality technologies writ large, it is first essential to understand that our physical world is not reality at all. Reality is a construct, our mind’s interpretation of the so-called real world. And understanding this difference is critical for product designers.
Virtual reality product design

‍Generative AI is Coming to Take Your Job…to the Next Level

Insights
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3.28.2023
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4 Min Read Time
I’ll be the first to admit it. After, more than two decades of running a tech company through the booms and busts of Silicon Valley–I’m skeptical of anointing anything “the next big thing.“ But of course, I am here to tell you: Generative AI is the next big thing. And it isn’t going to take jobs–it is going to make them better
Generative AI

A Short History of Generative AI

Blog
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3.27.2023
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5 Min
Generative AI is on the tip of everyone's tongue. To understand where it will lead, knowing where it came from is helpful. So we looked back at computing technology, starting eight decades ago, to better understand how we got from punch cards to prompt engineering.
product design agency article on code

Health 4.0 Has Caught Up with Industry 4.0 (and Needs UX Design) Part 2

Blog
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2.27.2023
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5 Min Read Time
Industry 4.0 innovations are seeing a rise in application in healthcare. They are experiencing a surge of integration into healthcare in response to COVID created. Today they are part of most users' lives–whether they realize it or not and are the de-facto future of medicine, meaning so is UX design. 
Research and product development for medical devices

Speck Design Picks: The Best of Behance Product Design and Development

Blog
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2.20.2023
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5 Min Read Time
As an inquisitive and forward-thinking product design agency, we often find ourselves perusing the online platform to discover creative works to admire and fall in love with. We do it so much, in fact, we've created a "Best of Adobe Behance" blog series, to showcase some of our design industry curated picks.
industrial design company in San Jose california

Health 4.0 Has Caught Up with Industry 4.0 (and Needs UX Design) Part 1

Insights
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1.25.2023
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5 Min Read Time
The Pandemic significantly expedited the integration of Industry 4.0 technologies into Health 4.0. It saved lives but revealed a troubling truth that industry professionals have known for a long time: Healthcare is lagging in UX Design.
medical device design company article

Machine Learning in Medical Device Development and Innovation

Blog
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1.23.2023
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6 Min Read Time
The future of machine learning (ML) in product design is exciting and has the potential to revolutionize several industries. Foremost among them is the field of medical devices, which offers seemingly endless opportunities for innovation and an overwhelmingly positive impact on quality of life.
Medical device engineering firm Speck Design

Speck Design’s Top Design Insights of 2022

Blog
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12.15.2022
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5 Min Read Time
We took time to reflect on our journals from 2022 with the coming new year. Our topics were far-ranging, from human-centered design to equality to sustainability and several subjects in between. The year in review highlighted the fact that the world is in an era of technological acceleration and we are thankful to have been a part of it.
Design thinking conversations

Four Ways Being Selfish Will Make You a Better UX Designer

Blog
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12.14.2022
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6 Min Read Time
Data suggests there are prolific risks around purpose-driven work like UX Design. Empathy overload, compassion fatigue, and secondary trauma are foremost among them. So-called “selfish work strategies” help designers maintain a work-life balance, an equilibrium that will make them better at both.
Top Product Design Company Speck Design

Speck Design’s 2022 Green Giving Guide

Blog
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12.1.2022
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5 Min Read Time
Green gifts are holiday gold! They work to offset the heavy emissions of the holiday season, plus when you buy them, you support makers trying to make a difference.
Sustainable product gifts from a silicon valley product design consultancy

Design Thinking as the Evolution of Storytelling: Part One

Insights
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10.28.2022
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5 Min Read Time
The ability to tell stories has given our species the evolutionary advantages responsible for our proliferation to 8 billion people worldwide. Could design thinking be an evolved form of our narrative abilities that we are cultivating just in time to save us from ourselves?
A drawing of a group of people interacting and design thinking on a pink background

We Should Care Less About Greenwashing

Blog
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10.7.2022
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6 Min Read Time
We should care less about greenwashing, not because it's okay but because there is a more nefarious player lurking on the environmental scene. One that is all too conveniently shadowed by what boils down to poorly thought-out or deceptive PR practices.
Greenwashing and Carbon offsetting in product design and branding

Why a 10-Minute Battery Charge Changes the EV Game Forever

Insights
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10.3.2022
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4 Min Read Time
Speck Design President Michael Sprauve outlines his thoughts on the potential implications of the recent speed charging breakthroughs within the electric vehicle industry.
Electric Vehicle Engineering

A Business Case For Circular Product Design

Insights
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9.19.2022
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4 Min Read Time
Speck makes an untraditional but strong business case for product developers and brands to adopt circular design practices for profitability across numerous metrics.
Graphic of partnership, progress, profit in circular design

The Challenges of Planned Obsolescence to the Circular Economy

Blog
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8.12.2022
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4 Min Read Time
As any product designer knows, the decisions you make throughout the development process have an incredible impact and far-reaching implications. Nothing could be a better example of this than planned obsolescence. However, it is still a widespread design practice, especially in technology, and it is in direct conflict with the concepts embodied in the circular economy.
circular economy and product design company

Adapting User Experience to Heal a Generation of Broken People: Part Two

Blog
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7.27.2022
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5 Min Read
In good times and bad, the things we use every day shape our lives and, increasingly, our well-being. This is why, post-Covid, it has become clear--a product designer's mind belongs to crisis. It is an opportunity for us to rethink why things work the way they do and why, at the drop of a hat, they don't. In turn, this reminds us the products we design are ephemeral, but the experiences we design are not.
User Research company and Experience Design company image

The Hidden Power of Design for Manufacturing

Blog
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7.22.2022
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4 Min Read Time
Design for Manufacturing is a relatively new process that cuts costs, reduces risk, and shortens timelines. And, that's not even the best news! There are several other benefits from DFM that make it a smart process for any product development project looking to tip the scales towards success.
Speck industrial Design Company and Design For Manufacturing

Adapting User Experience to Heal a Generation of Broken People: Part One

Insights
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6.24.2022
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5 Min Read Time
The user experience has changed because the users have changed. The truth of the pandemic is--none of us got out of this unscathed, untouched, unmoved, or unaffected. It is our job, as product designers, to start designing for that reality.
User Experience Research Company Product Design

Juneteenth Meditations from a Black-Owned Company: Black Pride is National Pride and Reminds Us Why This Country is Still Great

Blog
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6.17.2022
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3 Min Read Time
When we, as people of color, celebrate Juneteenth, yes we celebrate the end of suffering and bondage our forefathers endured. But greater still, we rejoice as patriots of this great nation whose better ideals continually triumph over our darker angels. And for that, we are proud to call this imperfect country home.
black owned product design company in Silicon valley

User Research, Qualitative Research, and Products that Suprise and Delight

Blog
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6.8.2022
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3 Min Read Time
Creating transformative products starts with a careful balance of rigorous quantitative user research and empathetic, qualitative user research. While quantitative can be quite obvious, qualitative is a practiced skill of profoundly understanding users' needs, insights, and emotions and knowing how to flush them out.
Product Design Company User Research company

Medical Device Development Stages, Classifications, and Costs

Blog
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5.25.2022
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5 Min Read Time
Medical device development is incredibly complex. The guidelines vary from market to market and device to device. This is why finding the right partner to develop and manufacture your medical device products is critical for success and will play a crucial role in how fast you get to market and the total cost of development.
Medical device development company graphic

Post-Pandemic: A World Where Sustainable Behaviors Normalize

Blog
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5.24.2022
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4 Min Read Time
Though disruptive and tragic, there was a major silver lining in the pandemic--the rise of the eco-consumer. This new cohort is bringing sustainability into the mainstream and is willing to spend more on environmentally ethical products that last.
The pandemic and sustainable product design

Top 100 Medical Device Terms and Acronyms

Insights
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5.13.2022
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10 Min Read Time
An exhaustive collection of abbreviations, acronyms, regulations, and terms needed to successfully bring a medical device through development, past FDA approval, and ready for manufacturing.
Top 100 Medical Device company Terms and Acronyms

Post Pandemic: The Age of AI Accleration P2

Series
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4.29.2022
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5 Min Read Time
There can be little dispute that artificial intelligence is an utterly transformative technology. One that is exercising its power in our lives daily by changing our relationships with machines and with one another and ourselves. It will soon be as ubiquitous in society as the internet, and its impact is slated to be as unshakeable as it is profound. 
AI Opportunities in Product Design

Post Pandemic: The Age of AI Acceleration P1

Series
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4.22.2022
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5 Min Read Time
Due to the pandemic, the Age of AI Acceleration is here whether mankind is ready or not. As product designers, it is our job to prepare AI to meet humanity. To do so, we must think long and hard about the world our innovations will be changing.
AI Development in San Jose

ID Her: Women of Industrial Design — Dani Nguyen

Series
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3.31.2022
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4 Min Read Time
In our new series, ID Her: Women of Industrial Design, we will be profiling women of industrial design past and present because we believe visibility is a great way to light the path for women coming up in the industry and those considering a career in it. Where better to begin than with Speck's own--Dani Nguyen?
Female industrial designer product design company

Has Higher Education Failed the Female Industrial Designer?

Blog
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3.22.2022
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5 min
It appears men and women start out in pursuit of an industrial design degree about evenly, but only 19% of industrial designers are women. So, in four short years, what could possibly be happening to nearly half the female industrial design students to make them simply disappear?
product development company

White Space: Black Designers Needed Part 3

Blog
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3.11.2022
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8 Min Read Time
In Speck Design's third blog of our White Space: Black Designers Needed series, we look at the compelling reasons design industries (especially product and industrial) need to install more black designers in their ranks. Not surprisingly, it's not just for the warm and fuzzy feeling they get from doing the right thing. It's because diversity pays in dividends.
product design agency

White Space: Black Designers Needed Part 2

Blog
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2.25.2022
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5 Min Read Time
To find the root causes of MIA black designers, you just have to follow the money. From underfunded public schools--desegregated in name only--to privileged cultural institutions raking in the lion's share of arts donations, the systems are broken for some and working wonders for those who designed them.
product design company

White Space: Black Designers Needed Part 1

Blog
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2.18.2022
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4 Min Read Time
It is no secret the design industry desperately needs more black people. In part one of our three-part blog series, Speck Design explores the disproportionately small number of African Americans in the various design verticals and the implications for human-centered design firms that fall short in representation.
products design company

Post-Pandemic: A World Where Home and Health Will Continue to Intersect

Series
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1.31.2022
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6 Min Read Time
COVID-19 caused a massive acceleration in telehealth adoption in 2020 and 2021. Even after the pandemic recedes, a full return to "traditional" in-person care seems unlikely. This shift in medical consumer behavior not only carves out a niche for innovators but for HCD designers ready to make once-in-a-generation changes in empathy-based patient care.
product design firm

Post-Pandemic: What Kind of World Will We Be Designing For?

Series
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1.24.2022
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4 Min Read Time
Change is hard, especially unsolicited change. But, like it or not, this relentless pandemic has already yielded "strange fruit": resilience for all--innovation for those in the design industry. Our Speck Design blog series will explore this unique time to be a product designer--chalked full of challenges but also bulging with opportunities for human-centered designs.
industrial design company

Thoughtful Human-Centered Design Should Sell Products--Not “Great” Marketing

Blog
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1.13.2022
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9 Min Read Time
Human-centered product design draws inspiration from real people, real problems and strives to delight and benefit them—ultimately driving sales and aiding marketing efforts, not relying on them.
research and product development

Impact Giving: Sustainable and Inclusive Gifts for the Holidays

Blog
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12.7.2021
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7 Min Read Time
The purpose of this blog is to save you time and money with our research. We broke down our findings into five main business categories, then four specific receiver sub-categories: BIPOC-owned, Women-Owned, LGBTQ-Owned, Sustainable, and American Made, then gifts for him, for her, for them (gender-neutral), and kids respectively. Most of these vendors sell more than one item, making them all worth a look regardless of who you are shopping for. What's best is they are all small, independent businesses selling their goods and their dreams too. If that doesn't give you the warm and fuzzies, we don't know what will.
sustainable medical device design company

The Colors of Our Craft Part Series Intro

Blog
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11.16.2021
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6 Min Read Time
Speck Design examines the use of color in industrial design and engineering through the lens of HCD, color theory, color psychology, and science.
the color of market research company

Part 3: We Aren't Quite Dead Yet: Harnessing The Law of Unintended Consequences for Sustainable Technology

Blog
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10.28.2021
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4 Min Read Time
In the final blog of our Sustainable Technology series, we focus on the importance of environmental empathy and what designers are actually preserving by developing it. Plus, we look at embracing constraints as a way forward towards more innovative, sustainable design outputs and hope for the future. 
sustainable medical device design company

Part 2: We Aren't Quite Dead Yet: Harnessing The Law of Unintended Consequences for Sustainable Technology

Blog
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10.5.2021
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7 Min Read Time
In Part II of our Sustainable Technology blog series, we take a closer look at systems interconnectivity being both the driver of negative consequences from product and technology innovations and a way for designers to shift their thinking to avoid them.
sustainable industrial design

Part 1: We Aren’t Quite Dead Yet: Harnessing The Law of Unintended Consequences for Sustainable Product Design

Blog
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9.21.2021
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7 Min Read Time
Product and technology innovation is a notoriously double-edged sword, often creating as many negative consequences as it does benefits. In our three-part blog series, we will explore how designers can use The Law of Unintended Consequences and The Gaia Theory as jumping-off points for Systems Thinking as a way to stave off possible perverse environmental consequences from the products they design.
sustainable top product design company

The Industrial Design Glossary

Insights
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9.2.2021
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12 Min Read Time
The industrial design community is as passionate as it is precise, and therefore there are scores of definitions specific to the field that are frequently used in the industrial design process. The following glossary outlines over 50 of the most frequently used terms and their corresponding definitions. 
industrial design glossary

THAT’S JUST NOT RIGHT 

Blog
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8.31.2021
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5 Min Read Time
Southpaw-Friendly Product Design Tips from a Lefty Engineer
product design for left handed people

Good Design Can Be Taught: Ethical Design Must Be Chosen

Blog
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8.24.2021
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5 Min Read Time
As the power that designers, programmers, and engineers weld becomes more apparent in a lightning-paced world of AI, app, and algorithm development, it is hard not to notice design ethics lag woefully behind.
ethical medical product design

4 Reasons To Work With A Design Firm Instead of Going Straight To The Manufacturer

Blog
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7.27.2021
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7 Min Read Time
There are 4 critically important reasons for why you should choose to work with a design firm instead of going straight to the manufacturer with an idea, and making that choice could be the difference maker that results in success or failure for your product.
gif design for manufacturing industrial design firm

Making It Real: Steps to Designing a Great Product

Events
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7.26.2021
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20 Min Read Time
best industrial design and market research company

From 25 year incarceration to covid sterility product inventor

Events
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7.18.2021
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10 Min Read Time
Rehabilitated Baltimore felon mentored by Speck Design creates patent-pending idea for disposable, contamination-prevention barbershop tool while in prison.
designing a great product industrial design and engineering

WEBINAR EVENT - Making it real: Steps to designing a great product

Events
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6.22.2021
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2 MIN READ TIME
In this virtual seminar, Denise Pliskin, Sr. Director of Product Strategy for Speck Design, goes through a phase based approach to product design and development - from ideation and research, concept design and refinements, to the steps to commercializing a product.
best panel research company

NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH - EMist EX7000

News
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6.15.2021
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4 MIN READ TIME
With the rise of coronavirus, environmental cleaning and surface disinfecting has become more important than ever.
best market research company and industrial design

Breast cancer awareness month

News
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4.14.2021
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3 MIN READ TIME
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we want to share ways to support the cause, while shining light on more recent screening technology and treatment advances.
human centered design breast cancer

Products That Make Users Better Versions of Themselves

Blog
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4 Min Read Time
At its core, product design is about the users. As designers and engineers, we have tremendous power to influence them — and, therefore, great responsibility. Designing functional features into a product to improve users' lives is the easy part. What takes more rigor and investment is integrating emotions that (fingers-crossed) encourage people to be better human beings.
A cartoon of a line of men with black beards, blue shirts ands black pants getting onto a treadmill

#BLACKLIVESMATTER

News
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2 MIN READ TIME
Speck Design is a proudly Black-owned business. We stand in unwavering solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and all the victims of racism and police brutality.
product design for a better future black lives

Thoughts on Brand and Product Experiences

Blog
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3 MIN READ TIME
We refer to “brand” as an organization’s personality, and “product” as the physical manifestation of that brand – things like devices, service offerings, and environments. With respect to brand, it all revolves around human emotion, and, the way to create an emotional bond lies in connected touch points.
graphic on the importance of brand design from best product design company

Thoughts on Artificial Intelligence

Blog
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3 MIN READ TIME
I recently attended South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin where the Artificial Intelligence (AI) conversation was in full tilt. At one end of the spectrum, companies are cautiously exploring AI. At the other end, there are companies that have jumped in with both feet. At FutureBrand Speck, our clients sit along the full continuum of the AI spectrum, sometimes from within different business units of the same company.
artificial intelligence and its role for the future of industrial design and engineering

Beam Telepresence robot assists NASA in ventilator development

Events
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2 MIN READ TIME
Earlier this month the food and drug administration approved a high pressure ventilator prototype designed by NASA with the assistance of experts in a multitude of capabilities separated by mandatory distancing.
best market research company leads to a great industrial design

Four steps to promoting empathy in the design process

Insights
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5 MIN READ TIME
Design thinking is a human-centric, iterative process used to not only help designers not only understand their user, but also challenge assumptions and redefine problems.
inside a product engineering and design studio rapid prototyping

Product Design 101

Insights
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4 MIN READ TIME
This is the first in a series of articles designed to help entrepreneurs and early stage start-ups understand what it takes to take a product idea from initial concept to manufacturing.
best market research company and product design

Millennials unique hotel needs

Insights
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3 MIN READ TIME
We recently launched a research report (featured in Lodging Magazine) uncovering that Millennials (those currently 22-37) have a higher demand for enriching experiences over traditional hotel amenities.
doing market research for millennials and their hotel needs

Design for Generation Z

Insights
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4 MIN READ TIME
Research shows that 3 out of 4 Millennials prefer to buy an experience over something desirable.
generation z industrial design and market research

Product Design: Design Concepts

Insights
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4 MIN READ TIME
During this phase we establish the technical and design requirements. We will use the information you discovered about your user to help guide us to create a great user experience.
rapid prototyping for a medical device design company

Product Design: The User

Insights
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3 MIN READ TIME
Often entrepreneurs and start-ups will come to us with a potentially great idea. But a great idea is table stakes - it has as much to do with the success of a product as a seed has to the success of a plant.
best market research company
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