Drum roll, please? “TONIGHT!…O-o-o-on Design Core Detroit’s Designer Dating Ga-a-a-ame, you’ll meet: TWO of Detroit’s entrepreneurs with life-changing products, a-a-a-a-and SIX designers from Detroit’s foremost design studio-o-os!”
The annual Designer Dating Game organized by Design Core Detroit was held last week at Wayne State University’s beautiful Industry Innovation Center. The city’s design community all gathered for this evening of networking and a “panel discussion with pizazz”. Jeevak, Director of Strategic Growth at Sundberg-Ferar, played the flamboyant role of show host for the evening, and the debonair Josiah LaColla (left), Senior Product Designer and Transportation Specialist at Sundberg-Ferar, represented our world-class, Detroit-born, industrial design studio on the panel of designers. As two game rounds unfolded, these designers showed the power and necessity of industrial design in the product development process.
Just like on the classic ABC show from the 70’s, one lucky contestant, (a local entrepreneur in this case), is given the chance to find the “perfect match” for their design needs in one of three designers behind the curtain. Each designer is a seasoned professional from a local studio. Last week, true to the original show, the stage was decked out with groovy disco lighting and kaleidescopic flower motifs. Jeevak was stationed at a similarly decorated podium, while a velvet curtain of mystery was drawn between the entrepreneur’s couch and the designer panel opposite. With all the enthusiasm of Jim Lange himself, Jeevak introduced the first contestant to the stage: Traci Reedy!
Traci is the one-woman founder of Titan Trach Ties and the Trach Shop, where she designs and manufactures custom tracheostomy covers. A mother of five as well as a designer, Traci’s story is compelling: Her daughter was diagnosed at an early age with a rare condition requiring her to have a tracheostomy. In the process of caring for her child, Traci realized that the community affected by tracheostomies is astoundingly under-served. Since then, she has met an emotional and functional need in that community, by offering creative and customized tracheostomy accessories that give patients regain self-expression.
On the other side of the curtain, Jeevak introduced the audience to Josiah LaColla, Kristen Keenan, and Blair Evans. Josiah has extensive experience in automotive design across diverse categories. In his spare time, he builds cars, drives those cars, and also designs his own home renovations in mid-century modern style. Kristen is the founder and CEO of Trichomatic Studio, a company focused on color, material and finish. In her spare time, she enjoys music and travelling. Blair Evans, Executive Director at Incite-Focus, a digital fabrication lab, spends his spare time flying planes, wake-boarding and water-skiing.
Traci was given the stage to chat with the designers and explain her needs. Her products are highly customized to meet each patient’s unique needs, so the discussion covered topics like applying pattern and color to tracheostomy covers and artificial humidifiers as well as cost-efficient methods of low volume production. As an aid to discussion, Traci passed around a sample of one of her customized artificial humidifiers with a colorful butterfly pattern applied on the surface. Then Josiah, Traci, and Kristin discussed the merits and pitfalls of hydrographic pattern application for Traci’s product. This method involves lowering the product into a container of water, a pattern is laid on the surface of the water as a thin film, and then the product is lifted out of the water through the film so that the pattern adheres to the product’s surface. Blair also explained the benefits of digital fabrication and possible methods of small-batch production for Traci’s product. After more discussion with each designer, Traci finally chose her ideal designer, Kristin!
The second round started with Jeevak’s hearty introduction of Chris Casteel, the next contestant. As the CEO of Anew Life Prosthetics and Orthodics, Chris has an equally moving backstory to his company. After a serious motorcycle accident, Chris’s leg was amputated above the knee. In the wake of this life-changing event, Chris began the journey of reinventing himself. Having previously built a career in manufacturing, Chris decided to “switch from making car parts to making people parts”. He pursued his master’s degree and residency in Orthotics and Prosthetics and now builds these devices as customizable products that not only help his customers take their lives back, but also gives them the opportunity to express their unique style.
On the other side of the curtain sat returning designer, Blair Evans along with Larry Rohdes, and Tom Pavlak. Larry Rohdes, Industrial Designer at Disher, has a background in Design Engineering and loves all things fitness related. Tom Pavlak, Principal and Co-Founder at POCO Labs, focuses on connecting ideas, people and technologies through ecosystem thinking.
The second round of discussion focused on how to make prosthetics desirable for patients. Very often, patients are considering the use of a prosthetic under the most painful of circumstances. Making a product that is desirable for them in the midst of these difficult situations is profoundly important. Chris asked the designers how to infuse his prosthetics with that desirability. Larry answered first saying, “make it look sexy”. If it looks great, people will desire it. Blair added another angle in his approach, saying that an iterative process is essential to finding out what is desirable. By making many variations of a prosthetic and testing each one with patients along the way, you can incrementally develop a design that patients will find desirable. However, Tom Pavlak brought up the important point that before asking how to make a product desirable to patients, you must first ask what “desirable” actually means to them. In the case of customizable prosthetics, the answer to this question will vary as widely as do the individuals affected by the loss of a limb or body part. By first defining what “desirable” means to the unique individual who will be using the product, Chris can then focus on defining the attributes that will deliver that desirability in the product. After the discussion, Chris chose Larry as his ideal designer!
The event was a perfect opportunity for Detroit’s business and design communities to connect, while showcasing some of the best design talent in the state. Participants and audience members alike came away with a better understanding of how design resources and services help companies create sought-after, human-centered products that answer the unspoken needs and unarticulated desires of their end users.
Design Core Detroit (DCD) powered this fun and informative evening in partnership with Pure Michigan Business Connect. DCD is designed to support the growth of Detroit’s creative economy through delivering business acceleration and attraction services, and developing signature programming tailored specifically to creative professionals’ needs. To learn more about DCD, click here. Pure Michigan Business Connect is a free service that brings small to medium-sized Michigan businesses together with local, national and global companies for supply chain sourcing opportunities. To learn more, click here.
“And that’s it for tonight, folks! We hope to see you next year for another round o-o-o-of…. the Designer-r-r-r Dating Ga-a-ame!”