Good design creates added value

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN: For Casper Storm and Jan Steen Jacobsen, good design and commercial success go hand in hand. Which is why designers need to be involved from the start in the product development process.

In 2004, Casper Storm, 30, and Jan Steen Jacobsen, 37, who run the industrial design company SPEKTRE^®, received the German Red Dot Award for the water gun Nito Ergo. It is used for cleaning and rinsing in production and food companies, and has made cleaning significantly easier and more user friendly. The award created considerable international interest in the product.

     “Naturally the product’s commercial success is the central thing to us,” says Casper Storm. “But the Red Dot Award does show that design and commercial success are related. By focusing on good design, companies are waking up to the added value that it provides. It sharpens the market profile and identity, and ultimately increases earnings.” SPEKTRE^® focuses mainly on hardcore products – industrial products which are often a world apart from the ’soft’ and more fashionable consumer products.

     “But designing a product for a factory building rather than a trendy café doesn’t mean that it has to be ugly. To us it is vital that function and aesthetics form a synthesis. When a product suddenly finds its optimal functional expression, it becomes beautiful and aesthetic by itself. And it is exactly in this field that the industrial designer is indispensable.” Many industrial designers know a thing or two about the uphill battle they face to exert influence on product development. Prejudice and ignorance about the industrial design process both have a long history.

     “Until relatively recently, industrial design was regarded as just another added cost, and that designers were only interested in aesthetics. Today we are often involved as sparring partners with the development, production and sales departments. When our involvement starts from the earliest stages of product development, companies recognise that fresh eyes can add far more to a product than good looks. There are often a range of rationalisation gains and production improvements awaiting companies when designers participate.”

http://www.spektre.dk

Ready to kill – germs No – SPEKTRE has nothing to do with James Bond and his evil opponent. Casper Storm and Jan Steen Jacobsen’s Nito water gun is designed for peaceful purposes – washing walls, floors and surfaces in food companies. The handle of the gun is positioned so that the hand is in the optimal resting position during use. It ensures that the wrist is not strained by twisting. The water gun is further optimised for user safety. The gun cannot be accidentally activated, because the trigger is placed so that it is enclosed on all sides. The gun is also constructed so that the handle has the same temperature regardless of whether cold or hot water is being used.