pfl-curve

Curve ID is an award winning consultancy that offers a complete service in industrial design, design research, brand development and engineering. For over 17 years we have collaborated with international brands and entrepreneurs alike; helping them to innovate via tangible solutions. At Curve ID, our multi-disciplinary team not only indentifies new opportunities and creates inspired concepts, but has the skills and technical ability to bring these ideas into the world.

We work closely with our clients to really understand their brand, industrial design requirements and market position. Since design flavors virtually all of our experiences, from products to services and spaces, our designers explore a “landscape of possibilities” in relation to people, their needs, technology and business. Ultimately we promote our tailored design process as a strategic business tool that fuses research, creativity, technical expertise and design management for our clients.

Curve Process:

Design Research

Our design team investigates people, behaviors, products, materials, manufacturing methods and markets to stimulate our unique design process and ultimately the final solutions for our clients. Our methodologies include:

User Interviews
Design Workshops
Focus Groups
Market Analysis
Online Questionnaires

Insights & Observations

The products and ideas that emerge from our studio are the result of a fusing of understandings and formal developments. Insights from a user groups, desires and needs, the clients brand values and market factors are fused together early on, to drive informed products.

Example: In one of our research phases with Nike in Portland. We were conducting user research on a runner’s daily routine. One of the key insights was fast time tracking, did the runner need to press and hold down a series of buttons to achieve their objective; start, stop or lap? The Vapor 300 which won an IDEA award has a large stop/start button, for immediate control. This watch also boasts the largest curved LCD screen on the market.

Brand Inspiration

Our design research aims to not only inspire and drive our design team but inform the client’s marketing team and their business strategy. We understand design as a business tool and encourage our clients to work closely with us from the initial idea through to manufacture and the market place.

Example: Over the past 17 years we have helped realize and bring to market over 20 products for John Deere. From hand tools and lawn mowers to utility vehicles and tractors, striving to create “on-brand” designs, keeping the John Deere brand experience pure and at the forefront of agricultural design.

Brand Development

In the users perspective and experience product and brand are intertwined. Where possible we work to create the brand and product in parallel, forming a story that is intuitive and unique.

Example: The web experience for Formed Products; a medical consumables company created by a multi-disciplinary group of Physicians and Engineers.

Ideation

We have always excelled in delivering creative, imaginative and innovative solutions for our clients. Our high level of design communication and prototyping brings real ideas and more tangible designs to the table sooner, enabling clients to conduct internal investigations and focus groups earlier in the process.

Example: When Colgate told us that kid’s toothbrushes were out of style a matter of months after their release, we worked with them to create the “billboard idea”. An in-mold decoration could be used with injection molding, allowing the design to change immediately without re-tooling. This design has now been in production for over 7 years.

Concept Development

We are a very visual studio our designers use the most up to date digital sketching techniques and equipment every day to create clear and compelling concepts quickly.

CAD Development

When we first started Curve ID it was due to our expertise with the most advanced tools in the field, 17 years later this is still the case. We use our technical knowhow and advanced CAD tools to ensure that the original design intent is carried through from concept sketch to final tooling data.

Engineering

Our engineering team has worked with some of the most challenging projects in the field. From large scale automotive projects with John Deere and Volvo. To securing countless patents in the culinary industry for World Kitchen and Groupe SEB.

Example: Trane set us the goal to redesign how part of their product was manufactured without altering the visual aesthetic. This redesign yielded a top cap that now saves the client $1.4 million per year to produce. In addition to cutting costs, our engineering team wanted to streamline manufacturing by consolidating the original multi-piece assembly into a single part. Formerly, the cover was built of five separate parts, requiring three molds to produce each part.

Manufacturing

Years of experience with engineering and manufacturers the world over gives us the expertise to consult to our clients beyond the typical design process. As a complete industrial design service we help our clients innovate from day one right through to manufacturing and market success.

Example: In 2006, Coca-Cola came to Emeco with a proposal. Their recycling plant in Spartanburg South Carolina was brand new and processing thousands of plastic bottles a day and they were looking for ways to show the value of recycled plastic. Curve ID’s engineering team performed the cad modeling to convert the existing Emeco aluminum chair into the two part gas assisted design.