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Ravi Sawhney

Remembering C.K. Prahalad

The author of "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" who passed away earlier in the month was influential in transforming Ravi Sawhney's design practice.READ»

DESIGN   |  Comment

Extreme Makeover, Weiner Edition: RKS Redesigns the Deadly Hot Dog

Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics called for the redesign of hot dogs. Never ones to resist a challenge, or the chance to play with their food, RKS carved out a little time to reinvent the wiener.READ»

The KOR ONE Bottle Changes Behavior by Beautifying Water

How to get consumers to swear off disposable plastic water bottles? Turn a reusable vessel into something irresistible.READ»

Coca-Cola's New Video Proves Brand Happiness Can Be Viral

The new "Happiness Machine" video made by Coke is a model for how brands can create that moment of delight with their consumers.READ»

RKS   |  Comment

Vestalife's Headphones Are Music to Women's Ears

Four female designers and a unique approach targeting women that bridged technology and fashion helped a new line of headphones get noticed.READ»

New Models for Engaging Consumers: A Report from Opportunity Green

Shifting the consumer paradigm to sustainable products, processes, and experiences has to begin with a fundamental shift in the way we think, the way we do business, and the way we all live our lives.READ»

Teaching Moments: A New Era for Design Education

Design educators are reinventing the industry from the inside out as employers are less interested in students' ability to sketch, and more interested in their ability to think and communicate strategically. READ»

A Better Way to Health Care Reform: Is There a Designer in the House?

A "dream team" of designers could improve America's ailing system by focusing on health care as a series of meaningful, user-centered experiences.READ»

Broken Guitar Has United Playing the Blues to the Tune of $180 Million

When the airlines smashed a songwriter's guitar and refused to reimburse him, he got even by going viral.READ»

Why Designers Need to Focus on Focus Groups

The design team can play an important role in research and focus group testing.READ»

Over-Innovation: A Cautionary Tale

The difference between simple and elegant can mean the difference between success and failure for your brand.READ»

DEEP DIVE   |  Comment

Design Roundtable: Why Do Cell Phones Go Out of Fashion so Quickly?

Once again we've got our favorite design experts gathered around our virtual roundtable, talking about cell phones. Here's how our design roundtables work: We choose the topic, put forth a few questions to our panel ...READ»

Roadmap for Recovery: Five Ways to Come Out on Top

In my last post, I shared five short-term strategies for surviving the downturn by using design thinking as a roadmap to connect your business with consumers. Once you've weathered the worst of the economic storms, it's time to ...READ»

DEEP DIVE   |  Comment

Design Roundtable: How Can Cell Phones Improve the World?

With more details about the Palm Pre and some rumors about Apple’s 2009 iPhone event on Tuesday, it seemed a good time to gather our design experts together and ponder some issues about our love affair with mobile. Today's question: How can cell phones be used to improve the world?READ»

DEEP DIVE   |  Comment

Design Roundtable: How Have Cell Phones Changed Our Behavior?

Wouldn't it be fun, we thought, to gather our growing roster of design expert bloggers in a room and toss out hot-button design issues for them to ponder, peruse and debate? Well, we can't overnight them to our Fast Company ...READ»

Roadmap for Recovery: Five Ways to Help Your Company Survive Now

History has shown that hard times can provide as much opportunity as pitfalls. Want proof? Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, and Xerox are just three innovation-driven companies that were founded during the Great Depression. More recently, ...READ»

HYUNDAI   |  Comment

Design Like a Surfer..and How Hyundai Caught the Wave

Over the past decade, driven by an ever-more sophisticated consumer, design has gone from being a bonus to being an essential ingredient in almost every market sector. Target earned itself a spot on Fast Company's 2008 Fast 50 ...READ»

Designing From the First-Person Perspective

In professional industrial design, designs aren't really for the designers. They aren't even for the clients. They're for the end-users. I believe we get the best results when we "design from the first-person perspective" and really ...READ»