When Dr. Stephen Lee first approached ROBRADY design with his concept for a product that eliminates menstrual discomfort within minutes, we knew we were on the verge of something unprecedented. Dr. Lee’s concept was radically different from typical ROBRADY projects like the Vectrix Electric Superbike, the Segway or Xtools. These, and other projects for companies like Parker-Hannifin, Mercedes and Dell had a certain level of…well, testosterone. We did not let that intimidate us. In fact, we were intrigued by the challenge. We saw the spark of something great in Dr. Lee’s idea and we wanted to create something amazing from that spark.

We believe we have done that with Ziivaa.

After speaking with Stephen and seeing his original mockup, ROBRADY Founder Rob Brady knew there was more to Ziivaa than just another woman’s product. “Ziivaa goes beyond replacing pills or eliminating side effects, it puts control of a woman’s life back in her own hands,” says Brady.

Brady realized his vision was bigger than a single product concept. A passionate, focused team collaborated at the ROBRADY studio to develop the state-of-the-art product and much, much more. The development of Ziivaa grew into the design of a progressive company—dedicated to creating a dynamic solution for empowering women to live their best lives.

A Capital Idea
Firmly convinced of Ziivaa’s commercial and consumer potential, Brady also decided to make the venture a cornerstone of the newly formed ROBRADY capital division.

In a demonstration of their commitment to Ziivaa, ROBRADY capital has put the full force of its time and resources behind Ziivaa in order to guarantee that Ziivaa is brought to market by capable hands. Very soon, women around the world will be able to live better lives, free from the limitations of menstrual discomfort.

The Innovative Edge
The ROBRADY team is enthusiastic about innovative ideas that improve lives through imagination and execution. “Ziivaa is a perfect case study for what our group does,” says Brady. “We design fantastic companies that produce fantastic products.”

Achieving a great fit sometimes means stepping beyond one’s comfort zone. Rob Brady is a man with the right experience and expertise, educated at Auburn University and the Art Center College of Design. He has two decades of hands-on, integrative experience, where he has honed his design skills and the ability to create and deliver the “Innovative Edge,” time and time again.

The Ziivaa challenge, however, required something more of us. “With Ziivaa, I had to look beyond my usual design instincts and open myself to a different voice… an exclusively female voice.” Consulting with female employees, focus groups and women in his own household, Brady realized these new voices were blending to form a unique and ultimately perfect result.

“At the time, Ziivaa was a real challenge, a real departure,” reflects Brady. “But that’s what innovation is all about.”

Stay tuned. This story is just beginning.

As the Design4 Conference draws closer, the conversation of “what do you Design4?” is one that I have been having with a variety of designers around the country. From creating a system for transporting clean water in third world countries, to solving more local challenges such as humanizing products in the U.S., people design for a variety of reasons. This past week, I spoke with Rob Brady of ROBRADY design on what he designs for.

For Brady, what gets him up each morning is the dynamic series of events in getting a product to market. “Trying to get products designed and developed, then to actually get them to market,” he says. “It’s a real noble effort because if you can do all that and then get it to market with a handsome margin, then the company, of which you are working through, prospers, which means that all the people who go to work there prosper, which means all the kids get to go to college or they get the house or they pay off their bills.” He says this based off seeing both sides of that paradigm, from companies shutting down entire departments after the bill of materials for a project skyrocketed, losing the product. “To me, it’s been an emotional connection, wanting to be successful with fantastic products, because I believe that a fantastic product will survive anything.”

After discovering the field of Industrial Design, Brady realized it was something he had been doing his whole life. Building GoKarts, different vehicles, and other mechanisms as a kid, he was not far off from the work he does today. From the Vectrix electric bike to The GMP LifeSync (R) Wireless ECG System, ROBRADY design has dabbled in a wide array of fields, designing everything from industrial and consumer products to medical and marine tools.

“What’s beautiful about Industrial Design is that you can stay within Industrial Design, but jump from designing vehicles to designing jet boats to medical products to industrial products to consumer electronics; it’s incredibly diverse,“ says Brady.

In the evolution of his own career, Brady found himself further and further from that hands-on design process vetted in creative problem solving as the company grew larger. “I really had to battle with that for a while; what I came to realize was as I was taking on more of the contractual business, the growth elements, what I really love is creativity. If we’re doing business and we’re trying to set up a new opportunity, or a new studio like at the University of Florida, it’s about the creative aspect of making that deal work that really charges me.”

Over time, that passion for creativity only grew. As of lately, Brady finds himself excited about the ‘humanizing’ of design. “So many companies come to us with new technologies; what’s really needed is to humanize that technology. Fuel cells, as an example, electric vehicles, bring new challenges back to the same human being.” Currently in studio, Brady finds himself solving performance, medical, and ergonomic challenges in the realm of Ziivaa, their latest design venture.

“We’re challenged with trying to solve what’s necessary from a humanizing standpoint, with those new products, and that’s what makes it so exciting.”

Carly Ayres is an undergraduate student at the Rhode Island School of Design, student representative to the Industrial Design department, and co-founder of RISD-ID.ORG.

Syndicated from: IDSA

Source

ROBRADY design demonstrates its commitment to sustainable design solutions through CEO Robert Brady’s appointment to the board of Advisors of Stealth Electric 4×4 Vehicles, the company’s Green Business Partnership certification and recent accolades from The Green GOOD DESIGN program and The Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Sarasota, FL, (PRWEB) November 3, 2010 – ROBRADY design, a vanguard of innovative and ecologically responsible design solutions for over two decades, has a portfolio that covers multiple industries and a client base that covers the globe. As the company continues to grow, so does its active and demonstrable commitment to sustainable, green design solutions.

In October, CEO Robert Brady accepted a seat on the board of advisors for Stealth Electric 4×4 Vehicles. Stealth, an Atlanta-based company, produces utility vehicles such as the Commander and the 64-volt Apache which are geared for the outdoor enthusiasts from hunters to golfers. “I’m excited to be part of the Stealth team,” says Brady. “They are constantly pushing the limits and redefining what electric 4×4 vehicles can be.”

On the corporate level, ROBRADY design received certification from the Green Business Partnership (GBP) in July. The GBP was initiated through a grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to Sarasota County and has over 125 local members. Certification from the partnership recognizes those companies, business organizations and local governments that literally make environmental responsibility part of their business.

And ROBRADY’s dedication to sustainable design continues to garner acclaim in the U.S. and abroad. Last month, the studio won both a Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany and a Green GOOD DESIGN™ Award for its work on the innovative db0 electric folding bicycle.

The Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany is particularly distinctive because it is conferred only on products that have already proven their marketplace excellence by having won previous awards. More than just a high honor, the award provides recipients a means for demonstrating long-term success of their designs and brands.

Similarly, the Green GOOD DESIGN™ award, a specialized edition of the GOOD DESIGN™ program, emphasizes the importance of sustainable design and promotes international awareness of those companies doing the best job in sustainable design for the environment.

Unappreciated by the world is the fact that in today’s elusive studio of motorcycle design America is a major player – for some, the major player. Dozens of designers, engineers and craftsmen are creating some of the most exciting and innovative motorcycles the world has ever seen – ever dreamed about. This doesn’t just mean “yet another chopper”. It means names like Confederate, Ecosse, Fischer, Roehr, Vectrix (producing an electric sportbike), and MotoCzysz in addition to, and no less worthy in this context, the establishment Harley-Davidson with Buell, Victory, and even Indian. Award-winning author Alan Cathcart visits twenty-five shops interviews the designers and engineers and rides the motorcycles. Each shop, interviewee and motorcycle has been photographed especially for this book.

Check out the following excerpt from the book featuring the rMoto Electrix Superbike. You can also download a PDF file here. To purchase a copy of American Dream Bikes by Alan Cathcart click here.

The Florida High Tech Corridor is highlighting entrepreneurs in the region that are developing innovative technologies with the potential to revolutionize the industry.  These “Faces of Technology” interviews appear on the Faces of Technology YouTube channel, where viewers can watch these dynamic individuals tell their own stories.  Each of these 16 professionals discusses how they are using technology to facilitate the growth and development of creativity in the region.

“These Faces of Technology profiles showcase the extraordinarily diverse high tech sectors in the region through the eyes of industry experts,” said Randy Berridge, president of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council.  “They stand as testaments to the Corridor’s potential to significantly impact entire industries, if not the world.  We are so proud that they call Florida’s High Tech Corridor home, and we salute their passion and commitment.”

The Florida High Tech Corridor Council (FHTCC) is an economic development initiative of the University of Central Florida (UCF), the University of South Florida (USF) and the University of Florida (UF) whose mission is to grow high tech industry and innovation through research, workforce and marketing partnerships. A partnership involving more than 20 local and regional economic development organizations (EDOs) and 14 community colleges, the Council is co-chaired by the presidents of UCF, USF and UF. The Council includes the presidents of two of the community colleges, the president of Florida Institute of Technology and representatives of high tech industry.

ROBRADY design is a multi-disciplined product design and development studio that offers its multinational client base—including General Electric, Mercedes-Benz, Dell Computers, Parker Hannifin, AT&T, Merial and Volvo Penta—progressive industrial design, mechanical design and engineering, graphics /packaging / GUI / web and eCommerce design, market research, brand and retail development, complete rapid prototyping and production program management. ROBRADY design stresses comprehensive speed-to-market product solutions by collaborating to identify the greatest areas of opportunity and producing innovative designs to deliver profitable product solutions. ROBRADY delivers design, production and capital solutions to their clients in support of their research to reality philosophy.

(I)There’s a lot of CEO’s out there who are listening to this.  A lot of them have zero design experience.  What two to three insights would you share with them about how they can differentiate their product and service with the use of design?

(R)This very rarely comes up in conversation, but I think more and more it will.

(R)They need to be aware of design.  There’s a call that I got from a presentation I did for General Electric and it’s from the honorary chairman of Sony, Norio Olga — hopefully I got the pronunciation correct — but his quote is, at Sony we assume all products of our competitors will have basically the same technology, price, performance and feature.  Design is the only thing that differentiates one product from another in the marketplace.  And here’s the CEO of Sony — I’m going to guess probably not a designer, but a business person — Robert Hays, who’s the professor at Harvard Business School, quoted as saying 15 years ago companies competed on price, today it’s quality and tomorrow’s it’s design.  If you’re not a CEO that’s aware of design, you’re either in a unique universe where it doesn’t matter or you’re going to find out about it in a harsh way because your competitors are going to show up with that fact.  When you think about design, realize that you can’t get a designer, a credible, talented designer involved in your program too early.  If you’re just scratching your head, if you’re whiteboarding different ideas, if you’re thinking about different ways to go attack your competitors or to offer different designed products or services to your client base, get a designed in the room.  It’s not just about the math, it’s not just about honing what you’ve got in production, it’s about creative thinking and I think designers and the way we’re schooled, we think that way all the time.

(I)Right brain, right?  You look at it spatially

(R)Totally right brain.  And I would challenge the designers that are out there listening.  You have to be right for an analyst brain, you’re got to be aware of the other technical aspects as well, but we work with a number of our clients very early on, very confidentially — they’re called design summits and sometimes we host them here where we bring in people that are very close to the subject and people who are just very creative and are away from the subject, have nothing to do with the subject, but are very creative thinkers, and we put them all in a room and we have a different format of how we go about distilling different ideas for that mission.  But I would say a couple things to think about is certainly if you’re a type of business right now that’s dealing with the recession or the thought of a recession or that R word has entered your mind, those clients of ours who are dealing with that issue right now are talking to us about their future.  Where I think it’s easy to bury your head in the sand and say let’s get to a low burn rate, which is probably a smart move, but let’s get to a low burn rate, put our head in the sand and hope for the best and see when things turn up. We have clients who are right in the heat of that because they’re dealing with products that are gas consumables.  For whatever reason, they’re dealing with their session and they’re investing in us right now to look at their product from a product and a service aspect, and we are developing new designs for them.  We’re a known entity, we’re a known cost, all the numbers are talked about up front so they know what they’re getting into; but we’re setting forth in front of them a whole series of solutions that they can then weigh as to which one they think is the most marketable and then they can pull the trigger on the one they think is the best when they’re ready.  So it could be that we need to talk about design, but we’re not ready to act on design; but the last thing you want to do is say let’s just wait to see when things turn up and then invest later on because then it’s too late, you’re trying to scramble to get things, you’re having to throw tons of money at something, to be able to get it out faster then it should be and nothing is worse than racing to embarrass yourself.  Spend the time to get it right.  So the smart CEO’s that we’re dealing with right now are investing in the studio to look for future products for them and if they can afford to move forward with it, they will; if they can’t afford to, they have it all locked up, they know what the next product is, they’re waiting for market conditions to be just right and then they’ll pull the trigger.  They’re in command of their future.  And what we’re trying to communicate to all of our clients is you’re looking for basically three things, which is aesthetics, ergonomics and performance.  And when you talk about aesthetics, it’s really about brand.  What is going to differentiate your product from others and how can you extrapolate that to a series of products.  From an ergonomic standpoint, what are the human factors; how does the human interact with your products, how can you do that better, more compelling.  And here again in all these things, it really goes to not only the product but also the packaging and the whole service aspect.  And the last one is from performance standpoint.  Make sure that your products are performing properly, prototype as often as possible and when you bring designers into the equation, we’re great at prototyping, we’re great at not falling in love with any solution.  We’ll trash it and start all over again.  I do that to my clients — typically what happens is we actually give them a series of solutions and they say, on now we have a problem, we don’t know which one to choose, and so we’ll work through that.  But if they make a comment of I don’t think you’re hit it on any of these, we say great, let’s start all over, let’s focus in on what we’ve learned, let’s hone it, let’s turn this and get it right, but then again maybe you’re not right; we want to go to the voice of the customer, we want to bring your customer in here, have them look at this, let us listen with designer ears at what your customer is saying and we can certainly hone the product from there.  So if you’re a CEO and you’re thinking about developing any type of a product or service and you don’t have a designer somewhere on your staff, you’ve got a gigantic hole, you’ve got a hole in your organizational lineup and I think you’re going to have a greater challenge in being successful.

(I)So what’s the future of design, what can we be looking forward to?

(R)I think future is going to be brighter from the design side.  I think you’re going to see a lot more — my favorite products in the world are digital products.  They’re insanely smart.  Take an iPhone for an example, every time I hook up to my computer, it goes back to Cupertino, California, says, hey, you guys got any new software for me?  And every once in a while they say yeah, as a matter of fact we’ve got a lot of new software for you.  I tell my family how I got a new phone and they were going crazy because I’m always buying different stuff and they say, well, why did you get a new phone this time.  I said I didn’t, I just hooked it up to charge it and now I have GPS on my phone when I didn’t have it before.  Or as you know in June with that particular company there’s going to be a lot of new push technologies that are coming.  So I’ve already bought this phone and it’s getting smarter every day.  I think digital products are going to be a compelling component to anybody’s landscape; no matter what they’re doing, if you can connect it to the web, connect it and that’s also going to allow you to do something that’s very, very clever in product development and that is, you can release your product sooner to the marketplace, you can begin the revenue stream sooner than anyone else because if the product isn’t perfect you make it perfect by software updates.  And when you have a computer you don’t think twice about coming in in the morning and hitting an update or doing a patch or what-have-you.

(R)I think you’re going to see that across the board.  I think cars, the scooters that we’ve designed or the motorcycles that we designed with Vetrix, there is a way for updates to be e-mailed to you; if you need to take that e-mail and put it into your computer and it makes your product smarter.  Now knowing that, what can we do to have a different user interface every time you update your console?  Wouldn’t it be great to have a flatscreen in front of your car so every three or four months you can have a completely different instrumentation setup, all kinds of different things.  And I think that’s where the future of the products are going.  But also when we say the future, I often joke that I don’t know what today’s date is because all the products that we’re working on are basically 2010, 2011, 2012; so when you ask me what today is, I’ve got to think back for a moment.  We’re not doing anything in 2008.  We’re so far into the future that it’s a blast, but when I see the possibilities with digital tools, we’re taking any and every product we can and figuring out how to give a digital component to it.

(I)So what advice would you give to our listeners who are pursuing their goals?  Words of wisdom.

(R)Well, I don’t know.  I’m living it today, so I feel unbelievable fortunate.  My wife is a fabulous designer and she and I had this discussion not too long ago and it was about design and we feel that everything we do design is pervasive in everything that we think about and everything that we touch and organize.  We have the saying the design chooses you.  You don’t choose design.  But I think what it comes down to at the core is one’s passion.  I’m really passionate about design.  And fortunate to be passionate about design; so when I work 50, 60, 70, 80 hours a week, it’s not really work.  As I’ve said in the past, I’m not doing somebody else’s taxes here, I’m designing jet boats, motorcycles, watercraft, consumer electronic products, new industrial products, taking technologies and trying to mobilize them into consumer products.  So for me, I’m still passionate about it.  It’s really not work.  I couldn’t tell you what my hobby is because this is all I every want to be doing; if I’m not at home with my family, I want to be developing new products.  So I think it’s a pretty big bold question you asked and I think it’s related to passion.  I think if you can find what you’re passionate about then all the self-sacrifices and all your focus and energy, it all makes sense, it’s all very logical.  But if I wasn’t passionate about this, there’s no way, there’s no way I would invest this personal level of attention on it.

(I)Good.  Well, thank you so much for your time.  I do appreciate it and I’m sure all of our listeners will get a lot from your unique focus and what you do.  So best wishes.

(R)I’ve enjoyed it, and thank you very much.

(I)Thank you for listening to this episode of CEO Insights.  For more CEO interviews, for insights into business best practices and for our business blog, visit us at www.ceowise.com.  Leave us a comment.  We’d love to hear from you.  Until next time, so long.

Welcome to this edition of CEO Insights brought to you today by Six Disciplines, Tampa.  Six Disciplines helps companies validate their strategy, create balanced plans and execute more consistently.  The end result is increased organizational performance.  Enjoy the podcast.

Sean Burke (I)
Today we’re with Rob Brady from ROBRADY design.  He is the president and design director.  Thank you for being with us today, Rob.

Rob Brady (R)
Thank you very much for the invitation.

(I) So you’re in the eye candy business.  Tell me about that.

(R) Well, I think that was a phrase that was coined quite some time ago.  I’m not sure who owns that one, but we’ll certainly take it.  The eye candy business, what that is: that’s a way of producing typically two dimensional artwork that shows the end game.  If you’re talking about a boat or a motor cycle or a new consumer product, if you can truly visualize what looks to be a photo-realistic image on a piece or paper quickly and then have multiple versions of that, it’s a pretty powerful and compelling argument whether you’re trying to raise funds, get people aware of your product or just basically flush out some ideas.  We use this with a lot of our clients that will come to us and say, say an instrument manufacturer, we want to sell an instrument to the such-and-such road company instead of just selling them an instrument, we’ll actually design an entire cab interior from an illustration standpoint and then when they walk in the door to sell instruments, they’re not showing instruments, they’re showing the future of that particular company’s interior.  Basically their cockpit.  They grab the attention right away.  They look at a solution like that and it’s a very compelling reason to meet and talk with that individual and, oh, by the way, these are our instruments and this is how we can more easily slide into a conversation about that particular product.  Its like the difference between selling the steak and selling the sizzle. You’re not selling the steak, you’re selling the sizzle and the sizzle sells.

(I) So how is design playing an increasingly important role in business today?

(R) Well, perhaps I’m biased because I don’t have the vision of the last 50 years with this, but it seems to be that everybody is talking about design.  And I think Apple is certainly on the forefront with making that a compelling argument.  Design sells.  Why does it sell?  Well, I think the technology, the way it is today, I think most people have products that are very similar quality and performance levels so what’s going to separate your product from another one?  In many cases, it’s the design.  And so we see design as a differentiator in the market and it’s a powerful component that can help the public choose your product over somebody else’s.

(I) How should design be used as a competitive advantage?  And can you give me some specific product examples.

(R) Yes.  We often say the design center companies out-imagine their competition.  We do things like going beyond what’s called the knowledge economy to the creative economy, creating not just consumer experiences but actually the product at large; and so when we’re working with our various clients, we’re looking to not just sell them a product but, rather, a product experience and some of the cases could be Parker Hannifin as an example.  Now for those of you who know Parker Hannifin, it’s a 10, $11B industrial motion control type company.  What do they have to do with design.  Well, they have envisioned that design is a compelling part of the decision making process and they wanted to not only design their products so that they have a cohesive flavor but also because they could to establish brand recognition.  And with brand recognition you get the synergy of the entire corporation working for you every time you’re going to promote a product and certainly going into new markets, I think Dewalt is a great example where you — once you buy a couple Dewalts you’re really compelled to — you’re locked in.  You’re compelled to buy the rest of the series.  I buy them obviously because I think their ergonomics are great, they work fine and the esthetic is not only pleasing but it’s cohesive with all my tools.  So it works really well.  We’ve done the same thing with Segway.  When we’re developing new products for them, they’re looking for return on investment and so we’re developing solutions for them that make sense from a monetary standpoint but at the same time having aesthetic quality that makes the public think twice and really look hard at your product.

(I) So you shared with me a term that you use called total brand synergy.  What is that?

(R) It’s an element of design that I’ve gotten in over the last year or two, heavily.  I think — I didn’t realize I was into it before, but total brand synergy is taking product design and bringing with it a service design.  Now as a product designer I’ve been developing products for many, many years.  I get the product side.  And for many of those years I don’t know that I put my finger on as to why certain products work so well and others didn’t.  And I think part of it now has come down to the idea of called service design and I think it’s important to realize that service design is just as important as is product design and I think that with all the products that we’re doing today, when we look at product design we not only look at the design of the product but also the brand message, how is this going to carry across other products, but with the brand umbrella, it’s not only the product itself but the service.  Here again, I know I’ll be pointing to Apple a couple times.  I think they do an off-the-charts execution on total brand synergy where it’s not only buying the product that’s a great experience but if you’ve ever opened up an Apple product, the way it’s presented and the way you go through and it communicates, they’ve really spent a tremendous amount of time on the user interface and it shows.

(I) Even from the packaging to the product.

(R) That’s right.  And it makes people want to come back to that company.  And any company can do the synergy design.  We’ve done some pieces for General Electric where they’re selling security systems where our demo kits have the same graphic flare and communication style as does their flash site.  So a customer can be looking at the flash site to get initial information and then when the salesman shows up with our sales kit, they can see the synergy between the two pieces, they can understand the system a lot faster, they get it, and then also of benefit to General Electric in this sense is the person that you’ve sold to is also one of the best champions you could have or your product.  He can take the website and send it off to somebody else and have them begin to do a tour and quickly become familiar with the product at their own leisure and then call back to General Electric when they think they’ve got the right time to buy.

(I) So what companies are balancing both the product design phase that you just spoke about and the service design phase effectively?  I know you mentioned Apple, but are there other ones that you think are doing a really good job in balancing those two areas to reach that synergy?

(R) Well, I wish I could point to more.  I used those two because I think they’re the best two and they’re certainly the ones that people will recognize.  I don’t think it’s out of the realm of anybody developing products.  I think people are trying to do that now and what we’re doing with a lot of our clients and some of them are Fortune 700, certainly Fortune 500’s, as well as start-ups, is to realize that there is a connection between the service and the product side and the service side, a lot of it has to do with how you reach the customer, which can be website, voice, phone, any brochures, any medium that you do there, but also packaging is a huge and compelling component of that.  When someone calls your company either for service or for inquiries, how do you script that, how does all that work?  And you work that all underneath the brand umbrella.  And so some of the programs that we’re working on right now I don’t know — from a confidentiality standpoint, let me be a little bit more general about this.  But we’re looking to do a particular product that we’ve done in the past many times.  And I’m not interested in doing any more.  But we’re taking this product and service component together and so we’re saying well, with this particular product — it’s a powersport product — what if we married it with an entire event, so we’re not only doing a product but the product combines in multiple combinations to be an event and the event is a whole new way to market the product and have people aware of the company, you become — well, for me it’s a much more interesting and compelling opportunity.  So I’m up for it now.  Now I want to do it.  So if you’re out there and you’ve got a particular product you want to bring more energy to it, think about the service side because inherently the service side will influence the product side and then when it’s doing that, it will also influence what we call the brand and then it builds up to the total product synergy.

(I) Yeah.  I know I see — that’s interesting that you bring that point up.  I see a lot of technology companies and health-related companies now have these traveling toolboxes, where they actually go to smaller markets and share their products and services directly with people and it just seems they make that circular route where they’re north in the summer and they come down in the south.  And they’re linking those together as an event.

(R) What incredibly valuable from a consumer side, they get to experience the product one-on-one, so you get to touch people and let them experience your product and its features, benefits and attributes but also from the company side, you’re getting voice of customer feedback on an ongoing basis, and I would not be surprised that as that vehicle travels around displaying their product, those products are switching and they’re changing out, and it’s an incredibly powerful piece of any product development process to have good quality customer feedback.  Because at the end of the day the customer will tell you if you’ve done it at the right price point, if it worked right way, if I’m every going to buy this thing again, if I’m going to buy it the first time.  That is by what you will be graded.  If you can answer those questions at the beginning of the project before you’ve sunk a tremendous amount of capital it, it will either tell you don’t waste your time sinking capital into this market or it will say if you do that, do it this way and do it at this price point.  It’s something that we seek out and we’re trying to do it in many different ways to get that feedback.

(I) How do you determine if there’s a market for your innovations?

(R) That’s a great question.  It’s a great, great question.  We have a lot of history in doing that and we’re still learning.  We learn from our mistakes, we learn from our successes; and fortunately, we’ve had a lot of opportunities to learn from various other clients who have done that, been that and we’ve been a part of that and had front row seat.  So what I look to do is I look to humanize, visualize and commercialize.  Those are the three major steps that I look to do.  And when it comes to judging a new innovation — and we do that quite a lot; we’re at the point now where I would say at least a couple times a week we’re being approached with new projects or even new technologies in one form or another.  So how do we measure it quickly.  First of all, raw technology is not something that a consumer can embrace.  And if you can’t embrace it, they can’t embrace money from the wallet for such an idea.  So you really want to take the technology and humanize it and then with the humanization of that, you basically then move on to visualizing the technology.  What does it actually look like in the consumer’s hand.  And then from there what we like to do before you go on to commercialization, which is really the art of developing the product for market, we like to right after visualization, go into prototyping.  And prototyping at this point is really probably more logical to call it a mock-up because we’re trying to build something very quickly, we don’t really care about the aesthetics so much at that point, we know we can make it look good; that much is a given.  But can it perform right and does it meet the need that is intended.  So prototyping is a huge, huge part and we’ll prototype enough, go back and forth with our focus groups or user groups to get to the point where they have communicated to us that boy, this is really it, this is a nice product and the whole time we’re also looking at price point, what’s the MRSP on a product like this and then what’s the value chain, what’s the bill of material, if that can all make sense.  I refer to it as humanize, visualize and prototype, but — in this particular sequence, but it’s also do the math, because fabulous ideas that cost too much are no longer fabulous ideas.  And everybody who walks in the door with an idea assumes that it’s fabulous and that people will pay whatever; and ten times our of ten they won’t pay whatever.  They’re going to pay a certain price.  There’s a certain value.  If I show you a new design for a laptop, well that makes sense at one price but at a price ten times that, it doesn’t make sense any more.  So do the math is a huge part.  Once you have that where you can see the eye candy and you can see a prototype you can put your hands on and you also have the numbers next to it that say we believe we can hit this price point at such and such a cost; and if that all makes sense, by all means drive it forward; if it doesn’t make sense, keep working at that level until it does, don’t put any more capital into a program, stay small, stay focused.  At the end of the day if you can’t get it to work at that level, there’s no sense in going forward.

(I) Do you start with an MSRP, do you ask your client to say, look, what do you expect this thing to price out at before you even get into the design work?  Or where does that happen?

(R) It happens right at the beginning.  And you’re absolutely right.  That’s not the only core question.  It’s called a product requirements document that we create and it’s at the beginning of any project that we design and the product requirements document identifies all the parameters by which we’re going to be measured and if it’s going to be tested and what product variance might be coming off of this product.  And at the end of the day there’s also the value chain.  What is the bill of materials, what is the cost of goods, what type of tariffs, what type of shipping, what type of cost structure or sales structure are you going direct, one step, two step, is there some kind of bizarre marketing scheme that you’re working on.  And at the end of the day, what’s the MSRP.  If you’re got all those numbers in front of you, first of all does it make sense.  The thing is if you can give me your MSRP, I can work backwards to the bill of materials.  I you give me the bill of materials, I’ll work up to the MSRP and if you don’t know either one, we will make assumptions and we’ll put those numbers and we work it back and forth.  Like a two-way equation; bill of material has to be right and the MSRP has to be right.  And everybody has to get their cut that’s in the chain or else they’re not interested in moving it.  We work all that in the front.  And the nice thing about doing the comprehensive product requirements document is it’s one thing to know those numbers but it’s another thing to know those numbers based against what you’re going to be measured.  So if this is a highly tuned product that has incredible levels of quality control issues, you’re got the FDA, FFA, who knows that type of government agencies might be involved, and at the end of the day you want to, you need to sell this thing at the consumer level for 29 cents and you’re only going to be building 100 a year, those are radical numbers but you get the point.

(I) Right.

(R) There’s no reason to go forward.

(I) Why are we doing this.

(R) That’s right.

(I) So what’s the most exciting project you’ve ever done and worked on?

(R) Tough question.  I would have to say that the most exciting — you’d have to define that.  Perhaps some day I’ll figure it out.  But we’ve done so many products here on so many levels, and I refer to it as a journey because every time we do one, we get smarter.  I think one of the toughest ones we ever did — as a matter of fact, when I went to school at the Art Center in Los Angeles, to date for many years afterwards, that had been the toughest thing I had ever done.  It was the type of school that was very demanding and on top of that, it would take whatever demands you put upon yourself and the hold you to it.  So it was an extremely –

(I) You weren’t going anywhere.

(R) Yeah.  It was an extremely difficult curriculum and I was very proud to get through that.  For the longest time whenever I was thrown an assignment, it’s cigarette racing, you know, we’re finishing a 42-foot offshore performance boat and it’s 4:00 in the morning and we’ve got to finish it for a photo shoot that’s at 6:00am and lightening all around and there’s all this crazy stuff and I just think about some of the stuff I did at Art Center and go well, at least it’s not that bad.

(I) Right.

(R) The  toughest one is when we developed and produced with our partner, with our client Vetrix, we produced three electric scooter for a field sell show in Miami.  I think we worked on it for five months.  The last month everybody in the studio was working only that project, including yours truly, and we were working from 8:00am until midnight for the last month; and then the last week we were working around the clock, where the door wasn’t even locked.  And then in the last 48 hours were straight through.  And it killed me.  It put Art Center in the rearview mirror and it was the toughest thing we had ever done on so many levels.  There’s a tremendous amount of pressure because the investor community was adamant that we had to be there, there were still some question on were they going to be able to raise enough funds for us to finish the product; but, again, we couldn’t stop.  So we had to keep going whether the funds were going to be there or not, and we just knew we had a great partner and they would deliver for us if we delivered for them.  And so absolutely everybody was working on this project. I remember when we finally, at 10:00 on a Monday morning I think Monday or Sunday morning we were rolling these scooters into the truck to be taken down to Miami and I laid down on the cement out in my parking lot, and it felt so good to lay down.  So that was probably the toughest on multiple levels.  But this past year I think one of the most spectacular pieces that we did was for a show in Milan and it’s called EICMA, which is the motorcycle show, and for that show we produced our electric super bike.  We had lobbied to build this thing with our clients and our client and they finally agreed that, yeah, we need to have this product.  They weren’t exactly sure why, but we had sold them on the idea and it made such an incredible launch in Milan where the entire booth was crowded.  There was press going everywhere, the bulbs were going off; you’d think it was some kind of a paparazzi event, it was some kind of superstar.  And at that show the gentleman who was in charge of Ducati Motorcycles, Pierre Treblanche, was the type of guy that I would have had to try to seek out, say let me just talk to you about this item, can we ask you a few questions about wave design.  It was a reversal.  It was so popular and it was so big at the show that he came to the booth.  I wasn’t even at the booth at the time when he was there, but he said I’ve got to talk to the group that was involved in the design of this product.  And I had brought five of my guys with me, which to me was a personal triumph to bring those guys with me.  You know, success by yourself is just about meaningless.  But to have these other guys who had worked so very hard on the project – actually the whole studio did — these are the five guy I had to have at the show to do it, and here’s Pierre Treblanche coming to us.  What were you guys thinking when you did this, what did you think about that.  And he was telling people this is the hottest super bike at the show and it comes from a scooter company called Vectrix.

(I) How about that.

Part two of this interview will be posted, along with the audio podcast, next week.

As the ROBRADY Powersports video came to an end and the music slowly faded to silence, the full-stage projection screen went up high enough for me to come onto stage while riding a Vectrix electric maxi-scooter. What was not completely apparent at the time was that the stage was a bit slicker than I remembered from rehearsal and the adrenalin was probably racing a bit more than anticipated. So, as I gunned it back stage and the rear end of the scooter proceeded to brake loose and began to swing out from underneath me, I adjusted the steering, flew into the focused spotlights, and let off the throttle as I jammed on the rear brake– leaving a generous amount of tread across the remainder of the stage. Bottom line- it must have looked good from the audience! What else matters?

Wow! It’s great to be in Chicago! Riding this bike never gets dull. Riding this bike on stage definitely never gets dull…

For those that may not know, this is a 100% electric scooter. It has a top speed of 62MPH, a range of 40-50 miles (depending on terrain and the need for speed) and, it is one very quick ride. Seriously, the electric motor is attached directly to the rear wheel and once you move the throttle, there is no delay- you’re off to the races. It’s also important to note that this is the first, commercially available, scooter of its kind. It is legal to ride on any road in the world- this is serious electric, zero emission transportation. And, this is available today!

To be perfectly honest, whenever I’m speaking to a group, I’m always selling- ALWAYS. My studios, our creative capabilities, you know- sell, sell, sell… “Got to respect the payroll”… However, for now, that’s truly the furthest thing from my mind.   For that, I want to thank Dave Mason, Greg Samata and Kevin Krueger for the invitation to speak here today and everyone at CUSP for the tremendous hospitality- Thank you.

Today, I’d like to talk about this maxi-scooter and the story behind it … A very personal story

As you saw from my video, I’ve designed a number of products. But this one is special- very special. The story of this scooter and the program that launched it is a story about the love for design– a story about passion for beautiful forms. And, what story wouldn’t be complete without tragedy and heartache? … but more on that later.

This particular story starts in Pasadena California – at the Art Center College of Design, where I graduated many life times ago. I survived the grueling all nighters that were an all too regular event, and through it all I gained a world-class education that was the springboard for what was to become my first company, ROBRADY design.

After I graduated, I landed what one might consider as every young man’s dream job— designing boats for Cigarette Racing in Miami Florida. Yes, there actually is a “Cigarette Racing Team”. Remember “Miami Vice” and all the cool go-fast boats? Well, that was my mission out of Art Center and project number one was this little guy— 42’ long, 8’ wide, five seats, and twin 1000+HP engines arranged in staggered formation. This is a rush like none other.  I’ve had fighter pilots ask for rides— really. And as for green… well, not so much. But I was young. I thought I was on top of the world… and then– the recession of 1990 hit. Anyone remember that one? It might pale in comparison to our current situation, but it knocked me out and I thought I was down for the count. It was a very low time for me personally. Things went dark… very dark…

As fate would have it, I moved to Sarasota, Florida- why? I literally have no idea why – it just seemed like a nice place to land at the time (and it truly was). With no clients – no projects – I did what every young, unemployed designer does.  And “no”, I didn’t start working at ‘Starbucks’.

What I did do was to hire myself– and thus ROBRADY design truly began. With my energetic passion for design and in an effort to legitimize my world, I assigned myself projects with radical deadlines— mind you fictitious deadlines with fictitious clients, which would require me to pull all nighters (really) so that I would feel engaged. “Alive” as a designer… Fortunately, this actually paid off and I began to build my design business – one client at a time.

As I started getting real clients, I landed a great one— Yamaha! I ended up designing their first jet boats and a number of WaveRunners. It was a very exciting time with a lot of great people and a whole lot of fun!

Then, one day, about one life-time ago, as luck would have it, I received a group of visitors to my rather new studio. You see, a group had come down from Rhode Island to look at some very special Electric Vehicle technology that belonged to the company in the building next to mine. Those friends of mine (“EV Rider”) told the Rhode Island company (at the time called “Breeze Acquisitions”) about their neighbor who was doing fantastic work for the mighty Yamaha .

Well, if I was doing Yamaha work, I must be good— perhaps I could design their new electric scooter?   This is where the young entrepreneur / designer enters and says—“ABSOLUTELY… Not a problem… love to do it… Got lots of ideas on the subject!”

Now, I should confess that I’d never been on, let alone designed, a scooter before. But who was I to say anything to the contrary… “Have sketch pad, will travel…”  And thus this adventure began.

After several years of working closely with what was to become the “Vectrix Corporation” we were ready to take on the world and develop our first vehicle.  But where did it start?  …. Well, with this little sketch— … this little sketch launched me on an adventure I wouldn’t trade for the world.

Our design program started with a lot more sketches, a few tons of clay, and about a billion hours of love, sweat and tears. Well, no tears, but it was a lot of sweat! We worked on top of an actual frame to make sure we were clearing all the “hard points”. We sat on it in every possible way and were constantly honing the ergonomics, the mechanical clearances, and the lines, the lines, the lines! The lines and forms had to be perfect! The challenge was to create beautiful forms without crashing into all those batteries we were trying to conceal. We tried to imagine how it would work. And for that matter— would it work?

As the clay model was completed, we first digitized then rebuilt the design in the computer. I now had a mechanical engineering department that was on the task. It was a great time at the studio— well, let’s say it was an interesting time at the studio.

Everybody pitched in and helped with anything that needed to be done. We all joined the Rapid Prototyping department and became builders, sanders, painters, and welders. This was a project that brought wives and friends in at night to help out—sanding, prepping, whatever, to meet the insane deadlines. My wife (who is a fantastic graphic designer, an awesome chef, and in the audience today) brought in meals: crock pots of chili, spaghetti, soup, sandwiches, muffins in the morning, anything to keep the team focused­ and alive!   Focus, focus, focus!

Well, up to this point in my career, I could always point to an event or two at Art Center that defined pain as I new it. My Art Center experience defined what it was to deliver on impossible deadlines. That was-before this. This program did it for me, nothing before and (thank god) nothing since has ever been so difficult – or, put me under so much pressure! … We were now working around the clock to hit our deadline!

You see, for me, I was constantly getting calls from the Officers at both Vectrix and Parker Hannifin— our 12 Billion dollar development partner. All very, very concerned that I wasn’t going to be done for the Miami Fuel Cell Symposium deadline (November 3^rd, Monday, 2003…  5pm… sharp)! I remember thinking back to the days when I first took on the job of designing scooters– what would the entrepreneurial / designer say? I told them all, “it takes time to get it right and we were right on schedule. Get out your best suits for Miami and be ready to take center stage with the talk of the show- no doubt about it!” Then, I would proceed to throw up.

Well, not really– but I can say I felt like I’d been run over more than once. I honestly wasn’t sure what I’d do if I missed hitting this deadline! One could leave the country— but Parker is a global Fortune 500, where do you hide from that?  More to the point, what was I to say to (literally) all my other clients who had been graciously put on hold for a month or two? (While the entire studio focused solely on Vectrix- talk about “all in and let it ride”!). What was I to say to all the people in the studio who were working day and night to make this radical deadline? Talk about pressure! Time to take my own medicine… Focus, focus, focus. Yea, I’m not sure that was working anymore, but the only feeling worse than all the mounting pressure was the “concept” that I might miss a major deadline. Now, that was daunting!

Well, nothing like basic fear, sleep deprivation, a ton of talent (not me mind you, my team!), and the fear of having to avoid the reach of Parker by relocating to a small island in Antarctica to keep one focused on hitting deadline.

We pushed the scooters into a waiting van at 10 AM on the morning following the last all-nighter– on the day of the show. I remember passing out on the cement of my parking lot and how great it felt– like a bed of feathers. I could have fallen asleep right then as if I was in the Palace of Versailles.

But –  it just wasn’t in the cards for me. Oh, no, no, no– somebody had to get to Miami for the Premier!

My wife drove me and the projects’ lead prototyper, Radar (yes, when you’re a celebrity builder, one name will do), four hours to the show. Nearing arrival in Miami I said that I just wanted to go to the hotel and crash out— for about a month. Well, right then, Peter Hughes, Chief Technical Officer and VP of Engineering for Vectrix phoned me in the car. “You must come to the show!” My heart sank— I didn’t have an ounce left to give. I would have been rejected at any blood clinic for being on empty. What more could he possibly want now?  Well, Peter caught his breath and went on to say that I “had” to come to the show to experience the rave reviews the bikes were getting and I’d regret it forever if I missed out. Everyone loves it! Get over here!

Well, this is where the (very tired) entrepreneurial / designer wakes up (just) long enough to say— “ABSOLUTELY… Not a problem… love to do it… Got lots of ideas on the subject!!!” Zzzzzzzzzzz……

Yea, it was a great opening…. Peter’s comments were right on target– we were the hit of the show. And, Yes, we had met the deadline.

Now lets fast-forward a bit. Based on the prototypes we had built for Miami, we went on to the production level design work. We refined the design, sharpened the forms, honed the ergonomics, engineered every single body panel to the “nth” degree. We developed the industrial and mechanical design for the lighting systems, and worked very closely with the truly incredible team at Vectrix to test, coordinate, homologate, and prepare the billion or so details for the bike to enter production… and so it did.

As a side note, during this period of time, I became a father. I’m not going to say that this was quite like that, but I will say it’s an incredible feeling to finally see every ounce of my love for design and my passion for beautiful forms roll down the assembly line with so many people, working so very hard, to make each and every one just right. It’s just incredible.

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned, a story like this has many chapters. I just wasn’t expecting the next chapter to be Chapter 11— thus the tragedy. Although Vectrix filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month, the bright side is that there are several groups vying to capture this product and re-launch the company. That is the true power of this design, this product– this fantastic vehicle.

In closing, I love this scooter (I said it was personal), because my team helped bring it to life. We drew it, we sculpted it, and more importantly, I believe ROBRADY design became what it is today because of this ride. There have been many designs that I’ve created, but there has been no other project that fueled me to grow, to develop as a designer, or pushed me so far beyond my wildest imagination. I owe a lot to this little electric scooter…