An interview with NewDealDesign founder Gadi Amit
Located in the San Francisco Bay area, NewDealDesign provides what they describe as strategic industrial and physical interaction design services for clients that range from start-ups to the Fortune 500. About 70 percent of the company"s customers come from the consumer electronics realm, including Dell, Verizon, Palm and Nokia. The company cites its proven ability to connect humanity with technology as a primary reason for its success.
Gadi Amit, the principal designer and founder of NewDealDesign, recently took a few minutes to talk about what his company has been doing and how recent consumer and economic trends have impacted NewDeal"s projects.
Q: What elements of product design does NewDeal focus on?
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A: We look to optimize designs culturally and physically. We examine product aesthetics, taking into account the personal preferences of an audience, their physical culture and perceptions of quality. We strive to help companies obtain a look that most appropriately combines value and reliability. The customer should see themselves and their values in the product. The challenge is communicating these intangible qualities through a tangible product and simultaneously controlling costs.
Our work entails making things more attractive, more exciting, smaller and less expensive for both the consumer and manufacturer. It"s a unique mix of look, feel and the technology driving the user experience.
Q: What are some examples of recent projects?
A: We"ve been working on hood-mounted displays, or glasses that can be used to project movies and other similar media types. It"s been a fun project that brings together a number of aesthetic and technological elements like electro-optics and complex ergonomics. The key is to provide cutting edge performance while ensuring an individual can look good using the product.
As an example of what we do, you can take a look at the Netgear router. We took a technology piece and made it more aesthetically appealing to general consumers. The issue was that old models catered more to IT professionals, but Netgear wanted a softer, less rugged looking unit. The end product resembles something an interior designer would be proud of. I think it"s a great example of our concentration on simplicity, clarity and style.
Unfortunately these are the kinds of factors not always given enough attention in first generation offerings. For example, take a look at Amazon"s Kindle. In my opinion the first version tried too hard and lost its sense of harmony for the user. All things considered I think it was successful, but not because of how it looked. The second generation got it right, and should appeal to a wider audience as a result.
Q: How have recent economic conditions impacted your business?
A: We"re fortunate in that things haven"t slowed down for us yet, but we are seeing greater attention being paid to costs. This can be a positive for smaller companies because slower economic times have brought down the costs associated with physically producing or manufacturing something. This allows them to compete on more levels with the big boys without sacrificing their profitability in bringing new ideas to market.
We"ve also noticed that the decision-making process has gotten more complicated for a lot of larger companies. It takes them longer and executives are clearly more stressed, more calculated and more emotional during the process.
I feel for them, but the piece of advice that I'd offer is to resist the temptation to simply say go or no-go on a project. Sometimes the better option is simply re-defining it and finding an easier or better way to develop the product in order to obtain the desired results.
For more information visit www.newdealdesign.com