Design (pool) is the name of our network. Product design, innovation & follow up.  What’s follow up? A global “consultancy”, meaning being able to answer all questions linked to the project and regarding the brand or company strategy. Designing a product or a range… and the communication? And the pack? And the display? And the graphic representation? And the wording? And the booth? And…? Creativity is our main contribution, applied at the needed level during a program. More than ever, design is first inline. In the context of increasingly complex markets, it is our (your) strength.

What is design for? For entrepreneurs in every field, design imagines solutions, solves problems and answers questions. Design proposes, the entrepreneur chooses, comments, applies, always taking the final decision. Together, we have to find the right balance between the will to innovate and the capacity of a company to assume it. To innovate requires a special effort. We have to explain, demonstrate, promote. We have to believe strongly in what we do. Innovation must be part of a medium term strategy to be really efficient.

It is our choice and will to be small... for more efficiency.  When asked a question we need to answer quickly and to follow up all the development directly. We need a short circuit: “being creative is specific, communication is important, having the means is open to everybody”. To concretise ideas there are now so many possibilities in terms of development: numerical, 3D, rapid prototyping.
The key to efficiency is flexibility and direct and continuous communication.

Often people complain that we have no experience in their specific field. For designing a coffee machine you need to have designed some before… They forget that Design is a specialisation. It consists to be creative, opening new visions and opportunities, whatever the universe. To be specialised is very often a brake for the creativity. Not being a specialist does not prevent taking into account technical and marketing problems of any kind. Two things. We work drawing on the expertise and experience of the integrated teams within a company. Our goal is to materialise, making evolve a product, bringing more image and use value, and when it is possible breaking the current rules.

Everybody has a method. We don’t name it method but attitude, a way to proceed.  We propose a logical development, work done step by step. Because all the companies are different in terms of organisation and personality, their needs are also different. Each context is specific. Following the organisation, the objectives, the means and the decision makers, our engagement is personalised. The success of a project lies with both parties. Design is like an open discussion between people in a company and us. We have to exchange and to share freely information and ideas necessary for the project to progress. The end result will be the “conclusion”, and the “conclusion” is always a positive result.

Funny question. People are discovering that there is an end user buying and using their products. A lot of methods are emerging to analyse their needs, trying to discover the key for the next successful products.

In our opinion the market is totally fuzzy. There are some strong trends in some sectors especially the consumer electronic field at large… it is really due because the appropriation of supply by consumers but also, primarily, to the strength and dynamism of the companies of this sector. The trend built itself from the results. For the rest there are so many parameters: the professional buyers acting as filters, the role of distributors in general, the way to buy in shops or by internet, the creation of brands or not, leading brands acting as references, globalisation of products and beyond the different cultures, the generalization of tastes.

In this jungle, the best way is to be yourself. Being able to build your own strategy, with creativity, optimising its own potential. There is always a risk but there is always a chance to succeed. To be secure, there are many ways to manage and to control the pertinence of a project. Just launch it. Do not forget that a strategy is built and established for the long term. The design is not played as a joker.

Working with challengers is exciting, challenging the market leaders. Being in relation with the decision maker is the best way. Things are more open. There are more opportunities to innovate, to experiment.

For a challenger, design is a strong marketing tool, in all senses of the word. Everybody is concerned by the whole development. And a positive point is also to be able to follow the product life after the launching period. It is necessary to understand how it works to position and orient the future continuously.

The best results are obtained when the teams are involved in the whole process, from the beginning to the product launch. It is important that our action is a learning process. The company has to create an internal dynamism. We have to support it, listening and sharing our experience.

We consider “the creativity” as a strong means for opening new directions whatever the activity. Without creativity, nothing moves. Our main job is to be creative. When a company, in terms of products, doesn’t know where or how to go, we can open ways.

Design deployment consists of proposing a wide range of hypotheses, regarding objectives and beforehand of a specific briefing. The only constraint is to be creative while keeping in mind the company's profile and environment. The creative step is subjected to a reaction test by a user group. This allows us to understand what the real opportunities are, to measure the interest or not of a project and above all to assess the adequacy of the projects with their perception of the company.

Design deployment is strategic, opening new ways.

By experience, we can separate the products in two categories. There are mainstream products, required commercially. Their role is limited to its commercial aspect. And there are products that advance the company or brand.  Their originality, character based company's reputation. They open up opportunities for a large part of future developments. The products make you evolve.