Whipsaw Lends Its Award-winning Prowess to the Wellness Space
Dan Harden, CEO, founder and principal designer at the product design company, chats about his firm's design philosophy, the exponential growth of the wellness space, sustainability and more.
What do Uber, Tonal, Google, Dell and Nike all have in common? They all worked with one of the leaders in the product design space: industrial design and mechanical engineering consulting firm, Whipsaw, to create innovative products.
Dan Harden is the chief executive officer, founder and principal designer of Whipsaw, which he created in 1999. Previously, as the president of Frogdesign, Harden worked alongside industry heavyweights including Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison and Rupert Murdoch to create notable products.
Over 20 years, Harden has brought more than 1,000 products to market, received more than 500 patents and his notable contributions to design and innovation can be seen in the more than 300 design awards he's won, including 41 IDEA Awards. His work has been featured in the Copper Hewitt Museum, Henry
Ford Museum, Chicago Athenaeum and Pasadena Museum of California Art.
Harden has been at the forefront of innovation in product design for more than two decades, combining his passion and experiences, while leading his practice with his philosophies on art, culture, psychology and technology. His company has brought to market countless products within the luxury wellness space, including Ancient Ritual's Arc Experiential Sauna,
Aescape's Fully Automated Massage Experience and 10Beauty's Robotic Manicure Machine.
“Design aims to deliver satisfaction and goodness on some level,” Harden told WWD. “Sometimes, it is a clever little innovation that eases your particular difficulty, sometimes it's a grand new way to solve a systemic problem. Or sometimes, it's a poetic object or interface that makes you smile. With all the stuff out there, you begin questioning what satisfaction and goodness even means to people. The thoughtfulness, compassion and empathy that designers instinctively feel and create as ‘artists and craftspeople' is precisely what the world needs more of right now.”
Here, Harden talks to WWD about his approach to designing new products, the company's commitment to sustainability, incorporating cutting-edge technology, his thoughts on artificial intelligence taking over, the growth of the wellness market and more.
WWD: With an impressive portfolio of innovative products at Whipsaw, what is your process of identifying new potential design products? Dan Harden:
We mostly look for meaning. Is there a potential to help people with this product, or help the planet? Is there a cultural benefit? Considering how much stuff is out there already, is the envisioned product worthy of even existing? We also look for exciting opportunities for us to stretch our minds and do new kinds of design in diverse industries. Finally, we try to determine if the client is passionate about their cause and if they are truly open to deep innovation because it takes guts to do good design and commitment to develop it.
WWD: With a commitment to sustainability in design, how does this shape your company’s approach to new projects? D.H.:
In a perfect world, every project would have an opportunity to solve a sustainability problem. However, there is a wide spectrum of design-for-sustainability projects. Sometimes you have little room to promote sustainability — like on a disposable medical device — and sometimes you have a chance to solve a variety of sustainability concerns. When we get those, we lean in. Sustainability is more than designing for conservation, recycling and minimal energy consumption. To make a difference, you must go deeper.
Sustainability is a mindset that we need to get consumers and corporations to understand better if we expect them to embrace it and take part in it. Design can play a part in this because at its core design is a communication tool. Products can include direct and subliminal messaging about their eco features and why they're important. You also need to imbue your design with timeless qualities, even emotional connection, so it encourages lifetime use. Your favorite things, whether a watch, bag or favorite pair of jeans have that good sustainability trait. Tech is harder because it obsoletes so fast.
Designers need to pressure technologists and engineers to continue the conservation-minded reductionist trend. We do this by making sure that “less being more” is a desirable trait to consumers. We make sure that sleek slim minimal tech remains cool. Then, make it easy to take apart to repurpose or recycle. It's many small things like this that design can do to collectively make a difference.
WWD: How do you see the future of product design evolving over the next five to 10 years and how is Whipsaw preparing for these changes? D.H.:
It's a good time to be a designer now and in the foreseeable future. In the last decade, design as a practice and as a way of thinking has undergone a renaissance. It now includes practically everything — the design of the product, the experience, the service, the business and even designing your life. As a result, more women and people of color have entered the field.
Designers have finally earned a seat at the big table, just in time to help with the big problems of our present and future; and there are huge problems. Capitalism as an economic construct is waning. Consumerism has become our modernday culture. The environment is being destroyed for the sake of wealth. Designers will be called upon more in the future to help with this big stuff as they possess the twin skills of seeing large patterns and the ability to creatively see their way through the fog. The right brain sensitivity that designers also possess will become more valuable in a world that yearns for positive change. Empathic design is exactly what the world needs most.
Generative AI is all the talk in design, and it will have a profound impact on the future. Presently we look at it as a tool like CAD or 3D printing, but soon enough it will be doing very advanced design work, which will no doubt replace jobs. No one can really say what its actual impact will be, or what its true promise is. Half of the designers I talk to are excited about it and half hate it.
I'm always an optimist but AI applied to design makes me sad. Design is one of the last vestiges of soulful work. It is art, passion, inspiration, wonder and grit all rolled into one. Even though generative AI is a shimmering new technology that feels close to magic, it also feels detached. Designing is an endeavor that makes you glad to be alive.
As AI develops, designers must fight to keep human design values alive in whatever form AI takes. They must be a part of the software dev teams to ensure that the creative process is augmented by AI, not overtaken by it. In the meantime, we'll keep experimenting with it for discovery's sake. It's the only option if you want to stay ahead of it.