Business Insights
WWD: What are some challenges you faced and how have you successfully navigated them?
D.H.: There's the work itself, which by nature is almost always challenging. And then there's the business of design, which is challenging too, especially considering how many stakeholders must rally to make good innovation happen.
Challenge and design are natural partners because design is primarily about problem-solving. You start with challenging project requirements and many of those will be conflicting or just plain hard to achieve. For example, if you're designing a handheld product like a dermatology device, the internal components may be bigger than what you can hold. Or your awesome design concept doesn't fit the brand or it's too expensive to manufacture.
Keeping a design vision alive for the duration of a project is hard too since there are many opportunities for it to get sidetracked as more and more requirements are confronted and more money is spent. Balancing design and engineering needs is always a challenge when developing real mass-produced products. Sometimes marketing requirements force you to compromise your hot new design for the sake of a campaign.
It's like running a gauntlet. If you get through unscathed, you've created a design win. The key is to foresee the challenges and not to design in a vacuum. All surrounding disciplines are important to fold into your process. Incorporate their thinking into your solution and it'll go much smoother.
Projects like our recent Aescape massage system had all the above challenges and more. At the end of the day, you try to make your solution look and feel natural and easy. If your design looks as if it should have always existed, and like an archeologist you “discovered it,” chances are it's excellent.
The business of design, whether you're a consultant or in-house designer, is challenging too especially because your focus is creativity. Your customer often doesn't understand creative problemsolving, which can be nebulous, nonlinear and abstract. You need to figure out how to articulate your visual language in their terms, which are more verbal and linear — then be very persuasive.
Getting your client to do the right thing for the sake of sustainability quality, or development time reasons, is always challenging. Overcoming challenges is one of the things that makes design so worth doing. When you finally see your creation on the market after years of sweating it out, there's no better rush.
WWD: What’s the role of technology and digital tools in Whipsaw’s design process and how does that impact the final result and product? D.H.:
Tech has a massive impact on our practice, both in terms of the way that we work (CAD, software, prototyping, collaboration tools, etc.) and the work product itself. Much of our work is technology-based based whether it's cutting-edge consumer electronics, scientific, robotics or medical equipment.
We are often tasked with defining the identity of a new piece of tech from scratch, defining how it will be used and strategizing how it will be developed and ultimately productized. Often, technology itself feels magic. We try to celebrate that magic in the actual design whenever we can, without sacrificing the end user's ability to understand it or appreciate it. Technology is often pretty abstract, so it's up to us to give it expression and personality. I've always loved giving representation to technology.
WWD: How does Whipsaw balance functionality and aesthetics in product design? What’s an example of a product that achieves this balance? D.H.:
When asked to describe Whipsaw in 10 words, I would say, “A two-handle whipsaw epitomizes balance and cuts like hell.” I named the company Whipsaw to symbolize the balance of form and function, art and science and healthy collaboration which is always a reciprocal back and forth motion.
There is always a balance between form and function in every project. Function is critical to establish early in a project because without function your product won't sell unless it's a decorative art piece or pure fashion. Function is the foundation of most design projects. It's about identifying objective facts — the dimensional constraints, technology limitations, mechanisms, ergonomic realities, etc. Sometimes you just need to celebrate the function in its appearance to make a good design and other times the function can be subdued in favor of an aesthetic statement that appeals more to emotion.
The conventional saying goes, “Form follows function,” which is usually the case, but there's more. Often form and function should follow experience — and sometimes all three should follow brand. This is true with luxury beauty products where brand design is the absolute priority. On the other hand, if you're designing a surgical product, function and the usage experience drive all design decisions. Sustainability factors also need to be considered.
The old binary seesaw maxim of form and function has now become more complex, perhaps more like balancing a plate. As a designer, your job is to figure out all these primacies and design accordingly. The priorities you choose should be evident in your design, and everything should hang together as a complete composition. We live and love this stuff, so our “plate compositions” are usually pretty complete. Look at our Tonal, Aescape, Ancient Ritual and Ravenchord designs. You might say, those seem right and balanced — works well, easy to use, attractive, sustainable and branded.
WWD: How do you see the future of the luxury wellness market growing currently and into the next five to 10 years? D.H.:
We enjoy designing for the luxury wellness market because design plays such a big role in it. Wellness products require flawless human factors because they are touched, held, laid on, manipulated and more. There is also a tangible and immediate benefit for the end user. They want to look good and feel good. The design not only enables this desire but also amplifies a positive personal outlook. Design psychology, beauty, nuance, thoughtfulness and fulfillment are always top criteria when designing wellness products.
The luxury wellness market is growing now due to aging demographics and a higher awareness of all things health and technology. The pandemic helped too as it reminded people that qualityof-life and general wellness are keys to happiness. People are reevaluating what makes them happy, healthy, secure, comfortable and content.
These trends will be relevant for years to come but the biggest growth driver in the long term will be surrounding technology. Advancements in precision medicine and treatment, based on personal genetics, sensor data and AI will drive the wellness market well into the future. There will be wellness offerings for every need, and many will be tailored just for you. For these innovations to take hold and thrive they need equal parts utility and usability, which are the very tenets of good industrial design and interaction design.