The ESR 5000 Series Reach Truck Wins Gold
The industrial design of the ESR 5000 for Ohio based Crown Equipment Corporation was recently recognized with a Fast Company – Industrial Designers Society of America, Gold International Design Excellence Award (IDEA). The IDEA’s are presented by the Industrial Designers Society of America in association with Fast Company Magazine and represent one of the profession’s highest honors. Please visit Fast Company’s website for the entire story.

The ESR 5000 Series is a full range of electric, side-sit reach trucks that achieve new levels of productivity, comfort and robustness for warehouses and distribution centers. A new super-duty mast can now lift a fully loaded pallet up to 12 meters (39.4 feet) high. All models offer a low step for easy on/off, and fully adjustable seating and controls for operators. The all-new new S-Class vehicle establishes a new benchmark in operator comfort with a 30º rotating MoveSeat and a FlexBack reclining seat. The new, patented battery shape provides 40% more legroom, and the MoveSeat reduces upper body twisting. A patented angled overhead guard also increases upward visibility.

2010 IDEA Juror Isabel Ancona noted the following regarding the design of the ESR 5000
“Strong product strategy and user research, combined with elegant and practical design solutions, has created a very accessible and effective vehicle. There are several details that demonstrate a solid understanding of the various workflows and user needs–creating a safe and usable ‘workspace’ for the driver, providing more visibility, simple user interface controls, and visual cues on the truck for safer driving. I’m just sorry we didn’t get to try it out…looks fun to drive!”

–Isabel Ancona

The SPICE Galley system was a featured part of the Airbus display during the 2010 Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg Germany. The Aircraft Interiors Expo is the world’s largest trade fair exclusively concerned with airline cabin systems.

The two Spice Galley monuments on display were designed and built at Formation’s prototype lab in Atlanta GA USA and represent an important milestone in Airbus’s SPICE Galley program. The prototype galleys were fitted with doors, carts and a transfer table built by Dansk Technologi in Denmark. Close collaboration between Airbus, Formation and Dansk was required to efficiently deliver completed units in only a few months time to Airbus for testing.

SPICE, which stands for SPace Innovative Catering Equipment, is the result of nearly 7 years of research and conceptual development that began as collaboration between Formation Design Group, Ergonomic Systems Design and Airbus. The early research on the overall catering process, concept development and user testing conducted in Atlanta resulted in the SPICE project being awarded an IDSA IDEA Award for Design Research in 2008 as well as the coveted Crystal Cabin Award in 2007.

The system has been tested with 11 airlines and has been well received. For more information please visit Airbus’s Innovation & Technology Website.

Our friends at Design Within Reach and Coca-Cola have done it again… Design Within Reach Atlanta is hosting an Emeco 111 Navy Chair® launch party and cross town Coca-Cola  love fest on Thursday May 20th from 6-8pm. For more information and to RSVP for the event please visit http://111navychair.com/about/. See you there!

The 111 Navy Chair^® is made from 111 recycled plastic Coke bottles. It is the result of a special collaboration between Emeco and Coca-Cola, and it’s available exclusively at Design Within Reach. It took four years of research, design and materials testing to create this chair, which is a plastic version of the iconic 1006 Navy^® Chair. This chair is suitable for outdoor and commercial use, and it’s made in U.S.A.

Join Formation Design Group for an evening with Steve Portigal.

Date & Time     
Monday April 12, 2010     
6:30pm – 9:00pm

Location
Formation Design Group
555 Dutch Valley Road
Atlanta GA         

Please RSVP
The event is free of charge, refreshments will be served. rsvp@formationdesign.com

Presentation Abstract
In product development circles there has always been a lively discussion on how to best transform product concepts into new goods and services. Conversely, there is precious little dialog about translating research findings into product concepts. The murky time between research and the beginning of synthesis is one of the most critical parts of any development process. Join guest speaker Steve Portigal and members of Formation’s Industrial Design team for a presentation and discussion highlighting this critical but often overlooked part of the development process.

Based on a process used in Portigal Consulting client engagements, Steve’s presentation will emphasize strengthening the creative link between “data” and “action.” One of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business is that projects often stop with a cataloging of findings and implications rather than generating opportunities that directly enable the findings. As designers become increasingly involved in using contextual research to inform their design work, they may find themselves holding onto a trove of raw data but with little awareness of how to turn it into design. How can designers and researchers work with user research data to create new things for business to do?

About Steve
Steve Portigal is the founder of Portigal Consulting, a bite-sized San Francisco firm that brings together user research, design and business strategy. Portigal Consulting helps clients to discover and act on new insights about themselves and their customers. Steve is a frequent speaker at design and marketing events and writes for interactions, Core77 and the Portigal Consulting blog, All This ChittahChattah. He is an avid photographer who has a Museum of Foreign Grocery Products in his home.

Each year Modern Atlanta (MA) celebrates architecture and design with a week-long event around Atlanta. This year MA has asked the Young Architects Forum of Atlanta to create a competition for a temporary outdoor installation which will act as a beacon and marker for the week of events. The structure is to be installed and operational during the MA events, currently planned for June 1-6, 2010. The project is not only to accentuate the series of events organized by MA, but will also be an event of its own celebrating young talents showing their work to the public.

The Young Architects Forum is calling on young designers to step up to the 10Up challenge! Please visit YAF’s Website for more details.

Good luck!

Formation Design Group and the Atlanta IDSA Chapter would like to thank everyone who attended our open studio event. The event marked Formation’s ten year anniversary!

 

Join Formation Design Group for an open studio event & design presentation
Set aside an evening for IDSA Atlanta’s first Studio Tour & Talk of the Fall season to be hosted by Formation Design Group. Presented In Conjunction With IDSA Atlanta + MODA – The Museum of Design Atlanta. Relax, share and network with fellow chapter members at Formation’s studio in Midtown Atlanta as Russell Kroll presents his talk, Overextended Reframing Industrial Design.

Overextended – Reframing Industrial Design
As a future looking profession Industrial Design must consider its path through the economic carnage of collapsing markets and enhance its relevance. ‘Overextended’ uses humorous examples from the marketplace to highlight contradictions within product development and marketing. The presentation is both an introspective discussion of recent events and a call to arms for professionals effected by the turmoil wrought by rapidly changing market conditions. Overextended will present a strategy for cementing Industrial Design’s position at the center of the innovation process. Examples will highlight this central role as the core of what Industrial Design provides.

Formation Design Group founding Partner Russell Kroll will be speaking at this year’s Industrial Designers Society of America national conference in Miami Florida. He will be presenting his talk, “Overextended – Reframing Industrial Design”.

Overextended – Reframing Industrial Design
As a future looking profession Industrial Design must consider its path through the economic carnage of collapsing markets and enhance its relevance. ‘Overextended’ uses humorous examples from the marketplace to highlight contradictions within product development and marketing. The presentation is both an introspective discussion of recent events and a call to arms for professionals effected by the turmoil wrought by rapidly changing market conditions. Overextended will present a strategy for cementing Industrial Design’s position at the center of the innovation process. Examples will highlight this central role as the core of what Industrial Design provides. Overextended will present a strategy for cementing industrial design’s position at the center of the innovation process. Rapid fire case studies will highlight this central role as our past, future and as the core of what Industrial Design provides.

About Russell Kroll
As one of Formation Design Group’s founding partners Russell directs industrial design & interaction design programs for a broad range of clients. Recently, Russell has lead strategic development programs for some of the worlds leading brands including Coca-Cola, Siemens and Xerox, among others. As a graduate of Chicago’s Institute of Design at the Illinois institute of Technology, Russell started his career as an industrial designer. While working as an industrial designer for corporate and consulting groups in the US & Europe, Russell became increasingly interested in the behavior of products, why things work and feel the way they do and how these characteristics can be manipulated. To explore this interest he pursued a MFA in interaction design from one of Europe’s most remote and leading deign schools, The Designhögskolan at Sweden’s Umeå University. As Formation’s interaction design lead, Russell believes the mutually reinforcing integration of hardware & software systems allows us explore products and systems on the most intimate level to develop more useful and desirable products.

The Airbus SPICE Galley system developed by Formation Design Group was featured in the March 2008 issue of Aircraft Interiors International Magazine. Formation worked with Airbus to design, engineer and prototype the SPICE system.

The resulting system achieves major advances in weight savings, space efficiency and crew usability. SPICE galleys are designed to reduce crew workload by assisting with or eliminating many of the most labor intensive lifting and handling tasks. This reduces occupational and repetitive stress hazards for the crew while resulting in enhanced service levels and improved operational efficiency. A typical SPICE equipped two aisle passenger jet would realize a 600kg weight savings while making enough space available for an additional 2-3 economy class seats.

Download a PDF version of the article.

Formation Design Group and the Atlanta IDSA Chapter would like to thank everyone who attended our open studio event.

Special thanks go to IDEO’s Martin Thaler for providing an enlightening investigation into lava lamps, princess phones and all things kitsch. Martin presented Hints From Kitsch – an investigation into the design of emotionally charged objects.

Beginning with its literal definition, Martin explored what kitsch is, where it comes from and how we can use it to strike an emotional chord with consumers.