The 30 year story of Rational Emotional Design

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RED Blooded: The 30 year story of Rational Emotional Design

This month, Studio RED, a product development consultancy in Silicon Valley, celebrates 30 years of designing products for a variety of markets. Philip Bourgeois, founder and president, relates how Rational Emotional Design (RED) methodology was created and has morphed through the past, present and future. 

Menlo Park, CA (August 31^st, 2013) — After starting out in a two-room apartment in Menlo Park, Studio RED grew into the original Quonset hut of the Hiller Helicopter Factory at 1360 Willow Road. In the midst of tanks, choppers, tall warehouse ceilings, Studio RED gained notoriety initially by earning recognition for strong design but later by preaching that to be successful, compelling design must go hand-in-hand with powerful engineering. 

In the early 80’s the concept and role of design was foreign to many, and as a design consultancy we often spoke to potential clients who had never heard of Industrial Design--much less the more specific branch of Product Design--and we would have to explain design’s importance in representing a company’s brand correctly and its value in gaining market share through increased customer acceptance.

In the mid 80's, thanks to some high profile products and individuals, a product’s look and feel started to sink in to the psyche as a must-have aspect of product strategy, and suddenly modern ID (Industrial Design) was on the map for any firm hoping to compete with the best in their field.

From the beginning, in addition to setting functional and branding goals, Studio RED would ask the comprehensive questions like:

“Does the design consider the appropriate manufacturing process based on the intended production quantity?”

“How can the manufacturing be optimized with this design?”

“Have we accounted for servicing it?”

Philip Bourgeois was of the opinion that only by marrying styling with innovation could a company produce the highest quality product to fit the client’s need.

Throughout the 90’s, design grew to consider a more significant role regarding human factors and ergonomics, experiential research and later, user experience and brand strategy concerns. Under all these disciplines Studio RED discovered a common thread: whenever innovation is introduced, there lies a solution to optimize it for the brand--its production, human factors, and cultural impact. Only then the idea of Rational Emotional Design was born.

Rational Emotional Design or RED methodology was developed out of a need to emphasize the integration of design, engineering and manufacturing disciplines into a harmonious whole that delivers exciting and compelling products that really work. This is a product lifecycle strategy that embraces every phase of the product experience. It's unique. It's RED.

This new design methodology had not yet echoed throughout the industry. For this reason, Studio RED won over many clients after designs from competitors had proven too complex or costly to produce. At the same time, competitive pressure on cost of goods was emerging as a hot issue and Studio RED's experience established them as an authority in delivering high profile design without high cost of manufacturing. Improving product margins added to the value of the design and enhanced its ultimate success, and was sometimes paramount to whether the product would get to market at all.

Into the 2000’s, the Silicon Valley had already experienced an economic bubble and was poised for another. Throughout these cycles, design firms came and went, as their key accounts tightened spending or went in-house for their limited Product Development. In these cases, big clients that lacked the design manpower for imminent programs would partner with Studio RED.

It is now 2010 and global development and large integrated teams have racked up a need for new ways of program management and significant strides in real-time communication. Online web based program reviews have become commonplace with teams around the globe. It is not unusual to have the client in New York, the design team in Silicon Valley and the contract manufacturer in Taiwan all on the same call or web review. These teams consist of the client working through the targeted specification issues and approvals, Studio RED maintaining the branded design traits and ergonomic optimization, and the manufacturer worrying about choice of components and assembly. This often occurs in real time and ultimately is critical for success using the fastest process possible.

In this current economic climate, clients look for the most cost effective path for uncompromised product development. Things that used to be developed and invented here in Silicon Valley such as PC’s or Notebook computers now are developed off shore. The latest programs will mix locally-developed Intellectual Property (IP) with off shore Electrical and sometimes Mechanical and Software Engineering, with manufacturing by still another. Our role as product development consultants in those cases focuses on the company’s brand strategy and product characteristics, while remaining sensitive to the manufacturing issues and objectives. In this new role of corporate partnering through deep interaction with each disparate discipline, we become the center “hub” of the project management. We must consider each influencer but maintain the design and brand continuity throughout the whole development cycle.

“The future of design in the ever changing, fast paced, competitive global market requires Studio RED's Rational Emotional Design philosophy - a philosophy that maximizes the rational and emotional values throughout the product experience from awareness to obsolescence. Our methodology regards them not as separate disciplines, but as a single brand-focused event."

-Philip Bourgeois, Studio RED Founder and CEO

For additional information or to interview Philip Bourgeois please contact Robin Mankey at (650) 326-0528 x 207 or rmankey@studiored.com.

Studio RED is a product design and development consultancy based in Menlo Park California, providing Design Research, Industrial, Graphical User Interface and Ergonomic Design, Mechanical, Structural and Optical Engineering, Prototyping and Short Run Production services. Headquartered in California’s Silicon Valley, their mission is to solve product design problems in highly innovative, financially feasible ways that create powerful client brands and end-user excitement.

Industries include, Consumer and Mobile/Wearable products, Business / Enterprise, Medical /Biotech, Commercial/ Industrial with an expertise in High Volume Plastic products produced off-shore. 

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