Innovation Archives - Interwoven

A Q&A with Visionary Entrepreneur Stephanie Benedetto

Spotlight articles shine a light on designers and design materials we admire. Our founder and principal designer Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman has met many wonderful designers as an educator and career designer, and in our Spotlight interviews we ask them about their work and their design journey. In this interview we spoke with Stephanie Benedetto, the attorney-turned-fintech entrepreneur and visionary founder of Queen of Raw, the company that created Materia MX, a groundbreaking excess inventory management software. Stephanie is on a mission to make fashion more sustainable by tackling one of the industry’s most persistent problems: waste. Her platform leverages blockchain technology to connect brands, retailers, and factories in a cloud-based marketplace where unused textiles, once destined for landfills, can be sold to new buyers. Her company has already saved over a billion gallons of water— enough to provide clean drinking water for 1.43 million people for three years—and has turned the concept of a circular economy into a profitable and scalable business model. Stephanie’s approach is not only about reducing environmental impact but also about transforming the industry’s supply and demand dynamics to benefit people, the planet, and profits. We asked her about how she was inspired to start the company, the challenges along the way, how the platform works, and how she measures impact.

Q: What was the turning point when you realized the extent of the waste in the fashion industry, and how did this inspire the creation of Queen of Raw?

A: Before Queen of Raw I was a Wall Street attorney, but I ended up specializing in fashion, technology and sustainability. And then the market crashed in 2008, and we were seeing the height of waste and greed and excess around the world. I took that as my opportunity to go out on my own. I always wanted to go build a business and change the world and I had a prior startup before Queen of Raw, which was called Paper No. 9. My co-founder and I had invented a new leather alternative and it was truly unlike any other leather alternative I had ever seen out in the market. As we were building that business, we would go to all these companies and brands and manufacturers around the world, and they would be buying this new innovative sustainable leather alternative from us. But we would go to the warehouses and see all this perfectly good stuff just sitting there, and we’d ask them, It’s great, you’re buying this from us, but what are you doing with all that stuff? And they said, Nothing, I’m going to landfill it, or burn it. That just seemed amazing. I was proud of what we were doing but we were still making something new. So that became this bigger problem that I really dove in early on and wanted to tackle head on: what could we do with all that perfectly good stuff?

When we started trying to solve it, the next step was trying to figure out how much stuff like that is out there. We did a survey. We sent it around to a couple thousand companies and manufacturers. It was a one question survey: How much do you have in excess inventory every year? And some numbers were lower, some numbers were higher, but the average was fifteen percent. Fifteen percent of every single step of every production run ended up as waste. It was crazy. Some were as high as thirty percent. Some claimed it to be as low as six to nine percent, but the clear average was fifteen percent. And at that point, when we started looking at those numbers, we knew this was a huge opportunity.

Stephanie Benedetto NASDAQ feature — *Photo courtesy of Stephanie Benedetto.*

Q: How did you know you had a great idea on your hands? At what point did you know that this business could be profitable?

A: When we were just starting to look at the market and validate the idea, it was 2013, 2014. There was a lot of amazing work happening with companies like Thread Up, Poshmark, Depop, and the RealReal. I loved what they were doing. It was the hottest market, and it’s still growing, but at the time they all were dealing in one unit at a time finished goods. Don’t get me wrong, every unit matters, and for finished goods that matters. But that led me to ask, What about all this other excess in inventory and supply chains? What about all the regular stuff; all the fabrics and trims and some finished goods, too, but the business to business stuff? And nobody seemed to be paying attention to that side.

The thesis was that if we could solve that up-the-chain waste for businesses, maybe that could help inform and support all the downstream supply chain waste. That’s when we started to see that this was a huge opportunity, and we started with the low hanging fruit. We had to test it, so we put up a marketplace. We barely even had a product to sell, but we had this point of view that a B2B resale marketplace for raw materials was a huge opportunity and we posted the site. The first few SKUs were actually our Paper No. 9 sustainable leather excess fabric. People started coming to the site like crazy, asking questions and looking for more. We saw the demand and we knew we had a real opportunity.

We want buyers and sellers who are participating in the circular economy and buying and selling with each other to recoup all the value with each other. Making money on materials is not our business model. We sell SAS software subscription fees to companies. They pay us annual membership fees to be a part of our platform and to use a whole suite of tools, and that’s it. All the reuse, resale, recycling, and donation happens on our platform. Everyone gets the best prices for participating in the network.

Q: You’ve been at the head of Queen of Raw for many years now. What challenges did you encounter along the way, especially early on?

A: We were early to the market for sure. We would go knock on doors in the fashion district, talking about this problem. And the world was not where it is today, we got plenty of doors slammed in our faces. But all it took was two. We had two early adopters: Marc Jacobson and Kering. They keyed in early on and believed in what we were doing and saw that there was an economic and an environmental opportunity here. All you need is one or two early adopters to really believe and then you can grow from there; get the case studies, get the learnings, and keep doing it. So, fortunately, some of those slammed doors have since turned into clients, but we had to find those early believers and keep pushing forward.

Q: How has your personal journey shaped your vision for Queen of Raw?

A: It’s why I do what I do. I had my first child right as I was starting to get the company out there, and the moment I had my eldest son, Jacob, right at that moment, I knew we were on to something. When your kid is born, it’s not about your life anymore. It’s about your children’s life and their children’s life and future generations. You want to do everything you can to ensure that that life is going to be a positive one. We had to build for this future. I want my kids to have clean water to drink, clothes that aren’t toxic to the earth, a planet to live on, and I think that’s what inspires me every single day. Early on as a working mom I was pushing the stroller in the New York City streets, and there was all this noise because it’s New York. I remember hearing something coming out of the stroller, he was four five at the time. I leaned into the stroller to hear what he was saying and I heard, Are you naked right now? You’re not. You’re using fabric. It’s everywhere, it’s polluting your water. I mean, he was literally doing my 60 second pitch! And on the one hand I’m thinking, I’ve been pushing this stroller and doing this damn pitch way too many times! But then I laughed and thought, You know what? If my five year old can get it, anyone can get it.

Stephanie Benedetto - Queen of Raw — *Photo courtesy of Stephanie Benedetto.*

Q: What’s the most surprising material or fabric you’ve seen saved from waste through Queen of Raw?

A: You’re not just getting a fabric when you deal with clothing and fabrics. There’s plastic and paper packaging around it, there are hang tags, there are labels, there is metal on the zippers, there are trims. There are all these other commodities and materials involved. So, although we got known for our work in textiles, we realized very quickly that our platform could also handle finished goods, trims, metals, packaging, and so on. We’ve grown in those verticals and categories into food and beverage and CPG [Consumer Packaged Goods] and other industries. Now in food and beverage we have hops and flavors from Anheuser-Busch and other things I never imagined when we started.

Working in fashion is amazing and it’s powerful. But I wondered what it would look like if companies could cross industries and leverage each other’s resources. Textiles are used in everything; car interiors, carpets. How do we get industries across industries to participate in these kinds of exchanges? That definitely got me excited, just to see what was possible. We’ve done some amazing work with Ralph Lauren, with Nike, with Cotopaxi, with Victoria’s Secret. These companies are participating and they’re selling, but they’re also buying and making incredible products while saving a lot of water, chemicals, carbon emissions, and waste while doing it.

Q: Can you discuss the role that technology and innovation play in making this all possible?

A: Our CTO always had this view of platforms and systems-baked thinking. We can create the coolest technology in the world, we can use machine learning and blockchain and all the buzzwords but it still needs to make sense. We use this cool technology to deliver a good business result. You need to have platforms to facilitate, to make it quick and easy to participate and to have a network and a community that trusts and is willing to participate while incentivizing everyone to act. That kind of point of view is embodied in the platform that we’ve created. Yes, it’s great technology. Yes, we want everyone to be able to participate in the circular economy while also making it fun to do so. At the end of the day, we just wanted to deliver a kickass result and save a lot of time, money, and resources for everyone.

Q: Could you walk us through how a typical transaction works on Queen of Raw?

A: Once we’ve done our work with the sellers and we have centralized in one place all the excess they have with clean images and clear product histories, and we know what is available to sell, then it’s about matching it to the greatest buyers in the world who want what this company has. As a buyer, when you log into our portal, it’s in the cloud. You don’t need to download anything. You don’t need to integrate. You login and, like any good software, you have your own private dashboard, which starts to learn based on your actions. What kind of volume are you looking for? What materials? Where are you in the world? The platform analyzes it and brings you the inventory that you want to see. And the beauty as a buyer is that this is not just a marketplace where you want to buy and click a button. You want to swatch something, you want to sample it, you want to produce it, you may want to reorder it. We manage that entire process but out of excess and deadstock. Our platform is a full suite of tools to help you do that.

Q: Can anyone shop your platform?

A: Yes, we have two versions. If you just want to see what we have and buy, we’ve got a freemium version for anyone to participate, especially at a smaller volume. If you do need the swatching, the sampling, all the data, all the procurement tools, we have kind of pay to play structure at different price points based on how big you are to be very fair and to cover our needs.

Q: What do you see influencing decisions about material selection? Are you seeing more of a shift toward the use of sustainable materials?

A: I use “circular economy” as opposed to “sustainability” because we talk about why we’re doing things for people and the planet, but it has to also be about the economy. If it does not make economic sense, why would a company adopt your solution? And we’ve said that since day one. The reason companies come to us is not just about sustainability. You get great stuff at a discount where you need it. The fact that it has a sustainable story to tell is a value add but that doesn’t have to be the only decision. That’s been what we spend a lot of time showing; the time, money, and resources saved by doing this will also doing good. And if you can say it’s a win-win, then how can they say no to that? Consumer demands and regulations are all supporting this move to sustainable materials and procurement, but they also need to deal with what’s there right now. Our hot and most searched fibers right now are cotton and polyester, but the fact that it’s dead stock means that you can cut down on your consumption of new polyester by using what’s already been made: deadstock polyester. So it’s a great way to fill out your portfolio sustainably while also saving money.

Q: How do you measure the water and environmental savings for businesses? Could you talk about why this focus is so important?

A: There are a lot of tools out there. I’m sure you’ve seen LCAs, Life Cycle Analyses, and other tools that say that they are measuring and reporting tools. What we found is that there was not a good methodology for excess and deadstock. It’s one thing if you’re making it from scratch and you can measure every step, but how do we think about excess and deadstock? We spent over two years with MIT, which is an investor in our company. MIT gave us a team of data scientists and we researched the hell out of this to come up with a methodology to measure the water, chemicals, the carbon emissions, and the waste that is avoided and offset by you rescuing this material instead of making new material. That’s what we’re measuring. So we can verify what the material is, what it’s made of, where it comes from, and who it ships to. And based on those touch points, we use our methodology and we measure and report. It’s been fully audited by Deloitte and other auditors so it is an accepted methodology, and we did it because we had to be specific.This is about excess inventory kept in circulation and what is avoided and offset by doing that.

We tied a lot to water because we felt like everybody talks about carbon emissions and waste, but in the volumes we’re dealing with—it’s trillions of dollars worth of waste and metric tonnage—people don’t understand those numbers. But everybody understood a clean glass of water to drink. So orienting it to water was relatable. By some accounts the textile industry is the number two polluter of clean water globally. Oil and agriculture are number one, which of course fashion contributes to it as well, but textile production at the current pace is number two. But we love seeing the flip side of that. The flip side is that fashion and textiles can solve the world’s water crisis if we rethink how we do things at scale. That’s why we’re here.

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Design Object Series N. 007

Janese Swanson and the Password Journal

In our Design Object Series we highlight iconic objects designed by women. Thousands of objects that you use and appreciate everyday…surprise! Women designed them! Many of the contributions of women to design have been obscured if not erased throughout history. We want to do our part to counteract this effect by celebrating the women behind a range of objects that you’re sure to recognize. While many design objects featured so far have been from the 19th and 20th centuries, we don’t want to overlook the more recent contributions women have made to design. In this issue we salute Janese Swanson, an American inventor and the founder of Girl Tech toys.

Janese Swanson always loved technology. In high school she was the only female salesperson in the Sears electronics department. In her doctorate degree in organization and leadership, her thesis was on gender issues in product design. In the 80s she worked developing children’s games for a software company, at the same time developing her own ideas and gadgets for her daughter.

Girl Tech

She founded Girl Tech toys in 1995, certain that boys weren’t the only ones who could appreciate tech-based toys. Girls could, too, though the market wasn’t catering to them. She created a line of affordable electronic gadgets for girls. What set Girl Tech’s toys apart was that they challenged the gender stereotypes prevalent in the toy industry. The designs were not pink or centered around dolls and ponies, but rather appealed to the universal interest in playing with gadgets. Swanson believed that girls have unique play styles different from boys, and that there should not be any stigma around this difference.

Swanson’s toys often address the themes of privacy and independence, providing girls with a sense of a secret life. This concept stemmed from Swanson’s childhood experiences, where she valued her privacy and personal space. Her own childhood was marked by limited access to toys, leading her to invent and create things on her own.

Her toys, manufactured under Radica Games’ Girl Tech brand and later purchased by Mattel, included products like the Door Pass, which prevented unauthorized snooping, and the Beam-It flashlight, a mini projector. However, her most popular creation was the Password Journal, a voice-activated diary accessible only with the owner’s password. Swanson’s theories proved correct. The Password Journal launched in 1999 and became a top-selling toy in the youth electronics category, climbing to the top ten that year.

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AI and Creativity in Design

The intersection of AI and creativity

Our generation has a front row seat to the head-on collision of the wild world of artificial intelligence and the infinite realm of human creativity. The intersection yields new ideas and art forms, inspires designers to push boundaries, and revolutionizes the way we approach design. It’s a collaboration that can potentially amplify the power of both AI and human creativity, opening up a universe of possibilities, both promising and ominous, that we are only beginning to explore. In this Insight article we are going to talk about artificial intelligence in a specific realm of creativity: design. AI isn’t just crunching numbers and analyzing data. Through access to vast stores of information, AI can unearth hidden patterns, uncover trends, and present designers with fresh perspectives might not have been considered otherwise. At its best, it prompts designers to think beyond the obvious and explore uncharted territories. There are many levels of intervention, from tools that generate options within a set of given constraints to tools that analyze complex briefs to offer smart, targeted suggestions to tools that can generate complete, considered designs.

Basic AI-Powered Tools

AI-powered design tools have been around for a long time, but they are getting reframed with the growing understanding of AI. These tools can offer powerful short-cuts in the creative world, streamlining workflows and elevating design quality. They can analyze large amounts of data, identify patterns, and suggest design elements. Tools like automated color palette generators that create harmonious combinations and intelligent layout assistants that optimize space have the potential to save time and effort, rapidly running through options that the designer can keep or discard.

AI Tools for Creativity and Productivity

One good example of an AI tool that stimulates creativity in the design process is Adobe Sensei. Powered by machine learning algorithms, Adobe Sensei is integrated into various Adobe Creative Cloud applications, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. This AI tool analyzes large datasets of images, fonts, and design elements to provide designers with intelligent suggestions and recommendations. It can automatically generate alternative design options, offer font pairing suggestions, and even provide automated image enhancements. By leveraging the power of AI, Adobe Sensei helps designers explore new ideas and experiment with different design directions. This can greatly increase the output of a designer and the number of options available to them.

AI tools for brainstorming and ideation

AI-based brainstorming and ideation tools are changing the way we generate and explore ideas. These tools leverage the power of artificial intelligence to enhance the creative process. By analyzing data, trends, and patterns, AI algorithms can provide designers and teams with valuable insights and inspiration. These tools can suggest unique combinations, identify emerging concepts, and even predict potential user preferences. They have the potential to overcome creative blocks, spark new connections, and encourage out-of-the-box thinking. At their best, they can help to fuel the ideation process, ultimately leading to more innovative and impactful design outcomes.

An example of an AI-based brainstorming and ideation tool is Mural. Mural is a digital collaboration platform that integrates AI-powered features to facilitate brainstorming and idea generation. These features can analyze user input and provide real-time suggestions, prompts, and inspiration to fuel the creative process. It offers a range of interactive visual templates, virtual sticky notes, and design thinking frameworks to facilitate ideation sessions. By leveraging AI, Mural enables teams to collaborate remotely and harness the collective creativity of its members. It encourages diverse thinking, breaks down geographical barriers, and enhances productivity in the ideation phase.

Successful collaborations with AI

AI can also rise above tool status to serve as an active collaborator in the design process. An example of a successful collaboration between AI and designers is the partnership between NVIDIA and Autodesk. NVIDIA, known for its advancements in AI and graphics processing, collaborated with Autodesk, a leading software company, to develop a tool called Project Dreamcatcher. This AI-powered design tool combines generative design algorithms with human creativity to power the design process.

Project Dreamcatcher enables designers to input design goals and constraints, and the AI algorithm generates design options based on those parameters. The generated designs are then evaluated by the designer, who can provide feedback and further refine the options. This iterative collaboration between the AI and the designer results in optimized designs that meet specific requirements while incorporating innovative and unexpected elements. The tool augments the designer’s creativity and problem-solving abilities, allowing them to push the boundaries of what’s possible. This collaboration between AI and designers not only accelerates the design process but also yields designs that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing. It demonstrates how AI can enhance human creativity and provide designers with the tools to generate innovative solutions.

AI-generated design

So far we’ve seen algorithms that can generate art, craft logos, and even design interiors. AI is redefining the creative industry as we know it. One interesting case study of AI-generated design is the project by the team at OpenAI called DALL-E. They developed an AI model that can generate surreal images from text prompts. With DALL-E, you describe an image you want to see, like “a purple cat with butterfly wings sitting on a rainbow,” and the AI algorithm will generate a unique image that matches your description, though not always in a way you can predict. This innovative application of AI-generated design encourages designers to bring their wildest ideas to life. This is a good example of how AI is pushing the boundaries of creativity and generating original, or, controversially, semi-original designs.

Potential concerns and challenges

While AI has tremendous potential in the field of design, there are also valid concerns and challenges that need to be addressed. One major concern is the potential loss of human creativity and originality. As AI becomes more involved in the design process, there is a risk that designs may become formulaic and lack the unique touch of human ingenuity. Another challenge is the ethical implications of AI-generated designs. Issues such as intellectual property rights, ownership of AI-generated creations, and potential biases embedded in the algorithms used by AI systems need careful consideration. Additionally, the impact on employment is a concern, as some fear that AI could replace human designers, leading to job displacement. Lastly, ensuring the transparency and interpretability of AI-generated designs is crucial, as designers and users need to understand how AI arrived at specific design decisions. Addressing these concerns and challenges is essential to foster a responsible and beneficial integration of AI in the design industry.

Summary

The transformative potential of AI in design is undeniably remarkable. AI has the power to revolutionize the creative process, unlocking new realms of imagination, and enabling designers to push boundaries and explore uncharted territories. From AI-generated designs that inspire to intelligent tools that stimulate creativity, AI is reshaping the design landscape. That said, it is crucial to approach AI in design with thoughtful consideration, addressing concerns around originality, ethics, employment, and transparency. By embracing AI as a tool that complements human creativity rather than replaces it, we can harness its transformative power to create designs that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also sustainable, user-centric, and innovative. As AI continues to evolve, designers must embrace responsible innovation, collaboration, and ethical guidelines to fully harness its potential for the betterment of the design industry and society as a whole.

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Design Object Series N. 005

Hedy Lamarr and Wi-Fi

In our Design Object Series we highlight iconic objects designed by women. Thousands of objects that you use and appreciate everyday…surprise! Women designed them! Many of the contributions of women to design have been obscured if not erased throughout history. We want to do our part to counteract this effect by celebrating the women behind a range of objects that you’re sure to recognize. In this issue we salute Hedy Lamarr, a Hollywood star who possessed a brilliant mind that defied societal expectations. She developed the spread-spectrum radio technology that would later make wireless systems possible.

At the height of her Hollywood career, Hedy Lamarr was celebrated as “the most beautiful woman in the world.” However, her true legacy extends far beyond her looks. In the 1940s, amidst the chaos of World War II, Lamarr quietly invented a groundbreaking technology that would lay the foundation for numerous wireless innovations we rely on today, including Bluetooth, GPS, and cellphone networks.

An Inventor is Born

Lamarr, born Hedwig Kiesler in Austria, harbored a lifelong fascination with science. When the war approached she fled Austria as well as her marriage to a wealthy arms dealer. She arranged to be on the same ship as Louis Mayer of Metro-Goldwin-Mayer (MGM), and convinced him to offer her a contract. She rose to stardom quickly but the war effort was never far from her mind.

Though widely admired, the Hollywood lifestyle failed to satisfy Lamarr’s intellectual curiosity. Once her responsibilities on set were complete, she engaged in intellectual pursuits and enjoyed gatherings with like-minded friends. Lamarr possessed a visionary mindset, constantly exploring ways to fix and enhance various aspects of the world. She installed a drafting table in her home, dedicating her spare time to inventing.

Doing Her Part

At a Hollywood dinner party she met composer George Antheil, who was then working on an unconventional symphony featuring synchronized player pianos. Lamarr wondered, if one could get these pianos to continuously synchronize in unpredictable patterns, why couldn’t the same be done for radio signals? During World War II, Lamarr’s concerns about the safety of Allied forces deepened. The attacks by German submarines on passenger cruise liners compelled her to channel her inventive energy toward devising a solution. She focused her attention on the shortcomings of torpedoes, powerful weapons that often lacked accuracy as their guidance systems could be jammed.

Lamarr recognized that for a torpedo’s guidance to be effective, the radio signal guiding it had to be immune to enemy interference. Inspired by Antheil’s synchronized pianos, Lamarr developed the concept of “frequency hopping.” She envisioned a system in which the radio signal would rapidly and randomly hop across various frequencies, making it difficult for adversaries to jam or intercept. Together, Lamarr and Antheil submitted their proposal for a “Secret Communication System” to the National Inventors Council. In 1942, they were awarded a patent for their invention. Though the idea was deemed viable, the U.S. Navy ultimately dismissed the potential of the technology and it was dormant for several years in their archives.

Belated Acknowledgement of Achievement

It wasn’t until after the war that Lamarr’s technology resurfaced. The Navy recognized the need to safeguard their sonobuoy systems, which used sonar to detect submarines and transmit the information to airplanes. To prevent enemy forces from jamming the communication between the buoys and the planes, they needed an effective countermeasure. Lamarr’s frequency-hopping technology proved to be the missing piece of the puzzle. The Navy integrated her invention into the sonobuoys, effectively creating a jam-proof communication system. From there, the significance of Lamarr’s contribution began to gain traction, and offshoots of her technology found a wide range of military and civilian applications.

Today, the impact of Lamarr’s invention is evident in the ubiquitous presence of wireless communication technologies. Her visionary frequency-hopping concept facilitated the development of modern wireless networks. Yet, for many years, Lamarr’s tremendous contributions were overshadowed and undervalued. It wasn’t until the 1990s, when Lamarr was in her early 80s, that her critical invention gained the recognition it deserved. A pioneer in wireless communications for computers stumbled upon Lamarr’s patent and was astounded by its significance. He initiated efforts to acknowledge her achievement. When informed of the award, her response was, “Well, it’s about time.”

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How to Choose a Design Consultancy for Soft Goods and Wearable Product Design

Let’s say you have an idea and you’re interested in developing it into a viable product. You’ve done some research and realize that working with a design consultancy would improve the value and quality of your concept. Many small companies can’t afford to have a full product development team in-house and a consultancy is great a way for such companies to outsource their product development while keeping their start-up and overhead costs low. But…there are so many design consultancies out there. How do you know which one is right for you? How are they different from one another, and how do you evaluate whether or not they are a good fit for your design idea? A good fit for you? What does a good company look like, anyway?

Step 1: General Research

While your idea may be unrefined, you likely have a sense of the product category (or categories) it falls into. Perhaps your idea is under the umbrella of soft goods design or wearable technology. Or maybe it’s an educational toy, outdoor gear, or performance clothing. If you were categorizing your product on Amazon, which department would you choose? Identify the category that seems like the best classification for the project and search for design consultancies within that category. You can also search for similar products and investigate who did the design work for that company.

When you see a company that seems like it’s in the ballpark, browse their portfolio and take a look at their social media. Is there anything reminiscent of your idea in their portfolio? Do they focus on projects in the same product category, or specialize in the materials and technologies you hope to use? What do you think of those products? How about their other clients, what industries are they in?

Interwoven Design’s online project portfolio. Review online portfolios like this to see if the consultancy works on projects in your product category.

Step 2: Deep Dive

As you conduct your initial research, certain companies will catch your attention. Once you have a shortlist of promising candidates, you can send out a request for qualifications (RFQ) or credentials. The credentials usually outline how the consultancy approaches projects, including the number of project phases, designs, and revisions they provide, as well as their experience, references, relevant licenses held, and any accolades. Digging into this information is one of the best ways to get to know the company. Take special care to review the other projects in their portfolio, especially those they have chosen to feature, which tend to represent their wheelhouse(s). If they show process in their portfolio, take note. Many projects a company is working on won’t be represented in their portfolio as non-disclosure agreements are standard in consultancy contracts. Remember that you are only seeing the elements of the company’s work that have been commercialized and approved. This is especially relevant where innovation and patents are involved.

In addition to reviewing their portfolio more carefully, take a closer and more detailed look at social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. These may show a different side of a company’s brand or process, and give you another way to get to know their style and personality. On our Instagram account we post a lot of process and studio images to give a sense of what happens behind-the-scenes. Reach out to their references to understand the dynamic of their client relationships.

a designer draws on a tablet with a pencil-like stroke — Observe where companies show process in their portfolio. Look for abundant idea generation and innovation.

Step 3: RFP

After your deep dive you should aim to have at least three potential consultancies that are a good fit for your product category and industry and maybe a good fit for you and your project. You will need more information to know for sure, and that’s where the request for proposal (RFP) comes in. In the RFP the design firm outlines the scope of work for the project, pricing, the confidentiality agreement, ideas for the project, a timeline, and more. They won’t know the final outcome yet (that’s what the design process is for), but they will have a plan for how to approach it. This document will be very clear about what is and is not included in the design service.

Step 4: Evaluation

Ideally you will have strong options to consider once you receive your design proposals. The following are key criteria to consider when evaluating your candidates.

General Characteristics

Independent of the type of project you have in mind, there are a few characteristics you should look for in any reputable consultancy.

Innovative problem-solving

Assess each candidate for innovation at every stage of your research. Is innovation key to their ethos as a company? Does it show up again and again in every project? Does their work seem cool to you? That’s a good sign that you’ll think their work on your idea will be cool, too.

Excellent communication skills

Use any information provided by the company as a way to assess clarity and quality of communication. A good client relationship involves clear, concise communication that respects everyone’s time. Good communication will shine through any media format, whether it is an e-mail, a blog or social media post, a project description, an interview, or a phone call.

Integrity

Good companies have high integrity. They interact with honesty and consideration for their clients. Their processes and goals are transparent, as are the expectations throughout the course of a project. Any issues that arise can be dealt with quickly and efficiently.

Strong leadership

A project with strong, experienced leadership will run more efficiently and be much more likely to be on budget and on time than one without. Is there such a figure on the design team that would be working on your project? Good companies don’t exist without good leadership.

sketches and soft goods prototyping materials are scattered on a desk — Innovation is critical to a successful design project. Review a company’s portfolio and score projects for innovative concepts. You don’t have to be an expert to know when an approach feels fresh and new.

Project-specific Characteristics

Innovation (again)

While it’s useful to note that innovation is a consistent feature in a company portfolio, it’s even more important that they can be innovative regarding your idea specifically. This is where the RFP is critical for determining an ideal fit.

Expertise

A design consultancy that is an expert in the type of project you have in mind will have years if not decades of knowledge to bring to the table. Are body mechanics or behavioral psychology involved? Do you need to understand current market trends? Do you need access to specialized skills, tools, or machinery for your project? It’s important that the design firm you choose can offer true expertise in the areas your project requires.

Size

Small design companies can be more agile in their development process than corporate behemoths, and are often more economical, too. It may be easier to get face to face time with your design team, and you are more likely to have a senior designer in the mix. We recommend going with a small consultancy if that is available for your product category.

Industry Experience

Any candidate under serious consideration should have a proven track record in the industry that demonstrates their suitability to take on your project. Companies with experience have worked on many different products with many different clients and it shows. You will also need relationships with a wide range of material sources and manufacturers to bring your idea to life, and a well-connected design company can provide that.

Fit/Chemistry

As with any relationship, it’s hard to know if it will work based on the compatibility on paper. You are going to need to speak to a representative from the consultancy before you can be confident that you will work well together. Ideally, you would meet with the whole prospective team. Do you have shared values? Are your aesthetic sensibilities aligned? Is the company empathetic to your needs as a client? It’s really important that they are, or the project could suffer.

A designer creates an exo-suit prototype on a work table — Small design consultancies can be more agile and more accessible than large corporate firms.

So, basically

If you’re on the hunt for a design consultancy to help bring your concept to life, do your research. Look for companies with experience in the right product category and review their websites and portfolios closely. Does innovation shine through everything they do? Are they communicating clearly and concisely across the board? Do they seem honest and straightforward in their client relationships? Do they have the expertise and industry experience your project will need to become successful? Will they be able to give your project the time and attention it needs? Is it easy and pleasant to interact with them?

If the answer to all of these questions is yes, they could very well be the design consultancy for you. Looking for more design Insights? Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn for design news, multi-media recommendations, and to learn more about product design and development!