A Sydney-based design company uses all the information sources it can find – including suppliers and clients – to make its designs better.
|
Entrepreneur: Mark Armstrong, Managing Director
Company: Blue Sky Creative
Business type: Product development and industrial design
Founded: 2000 (after a business restructure)
Employees: 10
Turnover: (2001 - 2002) Under $2M
Head office: Sydney, New South Wales
Contact details: +61 2 9669 4644
The Blue Sky Creative Story
Mark Armstrong’s company, Blue Sky Creative, embraces diversity - and it is not just a case of empty rhetoric. Diversity characterises Blue Sky’s client base and project list, and is central to the company’s multi-disciplinary approach to design.
Armstrong’s team designs products for Australian and overseas clients. Product development briefs cover commuter motorcycles in China, LCD monitors in Taiwan, chainsaws and power tools in the United States, and small domestic appliances in Australia. His credits include the design of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games torch.
Armstrong holds regular staff meetings on all projects to control the quality and vision of each product. He says: “We’ve learnt that any one project is everybody’s problem. Although we have senior designers with responsibility for day-to-day actions within one particular activity, we still use this diverse range of thinkers to contribute.
|
Key learning points:
- Group dynamics - In product design, one person may act as the central information funnel, but it is valuable to have regular interaction among the whole group working on one problem.
- Alliance synergy - Use business alliances to gain access to diverse sources of information and research. A company without internationally focused clients should look for suppliers who have them.
- Product development - Use a multi-disciplinary approach in order to take the hit and miss out of product development. Markets are very competitive and there is too much at stake to rely on intuition.
|
|
“So we will review progress on the Victa lawnmower even though it may be Henry’s baby. We’ll look again at the objectives of the brief, ask if we have met the mission, and take any corrective action needed.”
Armstrong’s interactive teamwork also includes the client. He says: “It’s never a case of us and them, it’s a single unit of creative resourcing.”
This approach allows Blue Sky to draw on the resources and know-how of its clients, which gives it a big advantage in keeping abreast of design trends. Clients such as Philips Electronics provide Blue Sky with research on consumer buying power, demographics, lifestyle and health as part of a design brief.
Armstrong says multi-national clients are not the only alliances that can be rewarding. Other connections are also valuable. “Another good source of information and knowledge is through a great supplier network,” he says. “A large plastics supplier, for example, may have information on colour trends that they have collated from global research.
“My advice to anyone in the product development field is to make these contacts. You don’t have to have global clients to have this rich liaison.”
For Armstrong, the core ingredient in product development is a multi-disciplinary design process that uses skills from diverse fields. For example, the company takes advice from an ergonomist at the University of New South Wales on man-machine interface, including hand sizes, head sizes and body dimensions. Environmental support comes from an expert at the Centre of Design at RMIT. For the Olympic Games torch, this expert guided the company on the selection of materials and emissions. Psychologists also advise Blue Sky on the effect of colours or lighting.
This diverse network includes market research, trend analysis and not surprisingly, the internet. Armstrong says: “In one afternoon using the internet, we can get a feel for trends in culture or lifestyle.”
Matching Blue Sky’s vision of a new product with the client’s vision can be a delicate process. Armstrong has a solution. He says: “First, we give the client exactly what they ask for. That is the minimum requirement. But then, we add our own vision as well. So in a way, it is a surprise they are not expecting. Before anything goes out the door, we will sit back and say, ‘Is that it? Does it have the essence of something new?’ Because if we can’t excite ourselves with it, it’s not likely to enjoy commercial success either.”
Highly creative people can find administration tiresome and Armstrong says that some office procedures - such as documenting important information - can be overlooked. This can cost the company money and alienate clients. Armstrong says it is an area that Blue Sky could improve, but there will be extra costs associated with taking on administrative staff.