blog - Pillar Product Design

Woman assembles electronic product during production in overseas factory

In blog

5 Factors that Influence Your Production Costs

Cost can be the make or break factor for any product development project, especially once you make it to production. When determining costs, there are two prices to consider. The retail price is the amount that your product will cost for the customer. The material cost of goods (MCOG) is the amount that your product will cost to make. While there are a variety of factors that will determine both costs, we’ll break down five of the most common ones to keep in mind. Target User – Your retail cost of goods should always be influenced by your target user as

November 11, 2021

Sustainability information molded into a new product

In blog

Three Common Misconceptions about Sustainability

By Bob Carrasca

As the world pushes to be more environmentally friendly, our clients often ask about sustainability, recyclability, and recycled materials during the product development process. Here are three common misconceptions about recycling and a couple ways you can reduce the environmental impact of your product and its packaging. Plastic Can Be Recycled as Many Times as Possible Plastic can only be recycled about 2-3 times before it starts to degrade and lose its properties. While some recycling is better than none, materials like glass and aluminum can be infinitely recycled and can offer a better End-of-Life for your product. Everyone Can Recycle The Same

October 26, 2021

Mackie CR-X Series studio monitors feature industrial design with metal faceplate

In blog

Collaborative Industrial Design – Mackie CR-X Series

By Bob Carrasca

The CR-X Series studio monitors are one of many products that Pillar has collaboratively designed with Mackie. Hear from Craig, a Mackie Product Manager, as he talks about the collaborative industrial design and product development process. Pillar: Tell us a little bit about you and your product. Craig: I’ve been at Mackie as a Product Manager for nearly 3 years, though have been in Product Management for 13 years total. The project we’re discussing is the CR-X series of studio monitors. CR-X monitors target content creators primarily, producers and audio engineers, but the line also appeals to folks like gamers and/or people working or

October 7, 2021

Industrial designer sketches new product idea

In blog

Five Things to Consider if You Have a Product Idea

By Bob Carrasca

You wake up in the middle of the night with an ingenious new product idea, but how will you determine if it is feasible or worth developing? To help, we’ve broken down five of the main factors to consider if you are thinking about pursuing your idea. Innovation – Your product needs to be innovative to stand out and will most likely be more successful if it solves a problem for its users. A thorough Google search should be able to tell you if your product idea already exists or if the market you are trying to enter is heavily saturated

September 29, 2021