Pillar Product Design / blog
September 16, 2010 In blog

Pillar Product Design business spot light with West Seattle Junction Association

Pillar Product Design recently was interviewed by the West Seattle Junction Association and will be on their very popular web site for the next 4 weeks. This is a wonderful opportunity for locall Junction based Wests Seattle businesses to let the greater Seattle area know about their business, who they are and the services they provide. Having the Pillar Design studio in downtown West Seattle has really been an amazing opportunity. There is a wonderful sense of community on our little island across the bridge. Down town West Seattle has it’s own pace and energy. I often think of it as much slower

Practical Product Development Practices by Pillar Product Design in Seattle
September 7, 2010 In blog

Practical Product Development Practices

At our Seattle, WA. based design studio Pillar Product Design we use practical sensible product development practices when working with our clients. The rule of thumb has always been if your client does not need don’t do or offer it. Sometimes your client is not sure what they need, so it is very important to sit down with he, she or them and open up detailed dialog on how they plan to market and distribute their new idea. Based off of what they need will give you a perfect action plan on what they need. It is that simple. Of course if your client is

3 Key Steps to Product Development with a Licensed Product
August 24, 2010 In blog

3 key steps to product development with a licensed product

I personally worked directly on developing new products with some of the toughest license’s in the business. I guess you could call it a sort of badge of courage. I have worked with Star Wars, Lucas Film and Licensing, Pixar, D&D, Magic, Cranium, Hasbro and Disney. These licensed properties tend to be very complex and rich with details. The world building involved in many of these brands have with stood the test of time. resistance to fads and fashion. In long running properties such as Star Wars you can see how society trends, technology and evolution has changed the look and the feel of the product. A licensed is an amazing person who has to have

August 17, 2010 In blog

7 Steps to product development with lean design

This chart is an excellent tool that defines the circularity of the six sigma process. This information can be applied to any phase of the product development process. Pillar Product Design often uses these sets of principles when developing new products for our clients. Following these steps up front will improve and optimize both time, product cost and resources allocation when developing complex multi-phase projects.  Step 1:  Define the product.Step 2:  Establish product line optimization team.Step 3:  Determine your target cost.Step 4:  Translate requirements into specifications.Step 5:  Design at a system level.Step 6:  Design at a detailed Level.Step 7:  (3) P Product preparation process.

August 13, 2010 In blog

Product Development for the Chuggington toy train project

Pillar Product Design is working with a local creative group to develop components for a new assets for the Chuggington train line. The Chuggington brand is owned by Disney and has really amazing success with the 4 to 8 year old age grades. The Disney portfolio for the Chuggington line is extensive: TV shows, Magazines, DVD sets, books, toys and iphone games. Pillar is very excited to team up with this creative group on such a popular and amazing brand of products. The Pillar team services for this project includes: 3D CAD design,  world class product development, industrial design, prototyping and project management services.   http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rc2s-learning-curver-brands-launches-chuggingtontm-toy-line-in-international-markets-81469177.html

August 9, 2010 In blog

Key product design & development steps for your new product or idea.

•Step 1 Come up with a great new idea for something that can be marketed. For instance, you may have an idea for a new watch face, or an idea for how peanut butter could be smoother. •Step 2 Make sure your idea can become either an actual product or design, or a process. If you have an idea for a new watch face, this would be a design. If you have an idea for making peanut butter smoother, you could develop a process. •Step 3 Determine the steps for getting your idea from an idea to the product/design or process. If

August 3, 2010 In blog

iphone G3 solidworks native file

I as recently searching for complete Solid Works 3D models for the Apple products. I came across an amazing data base of parts that allows you to download for free. I obtained a full 3D model of the iPhone 3D. I know you can purchase it off of Turbo Squid for $70 to 125 bucks, but if you developing systems that need to fit all major apple or hand held devices the costs to have these surfaced models can be extensive. On average these models run anywhere from $45 to as high as $135 per model. I found a site that has many of these devices for free including full SW

July 30, 2010 In blog

Hand carved versus automated carved guitar body top

Pillar has been working on a project to develop a production process of creating a  flexible highly detailed custom guitar body tops at a cost and time effective manner. Art like carved top have always been and still is an amazing art form. But it is a very labor intensive and costly process to do. What if there was a process that could give you the artist type of  value and quality with out the labor and time vested? This unique process allows for as similar up sell like customized cell phone covers but applied to musical instruments. Optimizing and defining product development process has been the most difficult

July 27, 2010 In blog

Spotlight Hollow Handles bio-degradable utensil project

The Pillar Product Design has teamed up with some very innovative clients with creative products this summer. We are working directly with a local client on developing a new and improved disposable bio-degradable cutlery meal kit utensils system. There are so many important factors when developing and improving an existing product such as this. It is like trying to reinvent the close pin. Everyday products that have with stood the test of time have evolved for a reason. That said it always to good to take a fresh approach to designs that have withstood the test of time, especially when new materials, technology and process are continuing to evolve and

July 23, 2010 In blog

DGA LiveSpeakr

Pillar Product Design recently completed industrial design concepts and product designs for the the next generation of Livespeakr product. This fantastic product allows for high quality portable sound. It also allows the user to rotate landscape and portrait pending the application.  It has been a blast to evolve this product to the next release. DGA is a young vibrant and growing company with lots of amazing ideas for producing high-end quality audio products. Working with this team is always inspiring and a lot of fun.

July 23, 2010 In blog

Star Wars AT-AT project

There is a super viral video out there by Patrick Boivin called AT-AT day afternoon. It is a brilliant piece of work which would bring happiness to anyone’s day. I love the creativity and level quality put into this short clip. Inspiring indeed.   Back in 2006 before I started Pillar Product Design, I was working for Hasbro Toys and Wizards of the Coast, I had the opportunity to project manage and develop 1/10 scale Star Wars AT-AT walker with two very talented individuals Mark Goetz and Blake Beasley. This was my first product development project that I worked directly with Lucas Film. The product development and design

July 13, 2010 In blog

New Sports / Work-out Booster Bottle Design

The Pillar Team is finally close to finishing up some work on a new integrated booster bottle system. This system allows you to store your booster in a dry environment and simply push a button and it distributes the dry booster into the 16oz water container. Simply shake the bottle and an internal mixing system allows for a perfect mix. You can mix up to 1 to 3 unique boosters at a time. This system keeps mess to a minimum and allows the user to focus on exercising and not messy bottles tipping over and the complications of mixing water with powder and scoops.

March 24, 2010 In blog

Working with Cascade Design

Pillar has recently teamed up with the Cascade Design team developing new components for their MSR and Platypus line. Cascade Design is the leader of products for the outdoor enthusiast. Their product have a long standing for quality, reliability and innovativation. Centered in Sodo Seattle, WA their contribution to developing innovative out door products for hiker, climbers, campers and mountianeers is second to no one.

March 24, 2010 In blog

Working with Cascade Design Platy / MSR line

Pillar Recently started working with Cascade Design team on some new components on their MSR and Platypus Line. They rely on Pillar to assist them on the ID developement, engineering and project management needed to get next generation sales and marketing samples for their new line of gear. Cascade Design products are time tested and lead the market with their innovative approach to branding superior products for the outdoor enthusiast.

Pillar Product Design working with Digital Group Audio on Headphones
January 10, 2010 In blog

Working with Digital Group Audio

Pillar for the last few months has been developing and working closely on a new product for DGA (Digital Group Audio) . It is called zip buds and it is a cable managment system that merges YKK zippers and head phone and ear buds cable systems. The goal of the program is to come up with a simple and clean system of keeping your head phone cables in order. Pillar did the ID concept, engineering, tool building , colors, stylization and prototype development for this product line. It looks to be a very successful

October 28, 2009 In blog

Managing pilot build for Animated Equity project

So the Pillar team is getting ready to build out a 10 unit pilot production run for Animated Equity. This product has a bunch of custom electronic components, metal fabrication and machined elements that are unique and very high-end parts. So when manufacturing, ordering or developing these parts, we want to make sure and guarantee that these will work and function as expected. The goal is to have this pilot build take place in the next 2 weeks. The Pillar team has worked dilligently from the ground up on the construction and development. Pillar is coordinating all the supply chain,