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 * Scott W. Osiecki **
 * Interview with Vice President and Head of Design **

Bio: Scott Osiecki leads product design strategy at ChaseDesign and helps clients grow businesses through innovation. He is an expert and leader in the field of design and has years of experience with materials selection and properties as an industrial designer.

To start things off for this phone interview, we talked about all the challenges in designing sustainable things and complexities in the design process for both physical products and packaging. Every year, the industry is coming out with more and more tools that make it easier for us to be more and more certain of the impact that our design decisions will have on the environment. We can do accurate cost analysis and lifecycle analysis based on materials chosen but there are still many factors that are not considered in these design tools and no matter how sophisticated the process gets, these are still just a best guess. Considering the fact that it’s usually just a ballpark estimate, the fact that these tools are quite expensive, the fact that each analysis for each design iteration is computing and time intensive, along with the reality that our clients usually change their minds a few times over for less expensive but have more of an ecological impact, we usually don’t take the time to perform these types of analysis. The clients themselves are bestowed with that responsibility when the product is more finalized and ready for development. This is less than ideal because it should be more of a seamless process during the ideation and iteration phase when a plethora of concept ideas are being compared. Within our current working constraints, our best strategy for sustainability is to design products that last. Products designed responsibly to be durable and functional with “timeless aesthetic” will always catch your eye and evoke an emotional response both through site, ownership, and physical use and interaction. “It is possible for our society to make products that are sustainable for the world but the challenge is transitioning to this point profitably in the real world.” Cost is a huge factor in our day-to-day work. Although we would love to design cool new products that are always something totally different that no one has ever seen, it is entirely necessary to design transitional products and steppingstones to the more bold and innovative and intelligent ideas because the companies that we work with have the means to do this. They have establish manufacturing processes that can produce these items cheaply and it is in our best interest to accommodate to existing processes to come up with affordable and marketable realistic products that can increase the profitability of the companies we work for and in doing so, elevate our reputation as the design firm that can deliver. There is so much to consider and it is all but impossible to design something that meets everyone’s needs. It is important to establish a definite user group before wasting time brainstorming product features your end user will never need or use. We often feel conflicted and sense that we are trying to design more for the client than end user of the products. It is unfortunate but necessary for our company’s success in the long term.
 * Sustainable Design and Design Complexity**

There may soon be growing obsolescence of Design Consulting. We are noticing a trend all around the country where large companies are switching to in-house design and building their own design teams specifically tailored to their industry. It seems that designers are becoming more and more specialized and have to this focus on more specific product categories and become experts in a refined field. This often this may eventually bring about the obsolescence or at least reduce need of companies design consultancies like us that work with a variety of product categories. I believe that we will always be needed because that outside you and perspective and ability to connect different ideas from different areas is essential to innovation and the process of spontaneous creation that specialize design teams inside of companies often lack due to tunnel vision and narrow minded design adherence to what has worked in the past. Yes I believe there will always be a place for the work that we provide. Innovation cannot be limited to a specific field. Making connections between applications in various fields is essential to the process and this is why we employ a variety of professionals with experience in numerous fields. As much as we would love to hire someone like you with your talents, our product design team is being trimmed and we are moving into retail markets and focusing more on graphic design and display as well as shopper experience within the retail setting. It is unfortunate and we don’t wish that we get rid of product design completely, however clients that we do have are asking less of us, and we are finding it more and more difficult to find new clients with product design needs. This may be specific to this area, but this some of the companies that we work with our global and this trend is on the rise.
 * Design Consultancies**

We talked a lot about innovation and a lot of the realities of the industry in regards to iteration and the barriers to introducing great new ideas in real-world markets. Scott continually expressed his frustrations in working for clients that were big brands and have their product lines planned out at years in advance. When dealing with larger companies like Energizer and P&G, new product introductions are often mapped out and scheduled for 5 to 10 years down the road. This presents a huge obstacle when companies like this come to us expecting innovative new ideas but only ones confined within their expectations for their current plan and quarterly predicted revenue. For these projects, the may just see us as the ones that make the products look nice so that more people will be moved to buy them. Yes, this is a part of their job but they can provide so much more if the client will allow them to. Scott and many of the other designers more often enjoy the projects where they are working for small brand clients who are much more willing to take innovation risks and try out new ideas. “These are the guys that end up with the most patients and the best competitive edge because consumers are eager to try out those cool new things.” They have a process established within the company where they analyze almost every aspect of a product and research the client themselves, their values, and what their goals should be.
 * Barriers to Innovation**

Last summer, I was lucky enough to have had an internship with ChaseDesign. It was an eye-opening experience to the design process and design culture within a struggling company. They are not struggling in the sense that they are not growing or successful however, the specific area of product design is declining within the region and their having more and more trouble finding clients that need design work done for them. This is not due to a lesson demand for their services that are lessened need for their services for services provided by outside help as most design is moving in the house. As a result, portions of my internship were carried out at Mack Studios which is a company that ChaseDesign collaborates with to prototype and build some of the display pieces and shelving arrangements for the retail market. This is the one area they are really moving into and doing well with and have become a leading consultant in. One part of this real world work experience that was extremely valuable to me was bearing witness to the various relations between designers, management, marketing, and the clients. I had the opportunity to accompany designers to manufacturing plants and various and client facilities where current market products were being produced. I participated in meetings with managers, engineers, designers, and marketers all in the same room discussing different design concepts proposed. We debated the advantages and disadvantages of different features and designs based on expected performance, user needs, manufacturability, and cost. Hearing conversations about sustainable design were quite rare but the subject did occasionally come up in relation to cost and material reduction while maintaining strength and durability for long-lasting product over time that remained functional and continued to meet the user needs and not become obsolete.
 * My Experience with ChaseDesign**