Industrial design for high-stakes products

Design decisions in practice

01

When the stack-up becomes fixed early

The electronic stack-up was locked early to meet the launch date.

Ergonomics, acoustics, battery, and CMF were optimized around this constraint in close collaboration with engineering and manufacturing.

The Result: A smaller product with better comfort and sound, without late-stage surprises.

02 When you can’t win on miniaturization

The microphone system couldn’t compete on size. That constraint was fixed from the start.

Instead of competing on size, the system was redefined: the charging case became usable as a handheld microphone, turning the constraint into the differentiator.

Result: A product that avoided a compromise by changing the frame of competition.

03

Flexibility comes from a modular core

A retail system had to work across hundreds of stores and shelfing systems.

Instead of designing for every scenario, the system was reduced to a modular core. Everything else was allowed to adapt locally.

Result: A flexible system that scaled across the country without compromising coherence.

04

Changing a design language is a risk

A global audio brand needed to evolve its flagship design language. Years of brand equity were at stake.

Instead of committing blindly, future directions were visualized and tested with customers before locking the language.

Result: A validated design pivot that delivered 4× sales over its predecessor.

05

Show the experience, not the feature

A high-end brand’s retail spaces emphasized the large product range, which intimidated newcomers.

The focus shifted from what the brand had done to what customers could do with the products. The product stayed the same. The entry point changed.

Result: A more accessible retail experience that attracted new customers without diluting the brand.

06

Technology only lands when framed as experience

A research team at a global technology company needed to communicate spatial audio internally. Technical specifications alone didn’t convince.

Instead, capabilities were translated into experiential stories that made the technology tangible.

Result: A shared understanding that allowed the work to flow into next-generation computing products over multiple years.

07

Branding is easy. Product coherence is not.

Ten years with a global audio company. The work started with branding. Then design language. Then product architecture.

The real challenge was aligning teams in a decentralized product organization. Coherence didn’t come from guidelines, but from shared product principles that guided decisions across teams.

Result: A coherent product portfolio built over time, across teams, without top-down control.

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