Iconic Reinvention

Instruments of Change

Reinvention of an icon is challenge designers embrace. But the RKS Guitar is the only product ever selected as the sole image for the cover of BusinessWeek’s Best Product Design issue. Hailed as the first major innovation in electric guitar design in 50 years, the patented Open Architecture RKS guitar reinvented an American classic with revolutionary ideas.

This iconic reinvention fueled the creation of a Harvard Business School Case Study, dedicated to the use of Psycho-Aesthetics to inform the development of this ground-breaking guitar.

A New Age of Creativity

Artistic Freedom – Unleashed

RKS helped Neuma usher in a new age of artistry, comfort, and safety – with the creation of the Neuma Hybrid tattoo machine.  At less than half the weight of traditional machines, the Neuma Hybrid is the first fully-autoclavable tattoo machine, to minimize risks of transmitting blood-borne disease. 

Whether operating in its original pneumatic configuration or with the magnetically coupled electric module, the consistent performance of Neuma Hybrid offers the artist an unprecedented level of creative flexibility.  Optimized stroke cycles and compliance built into the Hybrid generate create less drag on the skin and allow artists to work more quickly.  These features combine to deliver drastically reduced healing times and a quieter and less painful tattoo experience.

To introduce this innovative offering to the world and position our client as the high-tech industry leader and art advocate, RKS conceived and built Amuen, a Facebook-like social networking site for creative souls of all kinds. With this blend of strategy, design, engineering and viral communications, our client is now poised to raise the perception of tattooing to the art it truly is. 

Building a Medical Brand

Reassuring Practitioners
and Patients

RKS enjoys long-term relationships with many clients, including those in the medical products segment. This includes over half-a-dozen engagements with Swiss-based Hamilton Medical and U.S.-based Hamilton Company.

From lab equipment to in-room patient ventilators to process sensor systems, RKS generates market insight to design product lines, develop branding, and create communications programs that ensure Hamilton’s perceived technological leadership in a way that empowers practitioners, patients, and technicians as it drives business results.

Creating Market Ownership

Innovation to Remove Dental Anxiety

Fifteen years ago, start-up Discus Dental approached RKS with a desire to create and sell 100,000 catalytic tooth whitening syringes – a tall order at that time.

Today, Discus Dental has long surpassed the sale of 100,000 syringes per week, and the relationship has continued to thrive through the innovation of dozens of other breakthrough products.

LG Brand Family

The Evolution of a Super Brand

RKS has been engaged by LG over a span of years to create leadership strategy, design, and innovation for market segments from cell phones through major appliances. LG sought RKS’s proprietary design strategy, Psycho-Aesthetics, and RKS design concepts to inspire their LG’s internal design teams. The challenge was to provide LG with a brand strategy across multiple product categories which would make up a cohesive family of products.

Ultimately, the results of our work were used by LG to create its current leadership position where they were once perceived as being a simply low-cost offering. RKS is very pleased to be part of the team that has created a world super brand.

Sustainable Appeal

A Fresh Spin on Laundry

RKS’s Laundry POD combined innovative agitation technology with a unique water-reduction system to wash and spin dry laundry in new ways for new markets.

When made public, Laundry POD quickly garnered legions of fans clamoring for its production and was awarded 4th place in Core77’s Greener Gadgets Design Competition.

Contributing to the Revolution

Break-out Solutions,
Breakthrough Performance

In a saturated market defined by rectangular shapes in black and white, RKS created a design strategy that connected not just with iPods, but with iPod users.  From the organic unfolding of Firefly, to the Faberge-egg inspired Mantis, to the trio of jewelry-like earbuds, RKS designs for Vestalife capture the character of the brand and the imagination of the users.

The result of these break-out solutions is breakthrough performance. RKS designs for Vestalife have garnered a CES Innovation Award, and multiple Good Design Awards and iLounge Best of Show Awards.  Best of all, Vestalife earned the highly sought-after placement in Apple stores worldwide based on their ability to bring new users to their retail locations.

Delivering Kitchen Performance

The Sensuality of the
Kitchen Artifact

Understanding what happens in the heads, hands, and heart of the home chef led RKS to create “The Sensuality of the Kitchen Artifact,” a portfolio of more than 30 successful products for Zyliss.

A new brand language combined with innovative new IP resulted in a line of products users covet, and fueled the next-level growth of Zyliss in the segment.

Inventing a “Thirst for Water”

Water Advocacy, Not
Water Bottles

Entrepreneurs Eric Barnes and Paul Shustak came to RKS, with a goal to break into the re-usable water bottle market and convince people to give up one-time-use bottled water.

RKS first uncovered an untapped market of potential buyers who weren’t attracted to existing offerings which were utilitarian and geared more for use on a day hike than a typical day in our life.

RKS created the product proliferation plan and brand strategy which positioned KOR as a Water Advocacy. KOR’s “Thirst for Giving” Program connects with the consumer and directs a percentage of all sales to a select group of water-related charities as it educates consumers, turning them into water advocates, and brand evangelists.

Building on strategic insight and breakthrough design, RKS created a viral communications program that quickly built top-of-mind awareness for KOR Water as helped build a business from an unknown entity, to a serious competitor to the established brands in the market.

Listening to the Leader

Communicating the Brand DNA

JBL Professional is not a recipe. It is a feeling and an experience that users recognize. Thus, every JBL Pro product must resonate with the JBL DNA at retail, in the studio, and in the concert venue.

Our solutions for JBL Pro – four lines of high-performance speaker systems – have exceeded JBL market projections year-over-year.

Creating the Viral Icon

Passion for Communication

RKS conceived one of the first cell phone concepts designed for Google’s Android platform. The result is the reconfigurable Mimique.

Though created in concept only and not under contract to Google, the Mimique quickly became a viral hit on the internet, leading to calls from users, carriers and manufacturers worldwide to build and sell the new celebrity.