Industrial design has always been about more than form and functionality. At its core, it is about understanding how people interact with the world around them and creating products and experiences that improve everyday life.
RKS Design was founded in 1980 on the belief that human-centered design and innovation are just as essential to success as engineering performance or aesthetic appeal. That philosophy grew from the early work of founder Ravi Sawhney in the late 1970s while collaborating with Xerox and PARC on emerging technologies that were redefining what products could be. Their work contributed to breakthroughs such as filmless dental X-rays, digital mammography, and some of the earliest touchscreen user interfaces.
Over the past four and a half decades, industrial design has evolved from a primarily craft-based discipline into a research-driven practice shaped by ethnography, behavioral insights, and systems thinking. RKS helped advance this evolution through the development of Psycho-Aesthetics®, a methodology that integrates psychology, emotion, and design principles into a practical framework for innovation.
From children’s toys to advanced life-science systems, RKS has partnered with companies including Apple, LEGO, Fender, and Pepsi to bring transformative ideas to market. As we celebrate National Industrial Design Day, we reflect on more than 45 years of shaping products, experiences, and technologies that place human needs at the center of innovation—and look ahead to the decades still to come.
45 Years of Human-Centered Innovation at RKS Design
“It’s not how you feel about the design or experience,
it’s how the design makes you feel about yourself.”
it’s how the design makes you feel about yourself.”
— Ravi Sawhney, CEO & Founder RKS Design
ARCOSOLAR | SOLAR PANELS
1983
Arco Solar Panels marked a turning point in renewable energy by making solar power practical for everyday use. RKS studied the emerging market and designed the first consumer-focused solar panel, engineered for high-volume production to reduce costs and accelerate the adoption of solar technology.
TEDDY RUXPIN | ANIMATRONIC TOY
1985
Teddy Ruxpin was the world’s first animatronic toy, bringing storytelling to life through motion and sound and redefining interactive play for an entire generation. RKS led the electromechanical engineering, industrial design, and design for production, innovating the cassette-handling mechanism and developing the plush, foam body, and head that made the character expressive, durable, and manufacturable.
PORTA | TRAVEL BACK SUPPORT
1987
The Porta Support was a rollable travel accessory designed to provide additional back support on soft bedding, helping alleviate pain and improve comfort away from home. RKS delivered the industrial design, design for production, and branding to create a simple, portable solution for travelers in need of reliable support.
ARL | SPECTROMETER
1988
The ARL Spectrometer, developed within Bausch and Lomb’s technology division, advanced materials analysis by precisely revealing metal composition under extreme heat. RKS contributed the industrial design and user experience, shaping a complex scientific instrument into a more usable and effective tool for metallurgical research.
APPLE | TABLET SYSTEM
1992
The Apple Tablet System, developed in collaboration with Alan Kay, envisioned a future in which personal computing would expand human intelligence and transform education. RKS helped conceive the concept of a networked reading tablet long before the internet existed, imagining interactive features such as instant definitions, shared perspectives, and digital learning that forecast the decline of printed textbooks and anticipated a shift that would ultimately save schools billions of dollars annually.
SEGA | POCKET ARCADE
1993
Sega Pocket Arcades helped create the mobile gaming category by allowing kids to play video games anywhere, laying the groundwork for today’s on-the-go gaming culture. RKS coined the name Pocket Arcade and conceptualized low-cost, pocket-sized products with conceal-and-reveal mechanics that folded or popped open into playable games, a disruptive approach that rapidly reshaped the market and led Tiger to quickly acquire the division from Sega.
MINIMED | 507
1994
The launch of the MiniMed 507 marked a turning point in diabetes care by making insulin pump therapy more acceptable and integrated into everyday life. To achieve this, the RKS team immersed themselves in the user experience by wearing first-generation pumps around the clock, delivering saline through catheters to truly understand life as a diabetic. This insight revealed the social stigma of publicly dosing insulin, leading RKS to redesign the pump to resemble a discreet consumer device, similar to a pager, a shift that drove a 900 percent revenue increase and ultimately contributed to MiniMed’s $3.6 billion acquisition by Medtronic.
DISCUS DENTAL | NUAUNCE
1997
The Discus Dental whitening syringe created an entirely new category in home teeth whitening, driving rapid growth for Discus and leading to its acquisition by Philips, in a market that has since grown to an estimated $7 billion. RKS addressed the dual needs of dentists and consumers by designing a system that felt prescriptive and professional while remaining easy and comfortable to use, and by inventing a patented two-component activation system with a proprietary mixing head that enabled safe, effective whitening at home.
PANAVISION | MILLENNIUM XL2
1997
The Millennium XL2 is a high-performance film camera engineered for faster speeds, improved video quality, and refined ergonomics to meet the demands of professional cinematography. RKS delivered the industrial design, mechanical engineering, and ergonomic development, creating a reliable, precision-driven system for an industry with zero tolerance for error or failure.
ZYLISS | SALAD SPINNER
2006
The Zyliss salad spinner introduced simple, one-handed operation to help users prepare fresh, clean salads with ease. RKS developed a global design language for the brand and led the industrial design and engineering, inventing a low-cost, high-performance mechanism that navigated existing patents and enabled Zyliss to establish strong patent positioning and expand its market share.
RKS | GUITARS
2007
The RKS Guitar reimagined the electric guitar by delivering a high-performance, sustainable instrument that eliminated the need for endangered tonewoods. Born from a passion project and close collaboration with Dave Mason, co-founder of Traffic and collaborator with Jimi Hendrix on “All Along the Watchtower,” the RKS team iterated for years to achieve a perfectly balanced, stage-worthy guitar with exceptional tonal range. RKS went on to incubate the company and build its own factory in Oxnard, California, producing thousands of instruments now played by artists including Dave Mason, Don Felder, Ron Wood, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Daniel Ash, Keith Richards, and others—guitars designed to be played for generations to come.
KOR | ONE
2007
The KOR One water bottle introduced a new vision for reusable hydration, replacing disposable bottles with a design-forward, lifestyle product. RKS invented the protected spout and sculpted a form that framed the water itself, creating a living classic that still feels contemporary decades later. Beyond the product, RKS helped drive the industry shift toward BPA-free materials through early collaboration with Eastman, enabling safer plastics to be adopted at scale. KOR grew into a global brand across sixty countries and became a cultural icon through unpaid film and television placements, including Iron Man 2.
HAMILTON | T1
2009
The Hamilton T1 is a rugged mobile ventilator designed to deliver ICU-level respiratory care in transport and emergency settings, enabling clinicians to act quickly and confidently in ambulances, helicopters, aircraft, and disaster zones. RKS conducted global research with first responders and translated those insights into the industrial design and ergonomics, establishing a new standard for usability and performance in transport ventilators that continues to influence Hamilton’s platforms across transport, ICU, and MRI environments.
UNILEVER | LAUNDRY ADDITIVE
2009
Unilever partnered with RKS to improve bucket laundry in water-constrained regions. Ethnographic research in rural India and China revealed the emotional and practical burdens of traditional washing habits, often requiring up to four buckets per load. These insights led to ergonomically improved buckets paired with a flocculation tablet that captured soap and dirt into a thin gel, reducing the process to a single bucket. The resulting system conserved water, enhanced hygiene, and integrated seamlessly into everyday laundry rituals.
LIFE TECHNOLOGIES | DESIGN LANGUAGE
2013
Life Technologies transformed the life sciences category by delivering high-performance laboratory solutions that elevated both function and user experience. RKS created the company’s global design language and led its application across more than a dozen programs, guiding teams worldwide through a comprehensive design system and rebranding the product portfolio, a strategy that supported significant growth and contributed to the company’s acquisition by Thermo Fisher Scientific.
GAMEVICE | MOBILE GAMING
2016
Gamevice is a console-grade mobile gaming controller that transforms smartphones into portable gaming systems, delivering an immersive, no latency play experience on the go. RKS invented the core expansion and direct-connect technology that allows the two controller halves to join and extend seamlessly around the phone and led the industrial design to turn a smartphone into a true handheld gaming device.
ALLERGAN | JUVÉDERM SYRINGE
2017
The JUVÉDERM dermal filler syringe improved practitioner performance by reducing fatigue, enhancing tactile control, and elevating the treatment experience. RKS conducted global research across Japan, France, the United States, and Korea, translating cultural and clinical insights into a new ergonomic and industrial design that gave physicians greater control while visually reinforcing efficacy and trust in the eyes of patients, helping JUVÉDERM become the most chosen dermal filler in the U.S.
PERIMETRICS | INNERVIEW AI
2017
Perimetrics InnerView is an FDA-cleared dental diagnostic system that detects cracks and failing restorations using Quantitative Percussion Diagnostics and AI, enabling more accurate, confident clinical decisions. RKS delivered the electronics, electromechanical systems, industrial and production design, firmware, and UI/UX, and invented a disposable, chip-enabled tip that prevents reuse, balancing rigorous R&D and electronics development with ergonomics to create a reliable, patient-centered diagnostic platform.
HYDRATE ME | WATER BOTTLE
2020
HydrateMe is a smart hydration system that uses sensing technology and a universal strap to turn any water bottle into an intelligent companion. RKS developed the core technology and delivered the industrial design, UI/UX, mobile app, production design, and engineering, creating an intuitive interface that accurately tracks intake and alerts users to consume the right amount of water each day.
FREDDIE MAC | DPA ONE®
2022
DPA One® is a centralized platform that simplifies access to down payment assistance by consolidating more than 2,000 programs into a single, user-focused system used by thousands of professionals and hundreds of organizations. RKS conducted extensive research and collaborative brainstorming with large, cross-functional teams to understand the needs of first-time homebuyers with limited resources and how brokers could identify the right programs for them, helping democratize access to homeownership at a time when 81 percent of aspiring buyers lack sufficient funds for a down payment and enabling pathways to long-term, generational wealth.
MERITECH | CLEANTECH EVO®
2023
RKS led the complete redesign and engineering of the CleanTech EVO® handwashing station, including its UI/UX, electronics, and firmware, resulting in a fully automated, touch-free hygiene system built for high-demand environments such as food processing, healthcare, and public spaces.
GALAXY | REVA HOOKAH SYSTEM
2024
REVA reimagines the traditional hookah by delivering a cleaner, safer ritual that preserves cultural authenticity while eliminating charcoal-related toxins and safety concerns. Starting from a clean sheet of paper, RKS reinvented a device rooted in the 16th century, leading all research, engineering, testing, prototyping, software, and hardware development, and generating more than 120 international patents to create a no-compromise, healthier solution for over 100 million hookah users worldwide.
ASPARGO LABS | DRUG DELIVERY
2024
Aspargo reimagines oral medication delivery with a clean, accurate dosing system that improves adherence and confidence while addressing the challenges of suspension-based drugs. RKS invented the handheld, portable platform from the ground up, leading UX/UI, engineering, design for manufacturing, software, and firmware, and generating more than 20 patents, including AI-driven technology that connects prescribing through dosing with biometrics and tamper-proof cartridges to help solve medication nonadherence, a problem contributing to an estimated 125,000 deaths annually and affecting the 40 percent of U.S. adults who struggle to swallow pills.
PA-AI™ | GOVERNING LAYER
2025
PA-AI is a proprietary intelligence platform that predicts and translates human motivation into decision-ready insight before products, brands, or strategies go to market. RKS evolved its Psycho-Aesthetics® methodology into a comprehensive, eight-module business intelligence system, humanizing AI in a wholly new way to fill a critical gap in an increasingly disruptive technology landscape.