iNDUSTRIAL
DESIGN FIRM
45+ years of delivering timeless, user-focused product design that drives market success
powered by Psycho-Aesthetics®
Crafting products with lasting impact
As a top industrial design firm, we focus on human-centered industrial design services and innovative industrial design solutions. We have practiced industrial design for over forty years and have established ourselves in the product design field and industry. We collaborate and engage with clients at all product lifecycle stages, from strategy to ideation to design and development.
Psycho-Aesthetics® is our advanced design thinking methodology, and we use it to create complex industrial design solutions. As one of the most established industrial design firms in Southern California, we offer unique experiences and expertise. Our designers, engineers, specialists, and researchers leverage their cross-disciplinary knowledge to imagine and design innovative product solutions.
Years
Awards
Patents
Explore Industrial Design
Psycho-Aesthetics®
& Industrial Design
With decades spent developing and evolving P/A, it has progressed into a highly advanced design-thinking tool. It allows designers a unique skill set to find solutions around the shared objective, pragmatic, and insightful approaches to design. Our human-centered product design methodology has seven phases and starts with research.
In the research phase of industrial design projects, we perform customer research, benchmarking, and word bank creation. In the second phase, we synthesize the research into competitive maps, triggers, personas, and the opportunity zone. From those insights realized, we identify, define, and forecast specific needs that a product should address.
For every product, there are particular target audiences. In our next phase of product development, we identify key attractors to engage the target audience for the specific product. Each target audience has a defined “Moment of Truth.” This design process leads to product design that is ready for execution.
Design RESEARCH
Research Capabilities
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
We begin by translating research insights into meaningful design directions. This includes ideation, sketching, and early concept visualization to explore form, function, and user interaction. Our team generates a wide range of concepts that align with strategic goals and user needs.
FORM & FUNCTION EXPLORATION
DESIGN REFINEMENT
Industrial
Design Services
Often elements of a new product pose unique technological, engineering, or design challenges. In those cases, we sometimes have to invent new technology or use existing technologies or materials in new ways. We overcome these challenges by focusing on those issues first. Once solved, these issues provide the foundation to design and engineer the rest of the product.
Design Services
Design CAPABILITIES
Design Research
Human-centered research, when applied to industrial design, is a collaborative and cross-functional process. We begin our industrial design engagements by understanding the target customer for our clients. In this stage, we primarily focus on primary and secondary user research for problem-solving. Though we often use our ethnographic research capabilities.
Visualization and Sketching
Human Factors Design
Beta Prototyping
Beta Prototyping is a quick and effective way of bringing proof of concept to life. It allows potential consumers the opportunity to evaluate, test, and share their feedback on a product. We use this feedback to make improvements to the design and functionality of a product. Internally, beta prototyping helps our team form accurate estimates of production and manufacturing times.
We specialize in wireframing prototyping as well as physical prototyping. We use 3D printers, CNC Machines, and laser cutters to create prototypes in the studio. Having an in-studio prototyping lab allows our designers to quickly and efficiently bring sketches to life.
Intellectual Property Support
UX and UI Design
Beta Prototyping is a quick and effective way of bringing proof of concept to life. It allows potential consumers the opportunity to evaluate, test, and share their feedback on a product. We use this feedback to make improvements to the design and functionality of a product. Internally, beta prototyping helps our team form accurate estimates of production and manufacturing times.
We specialize in wireframing prototyping as well as physical prototyping. We use 3D printers, CNC Machines, and laser cutters to create prototypes in the studio. Having an in-studio prototyping lab allows our designers to quickly and efficiently bring sketches to life.
Markets &
Industries
Our designers create designs that enhance the lives of millions of people around the world. The products we have developed have created new opportunities for thousands of companies. We create successful products because of our experience in industrial design, consulting, advertising, and mechanical design. We help you optimize your budget and come up with a design that will be effective in the target market.
Design Expertise
Industry Expertise
Commercial Products
Medical Devices
Open Innovation
Digital
Consumer Products
Clients that
have moved
with RKS
FAQ'S
What is industrial design?
Industrial design is a field that involves the design and development of a wide range of products used in everyday life. It is concerned with the creation of products that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also functional, efficient, and user-friendly.
Industrial design encompasses a broad range of industries, including furniture design, product design, automotive design, packaging design, and many more. The ultimate goal of industrial design is to improve the overall user experience by creating products that are both attractive and functional.
Industrial designers work closely with engineers, manufacturers, and marketers to create products that meet the needs of the user while also being economically viable to produce. They typically use a range of tools, including sketches, computer-aided design (CAD) software, 3D modeling, and prototyping to develop and test their designs.
What does an industrial design firm do?
An industrial design firm is a company that specializes in designing and developing a wide range of products for various industries. The primary focus of an industrial design firm is to create products that are functional, aesthetically pleasing, and user-friendly.
Industrial design firms typically have a team of experts who have expertise in various areas, such as engineering, product design, material science, user research, and marketing. They work together to create products that are not only visually appealing but also meet the needs and desires of customers.
Industrial design firms typically engage in the following activities:
Product research and development: They research and develop new products, starting from ideation to the creation of the final product.
User research and testing: They conduct user research and usability testing to identify user needs and improve the user experience.
Concept design: They create sketches and mock-ups to visualize product concepts and develop product specifications.
3D modeling and prototyping: They use 3D modeling software to create product prototypes and test them for functionality and durability.
Manufacturing and production: They work with manufacturers to produce products at scale and ensure that the products meet the required quality standards.
What is the difference between industrial design and product engineering?
Industrial design often happens in conjunction with product engineering. Industrial design is the process of defining the requirements of a new product and then turning those requirements into a visual, tactile, or digital product. Product engineering determines what and how technologies can be used to fulfill the design requirements. Often there are many iterations of a product at various stages of completion to allow key stakeholders to make decisions. There can be multiple phases of design, including an ideation phase, a sketch phase, a CAD phase, and multiple prototyping phases. Product engineering should happen in conjunction with design to ensure that decisions can be manufactured while maintaining a viable price point for market acceptance. Product engineering is the process of combining or creating technologies and materials to implement the designs.
What are the types of industrial design?
There are three main types of design: experience design, interface design, and product design. Experience design usually encompasses the second type of design because it refers to the holistic experience of a product. Interface design, also known as user interface design, is often for digital products and refers to the way users interact with digital elements on a screen. In the world of XR, interface design can also refer to pseudo-real elements. Industrial design is a type of product design referring to physical products which may or may not be used for industrial purposes.
What are the industrial design processes at RKS?
Our core design process is Psycho-Aesthetics, a human-centered design-thinking methodology created by RKS Founder Ravi Sawhney. Psycho-Aesthetics has seven main phases: Research, Synthesis, Key Attractors, Hero’s Journey, Design, Execution, and Moments of Truth.
How do you become an industrial designer?
One of the best ways to become a industrial designer is by designing! Formal education can help you build a portfolio, which is critical in attaining a position at a design firm or on a design team. If you don’t have a formal design education, then you should create some side projects that show your design ability. If you already have a portfolio you can apply to a designer role at a design firm like RKS: RKS Careers
