Stuart Karten Design

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Stuart Karten Design

Stuart Karten Design, also known as SKD, is a Los Angeles-based industrial design consultancy founded by Stuart Karten in 1984. With a staff of 20, comprising design researchers, industrial designers and mechanical engineers, SKD assists companies in multiple stages of product development, from customer research and concept generation through product engineering and production.

Contents 1 Clients and Products 2 Awards and Recognitions 3 References 4 External Links

[edit] Clients and Products

SKD works in the fields of consumer electronics, medical instrumentation, housewares, business products, toys, sporting equipment and transportation design. Recognizable designs include the Jabra FreeSpeak BT200, which a 2005 Jabra press release calls “the world’s best-selling Bluetooth headset,” and its next generation, the BT500. Other notable projects include the LifeBook A Series Notebook for Fujitsu, the VG Pocket Caplet and VG Pocket Tablet for Performance Designed Products, the G3 automated external defibrillator for Cardiac Science, the CoolGard 3000 for Alsius, the Jobclock for Exaktime and a Time Empowerment Research study for Johnson Controls

[edit] Awards and Recognitions

Since 1984, SKD has received national and international design awards, including Good Design Awards, iF product design award, Red Dot design award, Appliance Design Excellence in Design Awards and Industrial Design Excellence Awards.

The firm’s proprietary design research process, ModeMapping, which uses a unique form of information design to organize, communicate and analyze research findings, received an IDEA Award in 2006. Stuart Karten has presented ModeMapping at the Rhode Island School of Design Center for Design and Business in 2006 and the IIT Institute of Design Design Research Conference in 2007.

SKD has received much recognition in the field of medical design. Its Clarion Speech Processor for Advanced Bionics – part of a cochlear implant for patients with severe hearing damage – received a Medical Design Excellence Award in 1998. In 2004, Stuart Karten was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the Medical Device Industry by MDDI Magazine.

[edit] References

Jabra Press Release ([1]) ModeMapping IDEA Award ([2]) MDEA Awards ([3]) Good Design ([4]) iF Awards ([5]) Design Research Conference ([6])

[edit] External Links

SKD web site ([www.kartendesign.com]) BusinessWeek on ModeMapping [7] BusinessWeek “Q&A: Designer Stuart Karten” ([8]) IIT Institute of Design, Design Research Conference web site ([9]) Design is Transforming Business: IDSA Los Angeles Chapter ([10]) IDEA Awards Since 2000 ([11]) MDDI Roundtable: Medical Product Design ([12])