Speaker

Stuart Karten

 



ABSTRACT:

Innovate/Resonate:
Tools for Change

In today's marketplace, it's not enough to anticipate where an industry is heading. Successful companies are those that break molds, creating products that respond innovatively to user needs. Industrial designer Stuart Karten will discuss his award-winning tool for developing the type of breakthrough ideas that resonate with consumers, addressing unmet needs, stirring emotion or giving cause for a smile. Stuart will explain ModeMapping™ , his firm's proprietary ethnographic research process that uncovers opportunities for innovation based on shared experiences that indicate unmet user needs. He will present case studies in which this qualitative process has provided actionable insights and lead to industry-shifting concepts rooted in corporate values, brand equity and, most of all, the user.

BIO:


An industrial designer and entrepreneur, Stuart Karten subscribes to the belief that creativity is at the core of innovation. The recipient of numerous patents and design awards and national and international recognition by the design press, his talent lies in his ability to transcend the predictable. Grounded in traditional design skills, his success is directly attributed to his design philosophy: a blend of endless curiosity, creative anarchy and old-fashioned common sense. Since launching his Los Angeles-based industrial design consulting firm in 1984, Stuart and his team of research, design and engineering specialists have established a reputation for digging deep to find innovative solutions across a broad spectrum of programs, from medical instrumentation to automotive trend and materials analysis, and consumer electronics to toys. The firm's research-driven design process, ModeMapping™, has received international attention, including a 2006 IDEA Silver Award. Prior to opening his own design firm, Stuart, a Rhode Island School of Design graduate, worked for Southern California corporations including Mattel, Gould and Baxter Medical products.

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