2020 in one industrial design studio

2020 was turmoil and complexity. And our studio is no exception.

In the first half of the year, our sales grew and the team became larger. We have learned how to work effectively with partners from related fields. Together with them, we have implemented several complex projects. The level of work with suppliers of components and manufacturers of various components and parts has significantly increased.

We have focused on prototyping. In our studio, there are two new services: concept design and generation of new products. All this made us very confident. We were preparing to participate in industry events, planning roadshows for meetings, as well as negotiations with potential clients. But in March-April, we failed in sales. By the middle of the year, we realized that we were not ready for the crisis and the changed market situation in the context of a pandemic.

The pandemic has become a catalyst for trends, whose growth was predicted as phenomena that will occur in a few years. For example, an almost complete transition of work processes, events, and promotion to the online format. This year, trends have become a necessity. And COVID-19 easily destroyed what seemed to be sustainable systems. Such changes give rise to unpredictable difficulties. You could feel discouraged, but it is impossible to feel this forever. Life goes on, and challenges have become the norm of our life.

In June, we had a feeling that we could fix the gaps in the promotion of our services and their monetization in a couple of months. In fact, our efforts in sales and marketing began to show some results much later, by mid-October. It all happened in the atmosphere of an ineffective project management and execution system, which could exist with a small number of people in the studio, and the flaws were leveled by manual mode or heroic efforts.

In August, we realized that it was necessary to change this system. We build management process and implement a different approach to project management. Currently, our workflow goes in a different model, but the rebuild is not yet complete.

In this controversial year, more than 20 projects have been completed. Some were so challenging that we ourselves do not believe that we were able to execute them so quickly and with such quality. Although, no wonder – we have built a dialogue with partners, manufacturers, as well as customers.

We have rethought the main value that our design studio generates, it is the creation of a new product. As you understand, everything has changed: the team, processes, approaches, and much more. We perceive difficulties as challenges and accept them, adapting to the new reality.

We would like to wish everyone who has read up to this moment health, strength, luck, and courage in the coming year.

This year was not so simple.

Let’s fix it together!