Design & Development
We are not just facilitators, we’re professional innovators
We know of many approaches for fun, energising and exciting creative processes which feel great at the time but, if the ideas don’t progress to market, it will simply be ‘innovation theatre’.
As one of our clients recognised, we’re “not just facilitators, we’re professional innovators”; we bring broad practical experience of insight, strategy, design and technology from other markets which allows us to complement your internal experience and proactively drive corporate innovation.
Ideation philosophy
Defining the right approach to innovation and ideation makes the difference between success and failure.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ process – the right approach will depend on, for example, the nature of the problem, its key uncertainties, the business objectives and the organisation’s capability and culture. However, from our experience, we’ve learnt that:
What we do
Exploratory workshops
Our interactive workshops don’t just generate ideas but also prioritise key initiatives for rapid prototyping, ensuring that your product reaches the development stage swiftly with assured market relevance.
Creation of proof of concepts
Particularly with start-ups, developing an initial proof of concept is critical to validate the customer value proposition, aiding in securing both customers and investors.
Integration with engineering
Ignite Exponential can guarantee that every designed solution is not just imaginative but also technically feasible and designed for successful implementation.
Systematic risk management
Before the full-scale engineering phase commences, we validate each solution to mitigate risks, ensuring smoother transitions through each development phase.
Our approach
Our creative process begins with a comprehensive understanding of the design brief, influenced by customer research and industrial design expertise. Ignite Exponential is backed by Plextek, our award-winning engineering consultancy that has been designing and building complex electronic systems for governments and global corporations for more than 35 years. So, by weaving together innovative ideas with practical engineering insights from our engineering team, we can navigate the complexities of new opportunities in today’s dynamic markets.
Effective ideation processes begin with a clear definition of objectives (scope, criteria, outcomes) followed by deep immersion (curiosity, questioning, empathy) and understanding the customer and technical problems. We suggest teams don’t jump straight to the solution, but systematically explore potential inspirations, insights and even partial ideas from other technical areas, customer experience and commercial spaces.
Creating a plan
These inputs allow us to create a broad and robust range of new ideas. But that’s just the beginning – the initial ideas are an important input to better understand the customer’s problem (for example, through pretotyping/prototyping and transactional testing), create more ideas and combine, refine and develop existing ideas. Through a series of immersions like this, a multidisciplinary team can create a portfolio of ideas for its given problem.
But, of course, ideas are worthless without a tangible plan to monetise them. We help clients to prioritise (with customers ideally, not HIPPOs – highest-paid person in the room’s opinion) and develop a clear next-steps plan for which ideas to develop (or not).
Our work: iFIT
Transforming user’s installation experience. How can we create an installation/unboxing experience that is as compelling as the product usage?
We worked with iFIT to understand users’ pain points and create a portfolio of improvements for its products, some with breakthrough potential for the category.
Our work: Klöckner Pentaplast
Klöckner Pentaplast’s (kp) Food Packaging division recognised it needed to strengthen its innovation portfolio in response to the growing importance of sustainability.
It asked Ignite Exponential to help it identify unmet consumer needs in fresh food and plastic packaging and develop a pipeline of innovation that will help it continue to lead the market.
Our work: Celsius
Celsius Limited is an end-to-end cold chain logistics company. It provides the food and pharmaceutical industries with temperature-controlled distribution and helps providers to reduce their environmental footprint while creating additional revenue from unused storage and transport capacity.
It sought Ignite Exponential’s advice on how best to develop its technology.
Key skills
- Creative industrial design:
Our design team combines aesthetics with functionality, creating both visually appealing and practical products that stand out in the marketplace.
- Technological feasibility analysis:
We assess the technical viability of every concept, ensuring that our ideas can be transformed into workable solutions without compromising on the creative vision.
- Proof of concept development:
We create early models or prototypes to demonstrate the functionality of an idea – crucial for testing feasibility and gathering initial feedback.
- Rapid prototyping and iterative design:
Through dynamic modelling and agile methodologies, we quickly iterate designs based on continuous feedback, optimising the product for market readiness.
- Stakeholder and client collaboration workshops:
We engage with all key players through structured workshops to align visions, gather diverse inputs and forge a clear path forward for development. These sessions not only initiate consensus but also accelerate the innovation process.
We blend imagination with practicality
We blend imagination with practicality, ensuring that your innovative concepts transition seamlessly into tangible designs ready for the marketplace. Whether reshaping an existing product or launching a novel idea, our tailored approach equips you with the tools and insights for success. Join forces with us to transform your visionary ideas into reality.
