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Hello there, welcome to Notion.


Notion is a new strategic Industrial Design studio. We collaborate with our clients to excite markets, helping them to create beautifully disruptive products, packaging, applications and environments.


Face, Slendertone, 2009
MetaMirror, notion, 2010

Air Helmet, notion, 2010
G35 Surround Sound Gaming Headset, Logitech , 2009
MX Air Mouse, Logitech, 2008
Shard Lamp Series, notion, 2009
 




 

It's a Journal.


A collection of our opinions and observations on design, consumer trends, culture and behavior.


Small wheels, the next big thing.
August 18th, 2010
The cycling industry has a wonderful tradition of being consumer led. To this observer at least, the next big step is small wheels.
 

MetaMirror & The Future of TV
August 5th, 2010
MetaMirror is a concept, a culmination of our involvement in the Digital Home space, designed in response to new television watching behaviors.
 

Change is Good.
July 3rd, 2010
This weekend marks the end of a big week (or fortnight, you could say,) in notion towers….
 

SmartGrid, Energy & Future Appliances
June 23rd, 2010
What are the factors which will influence the next renaissance in home appliance technology and design?
 

Life Apps
June 1st, 2010
How new applications can create opportunities for physical products, services and environments.
 

Transient Functionality and the “Input Device”.
May 8th, 2010
Let us put it, that the concept of an “input device” is out-moded. Advanced hardware to software interaction is no longer one-way.
 

The funny side of energy conscious car design.
April 10th, 2010
The cartoon above cracked us up. Part of the design cartoon series on Core77, created by lunchbreath
 

Disabled products for disabled people?
March 23rd, 2010
The criteria for a meaningful piece of universal design must be that it has broad, emotional, visceral appeal.
 

Notion & NCAD: Lighting Project
March 10th, 2010
The results of a project, together with NCAD, to deliver the fundamentals of form to 2nd year students.
 

Rider Renaissance – Designing the AIR Helmet
February 20th, 2010
Observations on the snow-sports market 2010, and the development of the AIR helmet.
 

SHARD – Desktop Background
February 11th, 2010
To coincide with the online publication of the SHARD Series we’ve put together a desktop background.
 

Developing the SHARD Lamp Series
February 4th, 2010
A compilation of photographs and notes tracing the development of the SHARD lamp series.
 

Watching online design “mature”.
January 23rd, 2010
Design for the internet; how has it matured into what we consider to be “good” online design today?
 

Design Curriculum Part 1: Design Sketching
January 6th, 2010
Working with the full-time staff at NCAD, we’ve put together a introduction to ID skills for 2nd year undergrads.
 

Beauty is Valuable
January 4th, 2010
Beauty is valuable. We believe this deeply. Why?!
 

Energy-Conscious Products
December 15th, 2009
Why we should be asking: what do alternative fuel/energy sources allow this product to be?
 

New Beauty
December 9th, 2009
What we call “New Beauty” is a concept which is driving change in the beauty/cosmetics industry.
 

Devotion (and Neil Young)
November 25th, 2009
Without people who are willing to be so devoted to an art/science we would get nowhere.
 

Transformations and Translations
November 25th, 2009
The concept of generating tangible results through translation is of great interest to us.
 

Websites are Taxis. Products are Trains.
November 24th, 2009
How does the cycle time of a project effect the manner in which that project is undertaken?
 

Isometric Histories
November 23rd, 2009
What does the future look like once we have been heavily engaged in social media for 20/30 years?
 

Full Circle – Fixies and Bicycle Design
November 23rd, 2009
Cycling, both as a sport and a means of transport, is currently undergoing drastic revitalisation.
 





 

How can we help?


We endeavour to be progressive in our methods, bridging between the disciplines of physical design, interaction design, user experience, and brand strategy. This is what contemporary Industrial design should be. It's clear that revolutionary products are created when these disciplines converge.


Brand Vision
Market Perspective
User Insight
Product Design
Marketing Collateral

Value your Identity...


We have a product-centric approach to brands.

To us a brand is much more than a logo. It represents a set of values and a consistent vision. Successful brands use this vision to create uniquely personal experiences.

We go into your company to learn about you, helping you to uncover your values and find your voice. We work with our clients to chart a trajectory, creating strategies at both product and brand levels.
Services
- Design Language
- Product Roadmapping & Strategy
- Brand Strategy
- Brand Workshops
- Visual Identity
- Opportunity Mapping

Identify the Opportunities...


Often the closer you are to something, the harder it is to see what's going on. The more focused you become on your field, the more difficult it is to look around.

We take a wide-angle view of markets. Combining competitor analysis and trend identification to provide you with the peripheral vision you need. By doing this we identify untapped product opportunities, mapping new business openings in your space.
Services
- Competitor Analysis
- Trend Tracking & Identification
- Opportunity Mapping

Understand what's Meaningful


Everyone's different. Quantitative data about human behaviour is useless without an understanding of the attitudes that drive it.

For us it's important to get to know the individuals that are using your product. We conduct user research to understand what makes a product meaningful to people. Helping you to build tangible knowledge about what makes your customers tick.
Services
- Customer Profiling
- Behavior & Attitude Analysis
- User Observation & Interview
- Product Usage Study

Give Form to Insight


The product is the point at which user insight, market perspective and brand vision become truly tangible.

It is only through thoughtful and meticulous translation of this knowledge that meaningful products are created.

Product design is at our core. We are dedicated to the creation of beautiful products and memorable experiences which help you to excite markets and connect with your users.
Services
- Concept Generation
- Hand Sketching & Modelmaking
- Concept Refinement
- Ergonomics and Usability
- Engineering and Production Feasibility
- Materials Specification
- Colour Strategy and Product Artwork
- 3D Production CAD Files
- Models and Visualisation

Extend the Experience


You never know where you'll make your first impression. A product is the centre of a network of touch points, any of which may be the introduction to your brand.

Controlling each of these touch points creates a consistent personal experience for your customer. We work with our clients to communicate carefully, creating marketing assets from apps to instruction manuals, websites to ad campaigns.
Services
- Mobile Application Design
- Interaction Design, - Product Naming Strategy
- Packaging Design
- Point of Sale
- Promotional Graphics
- Internal/External Sales Assets
- Online Strategy
 




 

About Us


At notion we nurture ideas to help business grow. There are key people and perspectives which make this possible, and which in turn make our studio tick...


Who?
Founding partners Marcel Twohig & Ian Walton established the consultancy to translate user insight, cultural observation and brand fluency into thoughtfully crafted products and strategies.

Our team’s background is in Industrial Design, sharing over ten years experience designing consumer products for both in-house and consultancy practice.
 

Product-Centric Branding
A product is the point at which your customer literally touches your brand. It must be a tangible expression of brand values and the centre of their experience.

We take product as the starting point, building and evolving brands from the core outwards.
 

New Consumer
It’s clear that the nature of what constitutes a product is evolving to serve an increasingly connected and collaborative consumer. There is a blurring of the lines between product, service, interface & experience.

To design for this new consumer one must be open to new possibilities, connected, aware and always exploring.
 

Beautifully Disruptive
Great products get under people’s skin, communicating at a visceral level and creating emotional appeal. The result is a positive disruption of the market. Our belief is that meaningful products are those that are catalysts for market change.

Powerful design creates these opportunities.
 

 




 

Recognition


Over time our work has accrued the following international awards and press coverage.


MoMa, New York
Logitech MX Air exhibited as part of “Design and the Elastic Mind” in MoMa, New York.
 

CES Innovation Award
Highly Commended in the 2009 CES Innovation Awards for the Logitech Gaming Headset.
 

Design Week Profile
Profile of Ian Walton, notion Co-Founder, in Design Week 2009.
 

2009 iF Product Design Award
Recognition in the 2009 iF product design awards for the Logitech MX Air.
 

Red Dot Design Award
Product Design Award for the Logitech MX Air.
 

IDI Design Awards 2009
Industrial Design Award for Slendertone Face.
 

Time
2007 Inventions of the Year
 

 




 

Building a product roadmap or developing a new idea?


We'd love to have a chat. Fire us an email, call the studio, or even drop by (we do a mean coffee). You can get in touch with us, follow us, even keep tabs on us, in a couple of different ways.


Email:info (at) designbynotion.com

Telephone: +353 1 4433830

Notion,
No.1 Great Strand Street,
Dublin 1.
Ireland

VAT Registration No: IE9736219N
Company No: 478054