by Laura Barski
Whether you’re working in an office, at home, or somewhere in between, it’s important to have the proper office furniture to support you. But as the world of work is constantly changing and evolving, it can be hard to have today’s furniture also solve tomorrow’s issues. Sure, you can buy the latest products to keep your working environment up to date, but that becomes an expensive, time-consuming, and wasteful process. But what if it doesn’t have to be? Often, these complex issues have the simplest solutions.
The Solution is Simple
At Inscape, we’ve been designing products for over 130 years, making us masters in the art of simplicity. Simplicity is about stripping away all the fluff and getting down to the essence of great products — effortless and understated design in function and form that doesn’t sacrifice quality or beauty. It’s important to focus on every detail to ensure quality and make each product a simple and effective kit of reconfigurable parts that delivers value to clients. When you master simplicity, you won’t need dozens of different product lines to solve every problem a client has. One masterfully crafted, simple product will solve dozens of problems so you can better focus on your clients and not on the product.
When all the fluff is stripped away, the products become more adaptable and flexible for the long term. There is nothing sustainable about having to throw away old furniture and replace it with new pieces every few years. Truly sustainable products are long-lasting and won’t end up in a landfill after a few years. Simplicity breaks down the complexity of reconfiguring so that products can have multiple lifetimes by adapting to whatever tomorrow brings. Simplicity can also allow for faster lead times, quality materials, and products to solve todays and tomorrow’s problems.
As manufacturers, we always strive to give our clients the greatest value. We deliver high-quality products with simple and smart designs that keep our clients happy and working with us for decades. Here are three ways you can simplify your design processes.
Solve Tomorrow’s Issue by Solving Today’s
We all want to be the first to solve whatever tomorrow’s issues may be, but we’ll never be able to solve them if we don’t first solve our problems today. Simple products eliminate the “what if’s” and focus on the now. As masters of simplicity, we learned the simplest designs are also the most reconfigurable, allowing clients to quickly pivot and adapt to solve tomorrow’s problems when they arise. Because our products are simple and smartly engineered, we work with our clients years or even decades after they purchased our products to reconfigure them to solve a new issue or relocate to a new workspace.
Aim for Interchangeability
Properly simplifying products will take time to engineer each detail perfectly and hone in on the idea that less is more. In the end, those masterfully crafted products will do the job of many, so it’s crucial to craft the few perfectly engineered products to work seamlessly with one another. One system and one bench, when created to work together, can do the job of multiple different products, saving clients time, money, and office space.
Don’t Sacrifice Beauty
Just because a product is simple doesn’t mean it can’t be beautiful; sometimes, the most visually appealing designs are the simplest. When a product is designed for simplicity, the possibilities for beauty become endless. Products then can be bold, stand-out features or quiet, subdued designs with minimal effort. Simplicity offers the greatest design flexibility for the products to effortlessly fit into any environment.
Because we design products to be simple, this can save clients money in the long run. One client, for example, had invested in our products. Because the products were expertly engineered for simplicity, they were easily reconfigurable and could be reused in the client’s move. By reusing existing products with new components instead of purchasing completely new workstations, the client saved millions of dollars during their relocation.
As masters of simplicity, we can strip away all the fluff and deliver perfectly tailored and customized products and an exceptional customer experience every step of the way. By simplifying the specification process, Inscape has allowed customers to be happier longer, with faster lead times, lower costs, and fewer headaches. Simple is the future.
Laura Barski is vice president, marketing and product design, at Inscape. Laura has 24 years of relationships and experience across a diverse group of companies in the furniture industry. She brings her energy, innovation, and creativity to product development, strategy, and team leadership to drive evolutionary change to product lines and brand perception. Laura collaborates with Inscape’s leadership team to debut future-focused products that showcase Inscape’s ability to channel its long history of excellence into modern solutions for today’s workplaces.