Product Development
Great product design starts with great insights, and great insights are powered by a broad perspective. Gensler’s Product Development practice harnesses the knowledge of the world’s leading A&D firm to ignite innovation.
Arper | Mixu
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As product designers, we’re always challenging ourselves to go ‘beyond code’ to deliver an inclusive experience for the greatest number of users. Everyone should feel like they’re being treated equally.
—Scott Star, Product Development leader
PBA
To help disambiguate edge pull use, Gensler designed a collection of seven millwork pulls — three of which are edge-mounted while conforming to the intent expressed in the current ADA accessibility guidelines.
Maars Living Walls
Maars Living Walls is a partition system that allows employees to easily restructure and repurpose the many open areas of an office.
PBA
Gensler designed a Single-Motion Unlocking Door Pull, where sliding, pushing, or pulling the door open from the inside simultaneously releases the bolt and thumbturn.
Nucraft
In designing Nucraft’s conference furniture collection, Gensler not only observed the relevant ADA guidelines for all rectangular and boat-shaped tables, but it also integrated other accessibility features.
PBA
Gensler designed a collection of Hands-Free Door Pulls that synthesize functionality and sculptural elegance to prove, once again, that high-utility products don’t have to undermine the visual integrity of a space.
Bobrick
Engineered with interlocking, peek-proof panels that configure to form standard and ADA-compliant bathroom stalls, Privada brings a level of elegance to the commercial restroom experience.
Client Services
As strategists and designers working with manufacturers, we boost a product’s commercial appeal and optimize end user experience.
INSIGHTS
Blog
Blowing the Lid Off Product Design: 5 Tips for a Better Trash Receptacle
When it comes to commercial grade trash receptacles, there’s no shortage of ways to throw things out, but many available options still fall short of addressing clients' needs.
Blog
Product Design for a Better Bathroom Experience
Gensler’s product designers reimagined stainless steel bathroom accessories to deliver a better, more inclusive bathroom experience.
Blog
Inclusive Product Design Should Never Exclude Style
Products that are ADA compliant are typically well-engineered, but frequently bulky, institutional in appearance, and emotionally dispiriting — and millwork pulls are no exception.
Blog
Product Design Gets Redefined When Creating a Wall for All
Working with our client, we designed a demountable partition system that allows employees to easily restructure and repurpose the many open areas of an office.
Blog
Product Design Gets Graphic: A Story of Life Safety
Many clients want custom glass graphics, but costs can be significant, and the process can take months. We partnered with a trusted manufacturer on a prepackaged program to offer a practical and convenient solution.
Blog
Product Design Takes a Bathroom Break
Hygiene enhancement is a cardinal objective when designing most products intended for public restrooms, but it’s not the only way to bolster end user confidence and comfort.
Blog
Inclusive Product Design: Everyone Has a Seat at the Table
With careful planning and thoughtful design, the conference room experience will be seamless for all users, no individual will feel singled out, and everyone will get the most out of the space.
Blog
How Inclusive Design Supports Resilience and Climate Preparedness
We have an opportunity to design places that are inclusive, promote resilience, and make preparedness more accessible in the face of climate change events.
Blog
Product Design With the World in Mind: Just What the Doctor Ordered
As one of the largest specifiers of furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E), many of our product design clients are asking for our reporting requirements for embodied carbon in order to be more responsive to project needs.
Insight
Design Forecast 2022: Product Development
As the market evolves, clients are looking for a larger scope of services — including sustainability consulting, ADA compliance reviews, and design visualization — to enhance the impact of their products.
Blog
Product Design ‘Cleans Up’ and Office Hygiene Gets a Boost
As COVID-related office hygiene and cleaning protocols play a role in the return to the office, Gensler’s Product Development practice has a range of initiatives to help organizations take office hygiene to the next level.
Blog
Why Inclusive Design Is a Critical Advantage in the War for Talent
For companies who are looking to compete in the war for talent by delivering a positive employee experience, inclusive design is a critical consideration.
Blog
Navigating the Circular Economy: How Reusing Materials Saves Costs and Lowers Embodied Carbon
Here’s how companies can proactively decrease the carbon associated with materials in a building’s lifecycle and reduce debris and waste going into landfills.
Blog
Work From Home Product Design: How to Make a Desk Its Best
With more people working from home, the demands on the home office will evolve and consumers’ performance expectations for home office equipment — particularly the desk — are expected to increase.
Blog
Egress Made Easier: Product Design That Stands Out
By taking an approach that consciously stretches beyond the codes, Gensler is designing products that are more instinctive, more inclusive, and more hygienic.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TRENDS TO WATCH
Flexibility, reconfigurability, and adaptability will be table stakes for successful product design.
Workers are looking for offices that offer a mix of experiences, as well as products that support different work modes. Given this desire for choice and variety, and a measure of inherent unpredictability, the one common denominator that can help ensure a product’s success is flexibility. Flexible, reconfigurable, and adaptable products will excel in the market.
New product sustainability standards and “circular products” will be game changers for climate goals.
Purchasers and end users are interested in products designed and manufactured with safe ingredients, recycled content, and low emissions. At the same time, manufacturers are seeking a common set of sustainability standards that provide clear, concise performance criteria. Together, these objectives will work to improve the sustainability profile of interiors products and drive down embodied carbon across the building industry.
Products designed for equity and accessibility will have an edge.
Inclusive product design not only creates a better experience; it can also help employers meet DEI goals, which work to ensure equity, accessibility, and productivity for the greatest number of people, regardless of their abilities or limitations. Products that address and ideally go beyond ADA standards without singling anyone out will earn a competitive edge.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT LEADERSHIP
Brandon Larcom
Product Development Leader
Brandon is a global leader of Gensler’s Product Development practice. As Co-Director of Product Development, he specializes in business development, identifying future design...
Scott Star
Product Development Leader
Scott is a global leader of Gensler’s Product Development practice and Director of Product Development for its Northeast region. Located in New York, he and his cross-functional...
Benjamin Holsinger
Design Resilience Leader, Sustainability & Wellbeing Consultant
As Global Design Resilience Leader of Gensler’s Product Development practice, Benjamin provides guidance on sustainable qualities for our design teams and partner manufacturers...
NEWS
In The Media
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The Architect’s Newspaper
3form Teams Up with Gensler for Globally Inspired Pattern Collection
The Architect’s Newspaper reports on 3form’s collaboration with Gensler for a globally inspired pattern collection.
October 10, 2022
In The Media
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Metropolis
Gensler’s Scott Star Explains Why the Specifier’s Point of View is Key to Successful Product Design
Product Development Leader Scott Star’s team collaborates with manufacturers to design product solutions for the built environment, from ADA compliant millwork pulls to wall systems.
July 05, 2023
In The Media
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Green Building & Design
Gensler and 3form Are Designing Products for Flexible, Inclusive Workplaces
gb&d interviewed Gensler’s Scott Star about why modern office design needs to promote flexibility and offer inclusive spaces that enable productivity and innovation.
June 14, 2023
In The Media
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Specify
Specify Profiled Gensler Product Development Leader Scott Star
Scott Star discussed the benefits of leveraging the knowledge gained from the firm’s architecture and interiors projects to inform its product design work.
June 05, 2023
In The Media
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OfficeInsight
OfficeInsight Features Formani’s “Haptically Engaging” RIVIO Collection, Designed with Gensler
The hardware collection, designed in partnership with Gensler, is suited for a range of settings including hospitality, residential, office, and retail spaces.
March 20, 2023
In The Media
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Inspire Design
The RIVIO Collection, a Collaboration Between Formani and Gensler, Offers an “Ergonomic and Elegant” Solution
Inspire Design shared details on the RIVIO collection, a stainless steel handle solution available in a range of finishes, that’s designed to make opening and closing easier.
February 17, 2023
In The Media
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Commercial Design India
Formani Launches RIVIO Collection, Designed in Collaboration With Gensler
Commercial Design India highlighted the new, uniquely ergonomic collection of architectural hardware, designed by Formani in collaboration with Gensler.
February 17, 2023
In The Media
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AZURE Magazine
Global Expressions Collection by 3form and Gensler
Award-winning manufacturer 3form proudly introduces its first collaboration with Gensler.
October 03, 2022
In The Media
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Design Milk
Global Expressions Collections Co-Created by 3form and Gensler
Design Milk spotlights a new, globally-inspired pattern collection for Varia resin panels and etched glass.
September 29, 2022
In The Media
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Officing
3form’s New Collection Designed in Collaboration with Gensler
Officing featured 3form’s globally inspired patterns for translucent Varia and etched glass.
September 29, 2022
In The Media
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Dezeen Showroom
3form and Gensler’s Global Expressions Pattern Collection
Designed in collaboration with Gensler, 3form’s Global Expressions pattern collection was covered in Dezeen Showroom.
September 26, 2022
In The Media
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European Product Design Award
Hands-Free Pulls
Hands-Free Pulls, designed by Gensler, was awarded a 2022 European Product Design Award in the Design for Society/Designs for Social Impact category.
August 30, 2022
In The Media
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Architizer
Daniel Stromborg, a Product Designer at Gensler, Shared Insights and Trends From NeoCon 2022
Daniel Stromborg attended NeoCon 2022, hosted at Chicago’s theMART, and noted the threads weaving between manufacturers, some of which are harbingers of things to come.
June 24, 2022
In The Media
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Architect’s Newspaper
Mixu for Arper Collection Is Featured in Architect’s Newspaper’s 2021 Best of Products Awards
Designed in collaboration with Gensler, the Mixu for Arper collection was featured on the cover of Architect’s Newspaper’s 2021 Best of Products Awards issue.
October 15, 2021
In The Media
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StylePark
Exploring the Mixu for Arper Collection, Designed in Collaboration With Gensler
Daniel Stromborg, Product Development Design Director, details the new Mixu for Arper collection designed with Gensler, and reflects on the need for sustainable systems that offer a variety of design options.
October 14, 2021
In The Media
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Architonic
The Mixu by Arper, Designed in Collaboration with Gensler, Delivers on Its “Environmental Footprint as well as Functionality and Aesthetics”
Architonic featured the Mixu by Arper, designed in collaboration with Gensler, noting “the seat, backrest, and base colours and textures can be mixed, so that its visual impact can be tailored precisely and uniquely to needs.”
June 21, 2021