The Rigid brand of garage vacs for Emerson was up for line review with Home Depot and was feeling the pressure of competition possibly taking space. They came to us to refresh the line with some innovation and improved ergonomics and at the same time reduce manufacturing costs.
We first went to contractors who use these products daily to understand how they use the product and what improvements would enhance the offerings. We did this with on the job interviews with contractors both large and small. The results fed our brainstorming of new ideas which then led into our design efforts.
The design had to work from lowest price offering to largest and continuity of design language was imperative.
The results brought ease of use features, stronger brand identity, lower cost to manufacture and most importantly retention of the space at Home Depot.