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Atlanta, GA | Posted: July 1, 2016
Ann W. Hoevel
Director of Communications
Georgia Tech College of Design
ann.hoevel@design.gatech.edu
Summary Sentence:
Ty Hagler (BSID'03" won Bronze and Finalist awards at the 2016 International Design Excellence Awards.
Full Summary:
Ty Hagler (BSID'03" won Bronze and Finalist awards at the 2016 International Design Excellence Awards.
Ty Hagler
Ty Hagler's LifeFlow design
Ty Hagler's Sanctuary Saddle designSchool of Industrial Design alum Ty Hagler (BSID '03) and his company Trig Innovation have earned multiple top awards at this year's International Design Excellence Awards.
"For the industrial design community, this is certainly our Academy Awards," said Hagler. "We received a Bronze award for the Sports & Leisure category and a Finalist award for the Medical & Scientific category. Winning two awards in a year is quite an accomplishment that speaks to many years of work leading up to this recognition!"
Trig Innovation partnered with two North Carolina startups to produce the award-winning projects.
ALTR ERGO, a product-maker for cycling competitors and enthusiasts, collaborated with Trig Innovation on the Bronze Award-winning Sanctuary Saddle. The project is a cost-saving, comfortable, ergonomic bike saddle with a width adjustment bridge. More than that, this bike saddle project includes a system for customizing the saddle and a new material that dampens vibration over long distance rides.
The company 410 Medical engaged Trig Innovation to further develop and launch their product LifeFlow rapid infuser, a hand-held device used to administer fluids to critically ill patients. The mechanical concept brainstorming, 3D CAD visualization, rapid prototyping, industrial design, and animated videos Trig Innovation brought to the LifeFlow project won the Finalist Award in the Medical and Scientific category.
One of the founding members of 410 Medical, Galen Robertson, is a fellow Georgia Tech alumnus from Biomedical Engineering, Hagler said. Their type of collaboration is often mirrored by students in the School of Industrial Design’s “Health and Well Being” academic specialization.
Hagler said his work lives at the intersection of engineering and marketing. He sees himself as a champion of the customer experience. "In more plain terms, we play with LEGOs and crayons to make beautiful experiences for people," he said.
Originally from Gainesville, Georgia, Hagler said his education at Georgia Tech made a huge impact on his career and thinking as a designer. Georgia Tech's industrial designers are unique in the professional landscape because of their ability to balance form and function. (It's his experience that more art-centric designers are limited to addressing form.)
Getting pushed to deeply understand problems by his professor Kevin Reeder was particularly influential, he said. "You can’t be satisfied with a surface-level understanding of the customer, but you have to know the customer better than they know themselves."
His company, Trig Innovation, is approaching its tenth year in business. The company is focused on excellence in innovation, design, and marketing services for entrepreneurs and product development teams around the world.
