The Inventor's Mind

Hello Fellow Inventors,

Wow! What a busy (and hot) summer it has been here at Trident Design, LLC. We have been working on some very interesting products for independent inventors in the last few months. We are working on a game-changing camp chair for our good friend Larry Murray. Larry identified a need for a better lightweight, sturdy, compact chair while IT contracting in Afghanistan for the last year. Of course, it also has an exciting, innovative angle we can’t tell you about yet.  He hired us to help him bring his idea to life and we just received the first round prototype from the manufacturer.  We are super excited about this product! Larry just came back to the States for a few weeks’ visit to ride in the Hoka Hey Challenge, a 10,000 mile motorcycle race!

A few other products we are working on are a water rescue device, a green home décor item, a travel accessory kit, an innovative cell phone case, a bike lock and a medical sleep device, amongst others. Our licensing division has really been making some great strides this summer. We have established some great new contacts in Toys, Infomercials ( i.e Snuggie) and in housewares.

Chris and Andy spent a few days in Southern California presenting a new, Russian  robotic toy technology to two of the largest toy manufacturers in the world. The initial feedback was amazing and we are hoping to see the technology incorporated in some very well-known established toy brands.

We recently had the pleasure of seeing another Trident invention hit the shelves of Petco.  We helped inventor Bill Holmberg design and license the QuickView dog nail clipper. Bill received his first (of hopefully many) royalty checks in July.

We have also been having a great time working with our corporate clients helping them introduce new products to their existing lines. We have recently finished up a child safety lock, a children’s training potty and a series of new dishracks.  All of these products will be sold into the major retailers of the world. There is nothing like the rush of walking into a store and seeing a product you created on the shelves. It’s an anonymous type of fame!Trident welcomes Inventors to contact us with your idea or product to find out how we may be able to help you bring your idea or product to market.

Please give us a call at  614-291-2435 to learn more about how we may be able to help you with your idea or product. We offer free, no obligation phone consultations for inventors companys with products in all stages of development. Please be sure to visit our facebook page to get interesting articles and tips on inventing.

Invent the future!

Regards,
Team Trident

We Would Love to Hear Your Idea!

Please Call  614-291-2435 or Email Us at info@trident-design.com to Schedule a Free Invention Consultation

There are certain types of products that we use on a day to day process, things that we don’t even realize we need unless we don’t have it or run out. One of these items is soap.  Recently, I have noticed a surge of energy in soap products that has been brought on by the development of foaming action.  All of these years we have been using liquid soap, and there hasn’t been much innovation except new fragrances and funky bottle shapes, nothing truly compelling. But when you change the consistency, it changes the world as we know it.  Sure it’s cheaper, but is it easier to apply? I don’t know. Does it smell better? Maybe, maybe not. But the fact is that it is just cooler.  This describes an aspect of the design process, the innovation aspect.  It is something we do here every day.  A lot of the things that we work on aren’t new and futuristic products. They are things that have existed for a long time and we are simply transforming them to make them better.  Just like changing the consistency of the soap, we change colors, features, and mechanisms that make a product easier to use, more attractive, and more likable.  The motto here at trident is “transforming everyday tasks into opportunities to enjoy life.”

-Nile

Here’s something you might want to give a quick glance over, 10 success stories you wouldn’t have expected:

10 Accidental Inventions That Became Big Business

As inventors and designers, we understand the amount of effort and dedication that goes into every product.  For the most part,coming up with the idea is the simplest part of the process.  When the idea comes to you, stars (and dollar signs) start to fill your eyes, butthe truth is there is much more to come before those dollar signs in your mind turn into bills in your hand or your bank account.  The product development phase consists of patenting, designing, marketing, branding, and the selling. All of these processes have to be executed with excellence, and only occasionally does an idea sell itself and not need much parenting and coaching. If you are an aspiring inventor with an idea, don’t bet on the easy route to Wal-Mart, instead expect a challenging process with ups and downs. And not every product is a homerun. If you happen to be fortunate enough to have a blockbuster idea, then more power to you, it is one less thing for you to worry about. But it’s like Chris says, not every product is a homerun, some are singles and doubles, but if you have enough base hits eventually one will roll around home plate.

-Nile

Accidental Inventions

One of my favorite parts of any product development process is naming the product. I love trying to come up with a word that captures everything I want to about it: its function, its purpose, its personality, its demographic. I believe every product has a perfect name (or 2 or 3) and it’s just a matter of spending time on the matter, combined with approaching it from a variety of angles, to figure it out.

The fundamental purpose of the name of a product is this: you want the consumer, upon hearing the name, to receive a mental image which stays in their brain and makes an impression, which the consumer makes associations with in their mind. For example, if they hear the name and see the item at the same time, the appearance of the product and what it implies will attach to the name. Thus, the next time that person hears the name, it will strengthen their impressions and associations. This will increase the liklihood of them ultimately buying your product. If your name is boring or doesn’t stick, the consumer ‘s impression will fade before the next time they see it, and so the strength of the impression won’t grow. People buy what they find familiar, so you want that impression to strengthen.

In order to make the strongest impression, you want to do three things: 1) capture the imagination, triggering a visual impression. This is doen by using words that conjure visual imagery, like a word for an animal or object. 2) stir an emotional reaction and 3) surprise the mind with the perfectness  of the name, eliciting a “how clever” moment in the mind of the hearer. Humor is helpful here, too, as are double entendres, metaphors, and word twists. You want ”clever appropriateness”. The right name can totally transform the perception of a product. The PowerSquid, if it had been called the Power Extender, would probably not have had the same impact and received as much attention.

So what do I look for in a name? I like names that aren’t too cheesy (anything with “easy” or a variation in it) and aren’t too abstract (3 or 4 syllable made-up words like Altria). If the name can tell you what the product does without being literal, that is great. As I like to say, I like names that taste like bread, that is, names that get to the point and don’t make the customer think too much. A quickly satisfying word with some texture. We are looking for an emotional connection, not an intellectual one. Names that are meaningless strings of letters (VGL, CRX, etc.) aren’t my favorite either, unless you have tons of marketing dollars to brand your combo. And even then, it will never stick in a customer’s mind like a word that creates a visualization when read. Names like PowerSquid, or the Wedgie, or Straptor.

Someone recently told me that they read a study which claimed that consumers had a strong preference for (and remembered longer) product names that were animals, like the Rabbit Corkscrew, the VW Bug, the PowerSquid. I buy it. Whenever possible, you should consider an animal-inspired name for your product. Of course, the animal should somehow relate to product, either in function or in appearance. Though I am not recommending creating products that intentionally look like animals. Their appearance should arise out of function and the animal-resemblance be a happy coincindence, for the name to truly be great.

Here is my list of Naming don’ts:

1. Use the word “easy” or any derivation
2. Replace letters with phonetically similar letters (‘k’ for ‘c’, or ‘z’ for ‘s’)
3. Names that are difficult to pronounce
4. Names with unintended meanings
5. Names that have a very strong brand is another field (Tide is forever a laundry detergent, even though it would have been a good aquarium brand)
6. Names with meaningless strings of letters (though acronyms can be fine if they are clever)
7. Most surnames
8. Too many syllables (unless that’s the point!)
9. generic names (unless that’s the point)
10. Hard to spell

When thinking of a name there are some technical issues that need to be adressed as well. 1) Trademark issues and 2) URL issues. We can discuss those in a later article.

I recently took a trip to visit some factories in China. I’ll be telling you about some of these places in a series of posts. First, I’ll talk a little about the PowerSquid factory. The PowerSquid is made in the Guangzhou Province, which is the region of southern China next to Hong Kong. This area is home to countless factories making many of the world’s products. The factories range from very ‘rustic’, to absolutely modern.

The factory where the ‘Squid is made is a model of efficiency. They make their own wire, starting with thick copper strands, coat the wire, mold the plugs, stamp the brass, mold the plastic parts, make the PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards), assemble and package everything. Watching the assembly lines at work is a sight to behold, with each worker doing one small task and passing the product to the next in line. It was an eye-opening experience to witness their skill.

It’s easy to take all this stuff for granted. Practically everything we buy starts its life in the hands of a hard-working person in China. If you ever get the chance to tour a manufacturing facility of any kind, in China or nearer to your home, I recommend it. It will help you understand how much effort goes into providing you each and every item that’s in your life.

Hello world. This is my new blog, where I’ll be sharing my thoughts on inventing, product development, and the monetization of ideas. If you have any questions that you would like me to answer, please don’t hesitate to ask. Thanks for stopping by!