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Good Design Always Endures: 30 Years of GX
23 November 2015For over 30 years, GX has been realising innovative designs for our clients – from concept to production. There are many different yardsticks by which one can measure the success of a company, the most popular being profitability and longevity. For me, however, the true success of a company can be seen in how its products and services are regarded, and it is the longevity of GX’s initial designs that I take much pride in.
If a product remains essentially unaltered for over a decade and still sells, it is a clear indication that the initial design adequately met the need it was created to fulfil. The design also, like the engineers behind the product, foresaw likely changes in how that product might be used or manufactured. GX have realised many such designs for its clients; here are just a few of them.
Clinitek Status
Used in urine analysis, Clinitek Status uses novel arrangement of multiple-wavelength LEDs to ensure accurate visual analysis of patient records. This product was designed in the late 1990s and is still being sold in over 100 countries, the only changes to the product being graphical branding elements in nature.
Domino Inkjet Printers
GX reengineered Domino’s industrial inkjet printers, making them more cost-effective to produce while also introducing novel cartridge loading to the product. This was one of the very first industrial printers on the market, and its core design remains unchanged to this day.
Oxford Instruments: Twin X
In 2001, GX was asked by Oxford Instruments to take two of its existing X-ray analysis technologies that analyse fluids and solids, and merge them into one singular, robust, ergonomic product that can be used safely in heavily industrial and construction environments.
The outcome was the nearest GX has come to producing a Star Trek device, and it was so successful that it won an industrial award at the time. Like others on this list, the design of Twin X remains unchanged, and the product is still sold and used worldwide.
Pallchek Luminometer
GX was approached by a local company to develop a portable hygiene monitor that could detect harmful bacteria on any food treatment surface. Using photomultiplier technology capable of measuring individual photons of light we created a complete vacuum and seal system to exclude all external light sources so bacterial luminescence could be measured.
The rights to the instrument were then bought by Pallcheck, due to the innovative nature of the vacuum technology and incredible sensitivity. Conceived in 1998, the product is still in use today, 17 years on.
Lion: Breathalyser & Screener
In the late 80s, GX’s designers were responsible for redesigning the breathalyser used by British police on the roadside. 25 years on, the design remains virtually unchanged and still remains the breathalyser of choice for most UK police forces.
In fact, so successful was the design that GX were tasked with devising a version for the Australian market, where police forces wanted a reusable rather than a disposable device.
Our success was again down to an intelligent interrogation of the original brief and our ability to come up with a concept that addressed all the requirements and specifications that the product needed to fulfil.
Always Learning Anywayup Cup
GX’s product design or product realisation projects are not always industrial or high-tech in nature. One of our most enduring designs is the Always Learning Anywayup Cup, which was part of a complete baby feeding range championed by Miriam Stoppard.
Initially, the cup was realised in bright primary colours on the understanding that this would be more appealing to children. However, GX’s engineers sought out research that actually showed that young children respond more positively to monochrome objects. Once the cup was manufactured in black and white, sales indeed took off.
Fulleon Fire Alarms
Simplicity and opportunism are often a product designer’s friends, and this was the case with Fulleon Fire Alarms. The design recycled transducers taken from old discarded BT telephone handsets for re-use as highly effective sounders in the alarms themselves.
The design remains virtually unchanged today, although ironically copies of the transducers are now being physically manufactured, as all the available parts from old phone handsets have been exhausted.
ID Card Printers
GX revolutionised the concept of our clients’ ID card printers by coming up with a core ‘H Frame’ system that can be quickly manufactured and used as a basis for all the models in their range. The new design switched the product from metals to plastics, reducing the manufacturing time literally from days to minutes.
LASTING DESIGN
The above are just some of the many products that GX has designed over the years. The longevity of our past designs gives me confidence that the new design solutions emanating from GX’s studios and laboratories today will also be in use in another 30 years’ time.
A product’s design has to last the course. We all live in a rapidly changing world where technology and our working environment evolve at dizzying speeds, in a way which would have been inconceivable 30 years ago. We therefore need to know what we are building today will work tomorrow, next year or in a couple of years’ time, and the only solution for that is good, far-sighted design. GX has a track record of having the foresight and the know-how to build a product that lasts the course, and I don’t see this changing for the foreseeable future.
Gary Ross
GX Group