Give Ordinary Products a New Life

Entrepreneur.com: A stapler that staples up to 60 pages with even the lightest touch of a pinkie finger, a transparent tea tin lid that keeps out damaging UV light, a diaper bag that’s runway-ready–they all point to one trend: In even the most seemingly ordinary product categories, there’s room for extraordinary design innovation.
“I looked at the stapler market and [saw that] there hadn’t been any functional changes in over 100 years,” says Todd Moses, founder of Newtown, Pennsylvania, office products company Accentra Inc. Moses’ core product, the PaperPro, packs the power of a staple gun into an otherwise traditional, nonelectric, sleek-looking line of staplers.
“When my wife and I became parents, we entered a parallel universe of really bad brands,” says Steve, co-founder of Fleurville, a maker of high-end diaper totes. “People having babies now are very different from what [new parents] used to be. But typically, there’s an assumption that the kid is buying the products.” In other words, cartoon characters and fuzzy bunnies might ap-peal to youngsters, but it’s adults who have to carry the diaper bags–and the Granvilles had a hunch that something fashionable would be a hit. They were right.
For Michael Cramer, founder of Adagio Teas, making his gourmet tea products stand out comes down to design details such as a bottom-dispensing teapot that simplifies preparation of loose teas; transparent, UV-blocking lids on tea tins to give customers a glimpse of the product prior to purchasing it; and pyramid-shaped tea bags that combine the taste of loose tea with the convenience of a disposable bag. The company–which sells primarily through its website (www.adagio.com)–relies heavily on product design to attract and reel in customers.
Designed to Sell by Karen E. Spaeder [Entrepreneur.com]