Libbey Design Lab: Using Trend Forecasting as a Way to Evaluate Good Design.

In partnership with Etienne Escalona.

In 2019, Libbey, the biggest glass producer in the Americas, presented us with a unique challenge: To design a methodology for their in-house design team for evaluating the possible success of design concepts.

This project was developed in three phases:

Foundational Research:

It was essential to create an academic framework for usability and user-centered design as a way to create an internal conceptual vocabulary that could be used by their core design team to describe ideas with potential. This resulted in a paper that served as the foundation for an evaluation methodology tailor-made for Libbey.

Making Macro-Trends Useful:

We assisted the design team in using their knowledge of macro-trends to create tangible opportunities and meaningful design concepts. By translating these trends into product topologies, they had a starting point for coming up with meaningful products that could meet future societal needs.

Co-Creation Workshops:

We facilitated an implementation workshop with the Libbey design team for the application of the methodology we generated. A multi-disciplinary team of designers and engineers participated, working together to generate new concepts that could be feasible not only from the standpoint of design, but also those of manufacturing and packaging.