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outerspace.co

The Story of Outerspace

The history and story behind Outerspace Design

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Fast forward a month. Mark was back from his Australian tour and looking for a fresh start. “Sometimes working for someone else provides lessons in what not to do ”recalls Mark. Recently married Wally was back from his honeymoon and feeling restless. Fred was back from Europe with a cache of experience and a fresh perspective. At the time, industrial design in Australia was “more vocation than profession” recounts Fred, “whereas in Europe, the Italians and Germans were really trying to push the boundaries. There were two or three established ID companies in Australia. We wanted to break the mould.”

The name Outerspace was a reference to the external area of a product, which industrial designers are traditionally in charge of styling, but was also a reference to their “sky’s the limit” attitude.

Mark Johnson, Wally Tench and Fred Blochlinger all studied Industrial Design in Australia’s second largest city, Melbourne, Victoria. They all secured jobs at the same small industrial design consultancy right after graduation, where Fred was already Lead Designer, having graduated a year ahead of Mark and Wally. The three of them worked together for a couple of years, gaining valuable experience, a good working relationship and personal friendship. They worked on a wide range of consumer domestic goods from bathroom hardware to electronic timers.

Fred decided that he wanted to see the world and gain some international design experience, so he set out on a global tour covering China, USA and Europe. He ended up settling in Switzerland, drawn by his Swiss-German roots, where he worked for two design consultancies over a four year period. Fred worked on a vast array of projects including sporting goods, submersible water pumps, air rifles, farm vehicles, toothbrushes, and other consumer products.

Meanwhile back in Melbourne, Mark and Wally were left to run their boss’s company by themselves, after the owner decided to travel around Africa for a year, shouldering them with a big responsibility, but empowering them to quickly learn all aspects of running a consultancy, from business development to project management, as well as all financial aspects. This was probably the beginning of the transition in mindset from employee to small business owner for Mark who was gaining valuable experience and confidence.

Upon the return of their boss from overseas, Mark and Wally were looking for new challenges and took on roles as lecturers to industrial design students at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) while working full time in industry. Mark then decided to take a month long road trip around Australia between semesters for a physical and mental break, and told his boss he probably wouldn’t be back. Such journeys of body and mind are often referred to as a “Walkabout” in Australian and aboriginal culture, and are considered a rite of passage.

Outerspace Design was founded by Mark Johnson, Wally Tench and Fred Blochlinger. Friends and colleagues who studied together, worked together, travelled and built one of Melbourne’s largest Industrial Design consultancies from the ground up.

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Initially the trio had aspirations of developing a uniquely Australian visual design language that reflected their culture, but were starting to realise the importance of international design, as technology was shrinking the world and intercontinental trade was converging markets. Outerspace Design opened the doors for business in 1990.

The name Outerspace was a reference to the external area of a product, which industrial designers are traditionally in charge of styling, but was also a reference to their “sky’s the limit” attitude. Some clients from previous roles followed them over, driving home the importance of personal relationships in business. Clients who had worked closely with the trio knew they could be trusted for commercial results. Some larger clients had ongoing design requirements, but most only needed help every 3 years or so, and this wasn’t going to provide enough demand to sustain the practice.

There were three major hurdles to securing new projects. First, Australia was in the midst of a recession, which makes companies reluctant to spend on new projects, and when they do, to run them very lean.

Second, in the face of a recession, companies tend to use in-house resources as much as possible, and in-house development teams see outside consultants as a threat, rather than a help.

The third problem was that most of the companies contacted had negative memories of working with industrial designers who were essentially product stylist, taking a client’s cash and leaving them without a manufacturable or marketable product.

Rather than get defensive, the experience took the Directors to a “whole new level of empathy” towards their prospective clients who were struggling to do business in the same economic environment and needed real solutions on tight budgets and short timeframes. It was clear Outerspace needed to prove the value they could contribute to the product development process. That entailed working closely with in-house teams, providing solutions designed and engineered for manufacture that were positioned to meet demand. In short, a good return on investment for each and every project.

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Taking a pragmatic approach, Outerspace purchased a Manufacturing Companies database from the Victorian government. Mark recalls, “There were 1100 contacts on that list, and we called nearly every one of them.” This resulted in about 120 meetings, 20 proposals and about 10 new clients over a nine month period.

Early projects included cable management devices for Burton Cables; Wiltshire Staysharp knives; tap ware for Dorf; rigging hardware for Ronstan; medical devices for Medmont, modems for Dataplex; and even projects for HP. These were the days before 3D CAD and 3D printing. Outerspace was very hands-on, doing a lot of sketching, illustrating, technical drawing and mock-ups by hand. They had a well-equipped workshop and could turn around full scale realistic prototypes and even batch production runs on short order.

Their design sense and can-do attitude saw the scope of work expand in all directions. Soon they were being asked to design product graphics and interfaces, packaging, advertisements, trade show displays, retail fit outs and even signage. Mark recalls a sign project for a major grocery chain. “They asked us to design a three dimensional sign based a flat concept sketch supplied by a graphic designer. Our interpretation was well received, so they asked us to make a prototype, and then they asked for a couple more. The next thing we knew we were doing batch production of signage – that kept our shop and spray booth busy for a while.

” Often the design briefs were incomplete, installation information was missing and even purchase orders were completely wrong.

“You get very resourceful and able to think on your feet, fill in the gaps and figure things out for yourself. At the end of the day, you’re there to get the job done and make others look good.”

Before long, 60–70% of business was coming from repeat clients and referrals. The graphics and advertising side of the business continued to grow and became a specialist department driven largely by Wally, who had a particular interest in visual design. In 2000, Outerspace bought up a small graphics company with eight staff to expand capacity. In 2006 Wally amicably split the advertising portion of the business to run as a separate company, which is still operating today. Mark and Fred refocused Outerspace on consumer products; electronics; industrial equipment; medical devices and structural packaging.

Images courtesy of Ian Wong - Olivetti ETP55↑

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Structural packaging for Australia’s big FMCG brands was being “designed” by a small number of branding agencies who were great at the 2D world of branding and graphics, but with limited knowledge and experience in materials, manufacturing and engineering. Brand managers would commission branding agencies to redesign their packaging, and the agencies were happy to oblige with great looking concepts on a page, but no idea of how to design for manufacturing. Sound familiar? “We saw so many packaging projects fall over because the Brand Manager signed off on a 2D illustration of a drink bottle or food container that simply couldn’t be produced on the client’s multi-million dollar production equipment” laments Mark. “Often we were called in to salvage or redesign a solution. We always insisted on working with the Production Manager and Production Engineer and work in 3D right from the beginning, which included making prototypes to test and validate on the production line.” Increasingly Outerspace was being invited to the table earlier on in the project, and eventually brand managers and marketing departments were contacting Outerspace directly, to be part of a collaborative team, rather than treating them like the branding agencies’ sub-contractor.

Bridging the gap between consumer demands and production realities has been an ongoing theme for Outerspace. “We often become the glue between the

Marketing and Engineering departments” says Fred. “There’s no room for egos. It doesn’t matter where the insights and ideas come from - what matters is being part of a team that pushes the boundaries, validates the design and works together towards a positive outcome. But we still take pride in the results.”

Outerspace has been gradually shifting its client base away from Australian manufacturers towards international brands and technology startups. Often they don’t have a manufacturing base, so engineering, validation, tooling and production management has become even more important. Mass production is often in Asia, so Outerspace is a bridge to China for many clients, having built up a trusted network of suppliers. “We make sure the original product vision makes it through to market” explains Mark. “China can offer cost savings, but you have to manage the additional risks.”

Outerspace Design has grown from a company of three to a company of more than thirty team members, including a satellite office in San Diego headed up by Jarrod Barker. The San Diego office was setup to provide personal, around-the-clock service for a handful of major clients, but was also attracted by the vibrant tech startup community. Outerspace already has a culturally diverse team and has always set its sights overseas. “We dabbled in offering design services in China and Korea for a while, but their approach to innovation is very different to that of Australia and the US” according to Fred.

“The US is a good fit – they appreciate our frankness, and our work hard, play hard attitude. Our US clients are very engaging and like to challenge us, and be challenged” he continues. “After a few trips to California, it feels more like traveling interstate rather than overseas – even the climate is similar.”

Outerspace feels the best fit in the US include tech companies with fewer than 200 staff and product development startups. Lean startup is something that Outerspace has been doing for over 20 years. Operating in a country with less than one tenth the population of the US means that your product ventures have to break even at much lower volumes, while still competing with international imports. It also means that there is less division

Any advice for startups? “Just because you can make it, doesn’t mean you can sell it. But if you can sell it, we can find a way to make it.” says Fred. “We always find a way to make it,”agrees Mark.

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and specialisation of professional functions. “We’ve had to be very good at jumping into a project and very quickly understanding the IP, the customer base, the competitive landscape, the client’s strength and weaknesses, and what it will take to fill those gaps to get a great result” says Fred, “it forces you to understand what is really important to the end user.”

And what about the transition from hand drawn technical drawings to the digital age? Outerspace’s Melbourne studio has more SolidWorks 3D CAD software seats than any other design office in Australia. The open plan space with floor-to-ceiling windows boasts a large, well-equipped workshop. “Over the years we’ve come full circle, from building most prototypes in-house, to outsourcing all models, and now back to producing many of the prototypes ourselves” explains Fred. “You miss the subtlety in scale, proportion and tactility by bypassing the hand model and going straight to screen. Besides, it’s fun to make things.” As if to emphasise the point, one of the female designers is shaping plasticine on a blow moulded bottle to get a feel for some intersecting surfaces, while the CAD model is open on her screen. On the workshop bench is a 3D printer building up a prototype plastic casing. “Some of the waterproof plastic parts we design and test have such intricate details and tight tolerances – this technology lets us push the boundaries of production engineering.”

So what is Outerspace’s long term strategy? “Stay relevant” exclaims Fred. “We’ve found, and most fast growing startups

will find this too, that when you grow to a certain size, company culture becomes very important. You need to build the best cross-functional team that is motivated and shares your values but avoids a ‘group think’ mentality. We want to continue to provide our team with interesting, challenging and meaningful projects, and our clients with world-class solutions.” Judging by some of the confidential projects they’re currently working on, Outerspace seems to be on the right track.

And what about the plans for the new San Diego office? “We want to understand and contribute to the startup community, and eventually grow the division” says Fred. “It’s like moving into a new neighborhood – you want to chip in and do your part, but you also want to benefit from living there. ” By ‘chipping in’, Fred is referring to the financial investment in the San Diego market, but he may also be alluding to Outerspace’s recent co-venture with CleverPet, a Wi-Fi product for entertaining and training dogs. And the competitive advantage of working with Outerspace? “Years of experience, proximity to Asia, client collaboration, operating in two time zones allows for round-the-clock development, and finally our concurrent design and engineering process cuts development time. At the end of the day, it’s about proving ourselves and building relationships.”Any advice for startups? “Just because you can make it, doesn’t mean you can sell it. But if you can sell it, we can find a way to make it” says Fred. “We always find a way to make it,”agrees Mark.

Early photo of toothbrush prototyping mould ↑