Almadesign’s goal is to create innovative products that will enhance people’s lives by contributing to their sustainability and success. We are a design studio with core competencies in the design of products, services and design management, structuring product development methodologies and implementing industrial innovation processes. We drive innovation through design, developing user-centred technology-based solutions mainly for Transports, Product and Interiors.
Understanding users’ experiences from interacting with products and environments help us engage people, stimulate their senses, feelings and emotions. Combining social, technological, and economic perspectives, Almadesign uses a holistic approach to design sustainable products and services, which are able to improve people’s lives.
USER-CENTERED DESIGN
The company was founded in 1997, by Rui Marcelino, coming out with an Engineering Master in Lisbon and a Transportation Design Master in Italy. From the beginning, the focus of Almadesign activity has been the development of technology based solutions around the human being – user-centred design.
The company’s areas of activity are transport design, product design and communication design. Based on more than 20 years of experience and a solid knowledge in areas of design and engineering, Almadesign works with its customers and partners in all phases of product development. The studio acts as a “conceptual integrator” articulating different actors’ needs and expectations, from identifying and structuring requirements to conceptualizing and developing solutions for production and marketing.
The design process is divided into separate phases, so that clients can choose from assigning the studio for a specific activity or for the full range of design activities, such as consulting, concept studies, development, prototyping/ production monitoring and marketing/ promotion. This process is tailored to the specific needs of each situation and is reviewed periodically to keep up with new technological and market innovations. Almadesign’s processes have been developed to meet customer’s needs, achieving the best compromise between sustainability, function, aesthetics, production and market requirements.
CROSS POLLINATION
A collaborative approach in several projects gave birth to the “cross-pollination” methodology, in which solutions from different fields are combined, allowing Almadesign to explore holistic design directions and approaches by using a user-centered, Design Thinking, approach. The collaboration experiences with multidisciplinary partners throughout the whole product development cycle offers the studio a unique approach to generate new paths for research and development projects, as well as new ranges of market-ready products and solutions with the contribution of different perspectives, social, technical and economical.
The broad experience of designing products and services across different industries – from transportation to healthcare, from industrial machinery to retail – has led the team to develop innovative solutions, based on the collaboration between different companies – often unexpected ones – migrating and integrating state-of-the-art technologies, implementing new manufacturing processes and applying novel materials.
STUDIO CULTURE
Almadesign promotes its team creativity and we try to develop a culture of excellence and trust with partners and clients. The studio’s work is based on trust relationships, the foundations in which to turn challenges into new opportunities and develop innovative solutions.
The studio team shares values such as work ethic, commitment, solidarity, teamwork, confidence, striving for innovation and assertiveness, with a clear collective knowledge of the studio mission. Culture, leadership and team spirit provide an adequate motivation within the studio and a common goal of excellence for the team. We foster a youthful spirit and culture, which derives mainly from our creative activity, environment and the team member’s profile, a central factor for the studio performance.
MAIN AWARDS
• 2021 Red Dot Award, Transformer Core 40 MVA – EFACEC
• 2021 Red Dot Award, XBarrier 100 – EFACEC
• 2020/21 Crystal Cabin Award Winner, ‘Cabin Concepts’ Category, ALICE Project – Eviation
• 2020 IDA Design Award, Gold Winner, Flexcraft Project – Flexcraft Consortium
• 2020 IDA Design Award, Gold Winner, CAT 12.0 Catamaran – Sunconcept
• 2020 International Yacht and Aviation Award Finalist, ‘Private Jet/Small Jet’, ALICE Project – Eviation
• 2020 IF Design Award, Product Design Category ALICE Project – Eviation
• 2019 Green Good Design Award, CAT 12.0 Catamaran – Sunconcept
• 2018 Crystal Cabin Award Finalist, Aircraft Seat Project – PASSME
• 2017 Good Design Award, Aralab Testa Project – ARALAB
• 2016 Green Good Design Award, DesAIR Project – DesAIR consortium
• 2015 Good Design Award, inTRAIN Project – inTRAIN consortium
• 2013 Good Design Award, ISEAT Project – ISEAT consortium
• 2012 Crystal Cabin Award Winner, LIFE Project – LIFE consortium
