Gert Trauernicht
M001723
Germany / Industrial Design
Gert Trauernicht is co-founder of the industrial design agency Squareone GmbH, located in Düsseldorf, Germany, since 2002. His second position is a professorship at the Bergische Universität Wuppertal.
During his career, he has worked for various clients in diverse branches as well as countries. As visiting academic for industrial design, he has spent a year in Seoul, South Korea at IGSID (postgraduate program) and worked for the Korean Institute of Industrial Design and Packaging (KIDP) as design consultant. Before going to University of Wuppertal, he was principal and director of industrial design at Design Continuum in Boston, USA and lead the Industrial Design Group.
Coming from classic product design for brands in the tableware area, he naturally developed his own process for product development that he teaches and uses during his business life but that has also lead to the Cube of Innovation, a tool that collects various design and innovation methods to a holistic kit.
His understanding of correlations and huge knowledge base forms him into a demanded sparring partner for managers, entrepreneurs and shareholders who seek for an external eye to eye consulting besides daily business.
"I’m interested in the limitations of the imaginable and the solutions to seemingly unsolvable and complex problems. I love getting to the bottom of things and by structural analysis make them appear less complex and complicated. Innovation to me is a mixture of attitude, process, persistence and provoked luck."
Portfolio
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ABC DESIGN – DESIGN ENGINEERING & PLATFORM DEVELOPMENT
In focus of the development was on the one hand the aesthetic revision of the current generation and at the same time the functional and technical optimisation of three different prams on the other. Primary goal of the design was to discreetly combine infantile forms including a clear impression of safety with explicit functional semantics.
All in all, patents for three of the technically new principles were registered. -
CARL MERTENS CONSULTING
Being capable of competing in the European as well as the Asian market, was the main goal of the traditional company from Solingen. Therefore, Squareone took various measures, for example streamlining the product range, analysis and definition of the brand, innovation of new products, that underline the brand, sourcing of distributors as well as communication with Chinese partners.
Squareone developed new core values, as well as portfolio and communication strategies – without losing the company’s original values and origin. -
CARL MERTENS DESIGN DEVELOPMENT METZ
The design of the kitchen knife series METZ is a direct transmission of the theoretical company strategy into physical products that represent the new values: authentic, rough and straight design with attention to detail. Each knife has a laser engraved number that indicated the type and production month and year. The series covers European and Asian demands for semi-professional knife shapes.
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PICARD DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
Picard, the leading German manufacturer of high quality hammers, commissioned squareone to develop a new tile hammer. The resulting product was awarded with the iF Product Design Award 2010 and nominated for the Designpreis Deutschland 2011.
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REMMERT STRATEGIC CONSULTING
Apart from the tasks in design-oriented product and software development, from which in the meantime an award-winning holistic product and design language arose, Squareone helps the Friedrich Remmert GmbH especially with the development of a corporate strategy and with the planning of the “roadmap”.
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REMMERT DESIGN LANGUAGE
Squareone developed an integrated design language for the hardware product portfolio of Friedrich Remmert GmbH on this project. In this case, the design language combines insights from a sound analysis of portfolio and competition with the most important characteristics of Remmert’s brand communication.
The design proposal defines the design features of both products and product line. This includes look-and-feel, proportion, usability, communication, materiality, chromaticity amongst others. The design has won the iF Award in the category product. -
REUSS-SEIFERT STRATEGIC CONSULTING
Reuss-Seifert is eligible for changing the market for concrete reinforcement spacers with creative solutions and innovation. For this purpose, the product development process by squareone was adapted to Reuss-Seifert purposes to allow them to independently develop innovative products on a regular basis in the future.
On the basis of examples and blank templates, an extensive toolbox was created that can be used as needed. Check lists, specs and milestones set the course for a structured and speedy development. -
STAHLWILLE PRODUCT DESIGN & DESIGN LANGUAGE
Goal of the project was to develop a new design language for Stahlwille and transfer it onto the product series of torque wrenches. The product development first took place for the mechanical and digital torque wrench.
The design has won the Red Dot Award in 2018. The Jury of RedDot Award honoured the dynamic, yet well balanced design by Squareone and the innovative product concept by Stahlwille, which combines a genuine mechanical trigger system with tactile stop signal and the the advantages of a digital screwdriver.
