Continuum (design consultancy)

Continuum

Type	Private
Industry	Industrial Design Design strategy Service Design Sustainable Design Software Engineering Electrical Engineering Mechanical Engineering
Founded	(1983)
Headquarters	West Newton, Massachusetts, USA
Key people	Gianfranco Zaccai, Co-Founder & Owner Bruce Fifield, Co-Founder Youngmihn Kim, Co-Founder Harry West, CEO Tom Burchard, CXO Chris Michaud, COO Jim Ahern, CFO
Employees	200 (2008)
Website	continuuminnovation.com

Continuum is a design and innovation consultancy based in Newton, Massachusetts, with other offices in Los Angeles, Milan, Shanghai and Seoul. The company’s core disciplines include Industrial Design, Design strategy, Service Design, Human Factors, Interaction Design, Sustainable Design, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering.^[1]

The company was founded in Boston as Design Continuum in 1983.^[2] Their goal was simple: to design products for businesses. Since then, the mission has grown to include strategy and brand services along with experience and product design.^[3]

The firm now employs approximately 200 people across its 5 offices.^[3] The company has worked with clients in industries including: medical, consumer, computer, automotive, hospitality, and financial services. Project work includes the Swiffer for Procter & Gamble.,^[4] the Reebok Pump,^[5] and the initial design direction for the MIT Media Lab's $100 laptop.^[6]

The company has won 14 IDSA/BusinessWeek International Design Excellence Awards since 2003.^[7] Practitioners at the company have been featured in the book A Whole New Mind by Daniel H. Pink.^[8] During the summer of 2007, the company hosted the finale of the PBS series, “Design Squad,” a show that encourages kids to explore design and engineering as a career path.^[9]

References

1. ^ Continuum fact sheet
2. ^ Continuum Private Company info
3. ^ ^{a b} Hamm, Steve; Walters, Helen (2008-01-16). "Masters of Collaboration". Business Week. http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jan2008/id20080116_412812.htm?chan=search. Retrieved 2008-02-16. 
4. ^ Nussbaum, Bruce (2004-05-17). "The Power of Design". Business Week. http://www.businessweek.com/@@XFy594cQKXhCRxkA/magazine/content/04_20/b3883001_mz001.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-16. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ "Reebok Pump". Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reebok_Pump. Retrieved 2008-02-07. 
6. ^ "One Laptop per Chid Progress". OLPC. Archived from the original on 2008-02-06. http://web.archive.org/web/20080206140805/http://laptop.org/en/vision/progress/index.shtml. Retrieved 2008-02-07. 
7. ^ "Winners Over The Past Five Years". IDSA. BusinessWeek. 2007-07-30. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_31/b4044403.htm?chan=search. Retrieved 2008-02-07. 
8. ^ Pink, Dan (2005). A Whole New Mind. New York: Riverhead Books. pp. 97. 
9. ^ http://pbskids.org/designsquad/challenges/s1-ep13.html (TV). Boston: PBS. 

External links

• Continuum web site