The late Steve Jobs is known to have been very keen on “taste.” Microsoft has absolutely no taste, he said, going on to explain that by this he meant that “they don’t think of original ideas, and they don’t bring much culture into their product.” Great products, he said, were a “triumph of taste.” The exquisite taste of Jobs himself has long been a matter of doctrine in the tech world. Kevin Kelly’s remarks after his death expressed the general sentiment: “Steve Jobs was a CEO of beauty. In his interviews and especially in private, Jobs often spoke about Art. Taste. Soul. Life. And he sincerely meant it, as evidenced by the tasteful, soulful products he created over 30 years.”

Consciously or subconsciously, our decision regarding aesthetics always factors in cost as an important role in our decisions. When it comes to both the buying and the making of a product, we are sometimes faced with the decision of whether to sacrifice aesthetics for cost. But in a market driven by visual impact, first glance and short attention spans, can a product be quite as market competitive without drawing attention based on aesthetics?

In other words, if you don’t “have consumers at hello” by making a visual statement, can you truly rise above the competition?  Before you consciously shave costs by skimping on aesthetics, ask yourself if you can really afford NOT to work towards a triumph of taste.

If a single product can redefine a market, shape social behavior, and go as far as influence society as a whole, it becomes increasingly important for products to be designed well in every way. In an age of fast making, over-production and obsolescence, all objects should be designed carefully and beautifully in order to be good. Doing good won’t cost as much as you think…and its results will likely far outstrip the up front investment.

Now before you click over to YouTube to check out the latest keyboard cat videos or TMZ.com to see which celebrity has embarrassed himself yet again (yes, I’m talking to you Snooki, Charlie Sheen and the Kardashians), we’d like to take a minute to tell you why we’re here. We’re here to share our thoughts about product development and innovation with you.

We’re here to help you think of the world in new ways.

We’re here to help you find market opportunities you didn’t know existed.

We’re here to help you uncover insights about your customers that open new doors.

We’re here to share news about emerging technologies, techniques, and trends.

We’re here to champion ingenious research, kick ass brainstorming, great design, elegant engineering and flawless execution.

We’re here to question the status quo.

We’re here to make you think.

And finally, we feel we wouldn’t be doing our job very well if we didn’t at least occasionally make you laugh.

This blog is about passing on our decades of combined new product development and innovation expertise. It’s about opening up a window to our world and sharing insights into our successes and failures. It’s about creating a place where we can start discussions and spark new ideas. It’s about giving you a peek into the diabolical minds of our engineers, designers, strategists and researchers.

What this blog is not about is selling you stuff. It won’t be a shameless self-promotion for our people, the projects we complete, or our latest “proprietary process.”

If you’re interested in what we have to say, bring it on and tell us. If you want to add to the discussion, join in. If you disagree, that’s okay. We only ask that you do so respectfully. You can follow us on Twitter @elevationid or connect with us on Linked In and we’ll let you know when we have new information to share. It won’t be every day (hey, we have projects to complete and clients to make happy). But when we have something we find interesting, we’ll share it with you.

Thanks for taking the time and back at ya soon.