Industrial Design

I've met with a number of design & engineering firms in the Austin area, looking for one that can (a) make the Thummer more appealing and (b) finish the engineering work needed to get the Thummer on the market.

Personally, I like the way the Thummer looks now. However, (1) I have poor taste, and (2) the one negative comment that I often hear about the Thummer is that it "looks dorky."

It's very hard to shake an "uncool" rep in the music technology business. Look at Casio, for example. Its name is still associated with the toylike CasioTone keyboards it introduced in the 1980's, so the excellent high-end keyboards it offers today don't earn the unit sales, revenues, or margins that they otherwise would. In the music technology business, "cool" matters -- and there are no second chances.

So I need to fix this problem in advance, by spending money on industrial design to improve the Thummer's cool factor.

Hence, my meetings with industrial design & engineering firms. I'll announce Thumtronics' eventual decision here when I can.