Discover Germany | Special Theme | Design Highlights Switzerland 2018
STADLER RAIL, Giruno: exterior design clay model.
A nose ahead:
TEXT: MARILENA STRACKE I PHOTOS: NOSE DESIGN EXPERIENCE
Nose Design Experience The Zurich-based Design agency Nose Design Experience is certainly a place where design is lived on a daily basis. With a focus on 3D-subjects such as product, interior and exhibition design the Swiss creatives are simply ‘a nose ahead’. And why the agency is actually called Nose is also revealed. The agency Nose was founded in 1991 by initially three partners. Owners Christian Harbeke und Ruedi Müller are sill on board today. While product designer Christian Harbeke has a background as a trained engineer, graphic designer Ruedi Müller brings additional experience from his years as an industrial and interior designer in San Francisco and New York. Ruedi Müller remembers the early days: “We met while we were all working at a company specialised in corporate identity in Zurich. Back then we realised that the subject corporate identity focused mainly on the graphic aspects of a company and the 3-dimensional parts such as product, 14 | Issue 60 | March 2018
interior and exhibition design came second. We saw a big potential in focusing on 3D and we think product and industrial design are the most important components when it comes to making a brand successful.” The company name Nose was initially a joke as all three founders had significant noses. But the temporary title stuck. “We didn’t want a list of our individual names, which is how it was usually done in our business. Instead we were looking for a term you only need to hear once and already have it stuck in your head, as well as it working internationally,” explains Ruedi Müller with a grin.
“Nose also has many positive associations such as ‘A nose ahead’ or ‘Having a nose for something’, and even more in the German language. Hence our agency name established itself in a positive way very quickly, even before we started properly. Nose with the addition of ‘Design Experience’ means on the one hand that we have extensive design experience and on the other that we view design holistically regarding an overall customer experience,”Ruedi Müller adds. This is also reflected in their entire approach. Müller explains that good design includes all aspects of a corporate design, from product to communication, architecture, web presence and much more. All touch-points with the public are to be considered. “Today all those facets have a particular impact in the emotional area. We merge these emotional factors clever-