DCA Design International Ltd

DCA Design International is one of the world's leading product design and development consultancies and is based in Warwick, England. The company was founded in 1960 and now employs more than 130 people. DCA specialise in many areas of product design and new product development including: Design for sustainability, Industrial Design, Engineering Design, Electronics Design, Software Design, Medical Design, Scientific Design, Commercial Design and Industrial Design. DCA have been ranked as the UK's Number 1 Product Design Consultancy between 2005–2017 according to Design Week in their Top 100 Surveys.[1]

DCA Design International Ltd
IndustryProduct Design
Founded1960 (1960)
FounderDavid Carter
Headquarters
Warwick
,
United Kingdom
Services
  • Product Design and Development
  • Consulting
Number of employees
130
Websitewww.dca-design.com

History

Founded in 1960 by David Carter RDI CBE,[2] David Carter Associates grew throughout the 1960s and 1970s, becoming DCA Design Consultants in 1975[3] and later renamed itself DCA Design International Ltd in 1986.[3] It is still operating out of its historical home of Church Street, Warwick in the UK, having now grown to four sites within the town.[3]

Now employing in excess of 130 industrial designers, mechanical engineers, electronics engineers, software engineers, interaction designers, design researchers, strategists, (amongst other disciplines). DCA is considered to be one of the UK's most established product design and development consultancies.[1]

Work and awards

DCA works across many market sectors including Consumer, Medical/Scientific, Industrial/Commercial and Transport. DCA worked extensively on rolling stock for both British Rail and London Underground throughout the 1980s[4] and in 1985 began working on the "Le Shuttle" locomotive for the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France.[5]

More recently DCA with pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis have designed SoloStar, a disposable pen-type injector for insulin. This device took Gold, International Export and Grand Prix at the 2009 DBA Design Effectiveness Awards in recognition of its improved performance compared to competitor pens and its significant commercial success, as in 2008 it had accounted for 41% of all growth in the global injectable insulin market.[6]

DCA have won various other design industry awards with their clients, for a variety of products. For example, the 3M Versaflo S655 Premium Hood (a protective respirator) won a 2010 Red Dot Award for Product Design within the industry and Crafts category.[7] This was followed up the following year by the 3M Versaflo M-Series headgear (a range of powered and supplied air respiratory protection systems) which won a 2011 Red Dot Award in the industry and Crafts category. Meanwhile, the TR-300 "Turbo Pack" which powers both the S and M Series headsets achieved an Honourable Mention also in the 2011 Red Dot Awards.[8] The M-Series also won an IDEA Bronze Commercial Award from the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) in 2011.[9]

Other recent awards have included a 2010 Good Design Award for the GBC QuickStart Laminator[10] and a 2009 Good Design Award for Sanofi Avents’ ClikStar reusable insulin injection pen.[11]

Services
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References
  1. “Design Week – Top 100 Surveys”, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 (Ranked as UK’s number 1 product design consultancy 2005–2017).
  2. Design 1967, Title 221, Article 4, pages 30 to 34: The Council of Industrial Design Awards and the Duke of Edinburgh's Prize for Elegant Design 1967. http://www.vads.ac.uk/diad/article.php?year=1967&title=221&article=d.221.29
  3. Companies House, details of DCA Design Consultants – "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 December 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "British Rail Design", James Cousins, Danish Design Council, 1986
  5. "Avocet: In Pursuit of Style”, Tolu Solanke, 2010 – http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2116263
  6. Design Business Association Design Effectiveness Awards 2009 website- http://www.effectivedesign.org.uk/2009/grand_prix/solostar.php Archived 11 September 2012 at Archive.today
  7. "Red Dot Design Yearbook 2010/2011 Vol. 2. Doing", Peter Zec 2010, ISBN 978-3-89939-116-9
  8. "Red Dot Design Yearbook 2011/2012 Vol. 2. Doing", Peter Zec 2011, ISBN 978-3-89939-126-8
  9. IDSA Website, List of IDEA Bronze Commercial Award winners 2011 – http://www.idsa.org/category/tags/idea-2011-bronze-commercial Archived 20 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  10. The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design website, Good Design Awards 2010 – http://www.chi-athenaeum.org/gdesign/2010/officeproducts/538.html Archived 20 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  11. The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design website, Good Design Awards 2009 – http://www.chi-athenaeum.org/gdesign/2009/medical/GD09-495/index.html Archived 23 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
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