Design answers in three simple questions: success in the design world, according to RKS founder Ravi Sawhney, can be found in something called Psycho-aesthetics. (Small Business).

CALL it the toy that almost wasn't.

This fall, high-end specialty toy stores will be carrying what Todd Coyle is being led to believe will make Tickle Me Elmo look like a plaything from the Mesozoic period.

It's the Musini, and it's being manufactured by Coyle's Long Beach toy manufacturing and distribution company, Neurosmith.

It's a plastic, high-tech gadget that resembles a multi-colored spaceship about 12 inches across and plays varying musical notes every time a child (or adult, cat or family mongrel) stomps, romps or even tiptoes anywhere within about 100 feet of it.

"This is a toy you are going to be hearing a lot about this holiday season," said Coyle, Neurosmith's CEO. "We are being told by the industry and retailers that it's likely to be the hottest seller for Christmas this year."

But we wouldn't be hearing about this exact Musini were it not for Thousand Oaks-based RKS Design, a product design firm whose roots can be traced to the bedroom of a house in Reseda and whose company mantra smacks of all things Zen.

"This is inspired design," says RKS founder and president Ravi Sawhney, as he attempts to explain the meaning of the company's trademarked design philosophy, 'Psycho-Aesthetics," which refers to relationships between consumers and "stuff."

"It's based on the human thought process, which comes in three parts: is it like me, does it like me and can it make me more?" said Sawhney.

According to him, if a consumer doesn't get those three things when he or she picks up a product or tries to use one, there's a psycho-aesthetic "disconnect."

"Think of whenever you pull a door handle even though it clearly says to push," says Sawhney. "That's a disconnect. It's a failed product. It's not making the right connection with the consumer. There is no satisfaction between the product and the user."

But back to the Musini. About a year ago, Neurosmith had a completed design for the toy on the table, done by an RKS competitor. Then one of the company's executives met up with Sawhney, who convinced Coyle that the design he had paid for was old school.

"Three weeks," said Coyle, when asked how long it took RKS to start over from scratch and come up with a brand-new design. "That was something I'd never done before. My colleagues said I was crazy to give them a shot at it, that I was jeopardizing the product release schedule. In the end, we couldn't believe the difference. The old product looked just like that: an old toy.

Another success story for RKS, whose revenues have gone from $800,000 in 1998 to $5.5 million in 2001 and employee roster from nine to 35 in the same period. Also in 1998, the company moved from the 3,000-square-foot house in Reseda to an 18,000-square-foot facility overlooking the Conejo Valley.

About 60 percent of the designs that RKS completes become real products; roughly half that number make it to retail shelves. That track record is expected to increase this year, said Sawhney, who also teaches industrial design part time at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.

"We are ramping up now," he said. "Since 1998 our brand has taken a quantum leap, so did the quality of our work, and we started getting visits from CEOs of Fortune 500 companies asking us to show us what we've done. That was the turning point."

In fall of 2001, RKS was chosen by Amana Appliances to design the firm's new line of refrigerators. But forget everything you know about white iceboxes. Instead, think burnt-orange-colored refrigerators, complete with a voice messaging system on the front door, a special chill drawer for beverages with a timer, and an optional "kid-zone," which is a penguin-shaped container for kids to store their own snacks and drinks in.

Other clients are Panavision, Medtronic MiniMed, Hewlett-Packard and Rubbermaid.

And, according to Coyle, RKS is currently redesigning Neurosmith's musical block toy line.

The toughest challenge for RKS, says Sawhney, goes back to that Zen thing.

'The biggest obstacle for us is we have to constantly refresh and redesign ourselves," he said. "We address this firm as one of our own design products every day from every angle."

And, for three days each year, RKS selects seven top design students from around the world to view some of those angles from the inside.

Sawhney created the first "Life in the Fast Lane" design workshop three years ago. Participants are put up in a local hotel and, alongside RKS staff, including Sawhney, create a real product from sketch to finish.

The third annual workshop was held June 7 to 9.

"We all participate as a team because that's what design is, it's a team sport," said Sawhney.

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RKS Design

Core Business: Product design

Revenue in 1998: $800,000

Revenue in 2001: $5.5 million

Employees in 1998: 9

Employees in 2001: 35

Goal: To make deep, meaningful connections with consumers through the products we design

Driving Force: The eternal desire for something new