RKS has added Mike Elam to its roaster as Director of Product Development. This position encompasses innovation, interaction, design, design for manufacturing and prototyping in conjunction with external resources and vendors and the in house team of RKS.
Elam has a very unique and proven successful skillset as a usability expert as well as an engineer and designer. He designs physical interactions with products that feel fantastic by engineering from a usability standpoint.
Along with his positive and playful personality, Elam brings 23 years of experience in product development to RKS. He studied furniture and product development at Ravensbourne, and recently moved to the United States from the UK where he owned and ran his own design firm, Hyphen. Hyphen was hugely successful at creating cost effective solutions through innovation, engineering, and user experience.
At Hyphen, Mike has created many very impressive products. The team designed a gorgeous mobile configuration case for McLaren supercars. The case is designed as a luxurious way for elite car customers to pick customizations in paint, fabric, upholstery stitching, wheel color, and brake caliper color for their McLarens. Mike also designed some of the most comfortable swimming goggles on the market for Speedo. These goggles were highly successful as they dominated the sales space for an unusually long shelf life of 6 years.The goggles were designed with the user's experience as a first priority while making specialized modifications for optimal comfort and user experience.
In addition to these big name projects, some of Mike's most recent work at Hyphen has been aimed specifically to aid in underdeveloped countries. An all new card payment system in Pakistan, an affordable heating pad for babies in Rwanda, and a vaccine refrigerator for the developing world are just some of the world changing solutions he has created. Mike has thoroughly enjoyed these projects because he has had the opportunity to solve very real problems and bring useful, affordable technology to those who truly need it.