gist
/jist/
noun
“essence” or “main idea.”
About
Gist Design Inc specializes in Industrial Design and Product Development, with a focus on Medtech and products that meaningfully improve people’s lives. Located within the home of it's founder, the 120sqft facility is a dedicated maker space just steps away from the espresso machine. Despite its compact size, it's fully equipped to support early product development and R&D prototyping. Gist collaborates with it's clients to outsource the fabrication of validation and product prototypes, adhering to their QMS and FDA standards, ensuring a quality solution that can easily transfer into the production. Gist operates remotely, working with clients across the country and collaborating with other independent professionals on a project basis as needed. This lean approach allows us to keep overhead low, leverage a diverse skill pool, and maintain our primary focus on our client's goals and objectives.
At Gist, our mission is to help people develop products that meaningfully improve lives. We are dedicated to rethinking, discovering, and developing amazing products.
"Gist reasoning is the ability to abstract the core meaning from lengthy, complex information." - Center for brain health
MEET THE FOUNDER
Gist Design Inc. was founded by Laura Karik, an industrial designer by training and a "solution-oriented polymath" at heart. An innovator, tinkerer, and artist, Laura has a passion for understanding how things work and for the journey of making them. With over two decades of experience in the design consultancy environment, she has had the opportunity to work with a variety of startups and seasoned global companies on a wide range of projects. During that time, as part of leadership teams, she cultivated company growth and culture, managed complex projects, and built-up talented teams. Having managed design efforts for global teams within Intel, GE, and SCIEX, she has directly led design and usability efforts on notable projects such as Thornhill Medical’s MOVES® SLC™ and Exact Imaging’s ExactVu™ System. While with Scryb Inc. she provided early-stage design support to potential business opportunities, including rapid hardware development for COVID response by FIO, and explored UI/UX and hardware integration within an IoT platform. After providing design support to a few early-stage startups while on maternity leave, Laura officially founded Gist Design Inc. in 2021. Through Gist Design, Laura has continued her modest approach to design, working with diverse teams worldwide, while also making time for her three curious kids at home. With Gist Design Inc., Laura is taking a different approach from typical design and product development consultancies that operate under a single roof. Instead, Gist Design is cultivating and growing a network of kindred experts who are passionate about what they do and eager to help innovators develop meaningful products.
Why Work with gist
Product development can be confusing, larger consultancies costly, and sometimes difficult to work with. Gist has positioned itself and its team of collaborators to offer timely inputs where and when our clients need them most, often acting as an extension of their own in-house teams’ capabilities and working in partnership towards the commercial success of their products. Gist endorses a modest approach to design, tailoring efforts and outcomes towards tangible targets that best support the success of our clients' short- and long-term goals. The projects Gist takes on often become the foundation of our clients' brands and are often at the heart of their businesses. As such, Gist Design is committed to cultivating an inclusive design and development environment with all our clients and partners.
At the end of the day, Gist puts people first and takes pride and joy in the success of our clients.
Learn about our process here