Argo Design

Description and history

Argo Design, a design consultancy that has been described as "part incubator, part client agency, and part product development group", was co-founded and self-funded by Mark Gauger and Mark Rolston in 2014. Gauger and Rolston had previously worked for Frog Design Inc., as did Argo's current partners Jared Ficklin (creative technologist) and Kevin McDonald (creative lead), who had served as Frog's principal technologist and principal designer, respectively. As of 2015, Gauger retains his position as Argo's managing partner; Rolston serves as chief creative officer (CCO). Rolston has said of his decision to focus on user experience (UX):

I want to offer perspective on design that's not all about the visible artifact. It's moving into behavior, the interaction between a human and a machine when the machine isn't immediately evident, but is instead more of an entity like HAL. And that design ... we've barely scratched the surface of what that means.

Rolston compared Argo to other design firms by saying:

All of the guys who've tried this [ownership model] today have done it from a hardware position, using design to give them an edge. [But] what it means to create a great product is changing. It's not necessarily a product, but it might be made of unseen elements. This is making up a sort of modern challenge of a designer.

Projects

In 2014, SmartHome Ventures announced a partnership with Argo in which Rolston would serve as CCO on the product PEQ, an application and home automation service that allows users to control and monitor their residence from any location. Argo's front-end experience makes it possible to lock and unlock doors, turn lights on and off, and adjust the temperature from a single screen in one application. In May 2015, PEQ released a new version of its application; the new features, which make a user's residence "safer and more intelligent", include peer monitoring. The service can be controlled from an Apple Watch.

Argo has taken the concept behind Disney's MagicBands—which was developed by Frog during Rolston's tenure—and applied the technology to hospital environments; the company hopes MagicBands could replace traditional patient ID bracelets. The company's design includes two radios; one short-range RFID signal to allow patients to open doors and nurses to obtain medical records instantly, and a longer-range radio similar to Bluetooth that would allow institutions to monitor the activities and locations of doctors and patients in real time. According to Fast Company, "It'd be a level of data—a living map of health care—that hospitals have never really had before. That data could allow the staff to track down a trauma surgeon instantly, and over time, such data might reveal ways the hospital experience could be streamlined to benefit patients and doctors alike."

In February 2015, Argo revealed its proposal for a drone ambulance in response to Fast Company's request for design innovations in the health care industry. The proposed quadcopter carries a "pod" large enough to accommodate a patient and one emergency medical technician, and could be flown autonomously or by a pilot. Its design allows the craft to land on most surfaces, avoid obstacles and ground traffic, and hasten the emergency support process. Business Insider called Argo's design concept a "provocation to the manufacturing industry" and said the project illustrated the company's expansion from simply partnering with software companies. According to Argo, the design illustrates the value of drone technology and was deemed feasible by an aeronautical engineer, although it has not undergone detailed analysis.

In April 2015, Argo unveiled its design for Fast Company's "lane splitter" concept of a car capable of being split into two motorcycles. The magazine's Mark Wilson approached Argo after he asked Cadillac to design the concept, but the company declined. Chipp Walters, formerly a designer for NASA, served as lead designer on the project. The renders describe front wheels that collapse and expand, depending on whether the vehicle is driven in two-wheel or four-wheel mode. The two motorcycles would connect by an automated chassis lock that could be released by pressing a button. Argo's design allowed Wilson to pitch the concept to car companies at the 2015 New York International Auto Show. According to PSFK, the automobile's design included a "surprising amount of specificity", but few engineering considerations.

In June 2015, Argo unveiled its design for Elon Musk's Hyperloop concept with a series a conceptual renderings, which took six designers around two months to complete. The company was among the first to release detailed renderings following the contest announcement by Musk's company SpaceX. Argo's design features multiple platforms and five types of capsules capable of transporting cargo, passengers, and vehicles. There would be three types of passenger capsules, two of which are specialized for conducting business. Passengers could upgrade from coach capsules to "Business Work Capsules", which would have private work stations called "pods" fitted with widescreen monitors and wireless keyboards, or "Executive Meeting Capsules" that could accommodate eight people in reclining chairs. Coach capsules would house rows of seats facing the same direction, similar to, but with more passenger space than, an aircraft cabin. Capsules would be locked into a "Hyperloop Sled" in the form of a "vehicle chassis" when in use, and raised from or lowered onto platforms by a "jukebox". Their interior would include virtual reality walls and fold-out desks. Front pantries with emergency exit doors would also function as supply loading containers. Some Hyperloop plans have capsules traveling in excess of 700 miles per hour (1,100 km/h) in theory; Argo's concept has passengers moving between 300 and 400 miles per hour (480 and 640 km/h) to reduce the likelihood of motion sickness. The company's design includes bathrooms and additional space for walking around to accommodate longer travel times.

Argo and Rolston helped the startup Shoto develop a photograph-sharing application that tells users about the number of images taken at a specific event or location "with friends or family members and easily lets them share photos and create private or public albums". The project was funded by Real Ventures and actor Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory). Shoto's application is compatible with Facebook and Twitter; photographs are hosted at Amazon Web and users retain their intellectual property. It became available in September 2015. In October 2015, Argo's partner Wrap Media released its first product, a mobile commerce and storytelling platform called "Wrap". Argo is an equity investor in Wrap and its strategic design partner. According to Argo:

The new platform brings card-based design into a narrative flow in which the storyteller maintains control over the narrative by presenting information in a linear sequence. Users swipe to navigate the experience, which ensures the consumer experiences the story as seamlessly as the author intended, and is never overwhelmed with information or confused about what to do or where to go next.