The Challenge
Create a unique design that celebrates the mixer's iconic legacy while requiring minimal manufacturing changes for the stand mixer's 90th anniversary.
Design Leadership: 90th Anniversary KitchenAid Stand Mixer
The Outcome
A game-changing design that outperformed sales forecasts by 400% and became an iconic color in the appliance and automotive markets.
My role as a member of the Whirlpool Global Enablers Color, Material, and Finish (CMF) lab focused on the strategic use and implementation of color, finish, and material as a means of updating and differentiating product categories at a lower cost. As a shared services lab within the design department, we would assist the company's in-house brands with specific projects. The KitcheAid small appliance marketing team approached us with a simple yet challenging design brief in this case. They asked us to assist them in developing a one-of-a-kind design that honored the mixer's iconic legacy while requiring minimal manufacturing changes for the stand mixer's 90th anniversary.
As project manager, I oversaw all interactions between internal (marketing, manufacturing, and design) and external (color consultants, brand ambassadors) stakeholders, facilitating their expertise in a way that allowed them to express themselves while remaining focused on the project's goal. We began the project by creating a stand mixer color retrospective to understand how the stand mixer color palette had evolved in time. We discovered that the color red was not only the color of the KitchenAid logo, but had also been a best seller since the company's inception in 1910.
I then asked all stakeholders to assess what they thought could be done with the color red. Marketing validated the color's significance to the brand, customers, and retail partners. Manufacturing provided a detailed report on current manufacturing processes and potential upgrade opportunities. The color consultant explored various shades of red with diverse tints and finishes. The small appliance design team conducted a CMF trend exploration exercise to inform potential stand mixer accessory, trim, and label design changes. In addition, the CMF lab developed a strategic color exploration board to guide the selection of the specific red color range to focus on.
Through a series of meetings, I facilitated each stakeholder's contribution to the project. We saw an opportunity to replace the stand mixer's aluminum bowl with a glass bowl and to update the trim band to a brushed finish. We chose to keep the brand's iconic red because of the ease it would represent to current supply chain and manufacturing processes, but we changed the finish by adding a red tint to the clear coat that was applied to the stand mixer after painting. This change to the mixer's finish made it appear brighter and shinier, almost candied; thus, the name Candy Apple Red.
Following a few trial runs at the factory, the changes proved to be simple to implement and to have no procedural implications for the line as a whole. The team was relieved because we had completed the project. However, we encountered an unexpected obstacle. The addition of a tint to the cleat coat meant that regardless of the best mixing technique, the thickness of the clear coat varied when applied. This meant that the mixer would fail the company's current quality control standards, threatening to derail the entire project. We created a new standards document with the assistance of manufacturing, rewriting the wording to reflect a unique artesanal finish quality standard over a consistent industrial one. We were able to update the standards and approve the new color after a series of meetings with the quality control team.
The stand mixer was introduced at the International Housewares Association show in Chicago as the centerpiece of KitchenAid's booth. It outsold sales projections by 400% and had become the color of choice among appliance manufacturers by the following year. The color was then adopted by the automobile industry, specifically by Mazda for their CX5 model.
Despite the fact that the stand mixer has since celebrated its 100th anniversary, this project remains one of my proudest achievements as a designer and project manager. Internally, the project proved the power of colour, material, and finish to the business as an alternative to costly full-blown product development. It also demonstrated the power of mediation and translation that designers can use to ensure stakeholders' needs are met and their contributions are respected. Externally, the color transformed the face of several industries and was hailed as one of the brand's greatest successes.
