Design Driven

"Our design team consists of some very creative minds," he says. "We know that the machine layout and user interface are very important to the customer, which is why we dedicate so much time and effort to designing our equipment. The secret to our success is that we listen to our customers and we design products that provide unparalleled accuracy, functionality and reliability."

For D&V Electronics, user-centre design begins with ethnographic research. Close observation of client behaviours in different categories of users has enabled the design and product development team to adapt the equipment to specific user needs. For example, they observed that the aesthetic look of the testing equipment wasn’t important to their larger automotive clients.

Their small customers, however, cared about the form; the machines had to look good to impress their customers and had to be compact enough to fit into small garages. The shop owners would even place the testing equipment in their front window to reinforce the perception that they were offering reliable, high-quality service. In the case of these clients, the products had to overcome specific customers’ issues and gain their trust.

Vasko Studio, an award-winning local design firm led by seasoned professional Vassil Popvassilev, has worked with the company since its inception. Popvassilev, a faculty member at the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD), is an accredited industrial designer specializing in product, exhibit and point of purchase design.

He has used his multi-disciplinary skills to focus on accessibility – to make D&V’s products and corporate communications system easily accessible to a broad variety of users. He has developed the look and shape for several generations of D&V equipment to meet, and often exceed, user needs. Vasko Studio have also designed the corporate identity and branding architecture for the company, and the company’s web site.

Made in the GTA
Loukanov believes the Greater Toronto Area is an ideal region for manufacturing. His company has taken advantage of the Ontario R&D Tax Credit to support its commitment to driving innovation through continuous research.

The company has also benefited from the strong university and college network in the region. Loukanov has developed research projects with faculty and students at McMaster University in Hamilton and regularly hires graduates from McMaster and the University of Waterloo. Both world-leading research institutions are easily accessible from the D&V headquarters in Vaughan. A spacious office equipped with the latest computer technology is reserved for the steady stream of university co-op students who intern there.