01.17.08
Priority Designs featured at 2008 North American International Auto show.

Paul Kolada was the featured product design expert at the 2008 AutoWeek Design Forum on Wednesday. Speaking in front of 700 guests, Paul lent an outsider’s view of the auto industry and shared stories of how his Company (Priority Designs) helped TaylorMade Golf become one of the world’s best selling golf brands.

The conference, sponsored by AutoWeek Magazine, took place during the trade week at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The theme of the conference was “Designed for Fun” and notable designers from inside and outside of the auto industry talked about how they injected fun into the products they created. Other product design experts, who spoke at the forum included Larry Wood, (chief designer for Hot Wheels) and Jesse James, (owner of West Coast Choppers and host of the Discovery Channel’s “Monster Garage”).

In addition to sharing the TaylorMade Golf success story, Paul Kolada talked about how his employees had fun together outside of work by competing in the IDSA Ultimate Derby Car Challenge. The team building exercise allowed designers and engineers to build gravity-powered racers (similar to the Boy Scout’s pinewood derby cars) and race them on a national level against other design firms.

Designers and engineers from Priority Designs were on hand and set up up a track to demonstrate their cars during the cocktail hour. You can watch the derby car video here.