The current issue of Fast Company features a story on The Femme Den, an "internal collective" of four women at the NYC firm, Smart Design. The Femme Den's mission is to explore how best to design for women, and the members do their own research on the subject as well as consult on specific Smart Design jobs. For example, the company Pure Digital Technology came to Smart Design to create a camcorder. The result: the Flip Camera, probably one of the coolest and easiest to use gadgets out there, and a byproduct of the Den's viewpoint that since women approach technology intuitively, the ideal recorder would prioritize "ease of use." And as the article's author Kate Rockwood points out, the Flip is as popular with men as women, which proves the Femme Den point that incorporating frank discussions about gender preferences in the design process doesn't mean you end up with a product that alienates half the population. You just create a better product.
Read the whole article here: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/139/separate-and-equal-femme-den.html
More about the Femme Den here: http://www.femmeden.com