As freshman students in the Integrated Business and Engineering (IBE) Freshman Workshop course, which I colloquially refer to as product design and development, we were first tasked with creating a logo that we thought would best represent our IBE class. The best logo, selected by the professor and a panel of “judges” (aka our TA’s), would represent our class of IBE.

Although there were some fine contenders, the logo to your left emerged victorious. The prize? Our entire class received a drawstring tote bag with the logo printed upon it. Oh, and we got a box of Oreo cookies, too. Yum!

Venti was the brainchild of Megan Cain, a quick-witted woman who could always see what people wanted. Megan’s idea for a simple humidifier that could fit anywhere inside of a car was one of eleven ideas that made it passed the planning stage in my product design and development course (or “IBE Workshop”). I was assigned to the Vehicle Humidifier team, working with Megan Cain as well as two other classmates, Jen Pinga and Alex Lee.

Together, we built up the product you see to your left. After several sessions on various chalkboards discussing the benefits of each design, we settled on a cup – and from there I developed a final design, name and logo, and marketing campaign for the product.

The result? Venti was the most recognizable name in the class by the end of the semester, and everybody knew our slogan and our product. The distinctive, clean art style of the product’s site, marketing and poster prevailed. So, hats off to the Venti team – great work, guys!

If you’re curious about Venti, have a look at the technical poster below. It will tell you how Venti works, more about our design and mission, and even lay out our financial model for Venti success.