An interesting article in Business Week about a design company called 3iYing, new design and marketing firm which does girl-market insights (founded by Heidi Dangelmaier).
Dangelmaier's young team has come up with radical ideas on how to design and sell everything from condoms and lingerie to food. They call these ideas "Girl Made, Girl Approved." The teens started by leafing through dozens of girl magazines and analyzing the advertisements. In the process, they found that most brands are out of touch with the 21st-century girl and her desires. (...) Once the girls identify products they believe are either ill-designed or poorly marketed, they survey their worldwide network of friends via e-mail, or in Internet communities like MySpace.com. They come up with a list of what girls really want and what appeals to them about the product. Then the team redesigns the product and comes up with a marketing campaign that resonates with their age group.
Why do I blog this? what at I think is interesting here is the way it might impact the design of new products; It's connected with the 'co-creation' trend we have today: the integration of conversation with customers into company's business.