TrueFit Acquires Gist Design

PITTSBURGH, May 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- TrueFit, a leading innovation firm which helps entrepreneurial start-ups and enterprises of all sizes bring new technology product ideas to market, today announced the acquisition of Gist Design, an award-winning user experience design firm based in Pittsburgh, PA.

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Founded in 2002 by a seasoned team of designers from Carnegie Mellon University's renowned School of Design, Gist has built an impeccable record of innovative product development with some of the world's leading technology companies including Samsung, Precor, Kodak and BodyMedia. The company's work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Wired, among other publications.

"We are thrilled to have Gist join TrueFit," said Darrin Grove, TrueFit Chief Executive Officer. "It's a natural pairing; the Gist team brings proven experience in innovation, design and research across a wide spectrum of web, mobile and embedded solutions. We're perfectly aligned on culture, and our combined services offer a holistic value proposition impacting all facets of innovation research, design and development."

Working on a number of joint projects in the past, TrueFit and Gist have proven to be like-minded innovation partners.

"Gist Design operates from a human-centered design mindset in order to better listen to and understand people, and create meaningful experiences that resonate at an emotional level," said John Beck, Gist Founder & President. "We share TrueFit's passion for building disruptive commercial products that enrich the world. By integrating our design and development teams around human-centered innovation processes, we will build continued momentum for TrueFit and the region overall. It is exciting to see it come together."

An additional benefit of the acquisition gives TrueFit, which recently won The Pittsburgh Technology Council's Tech 50 Award for New Media Company of the Year, an immediate answer to the company's planned expansion into downtown Pittsburgh. TrueFit will begin hosting client-facing workshops and events at the former Gist design and research studios in Downtown Pittsburgh effective immediately.

"The melding of Gist and TrueFit is a transformative moment for the innovation ecosystem here in Pittsburgh," said Christopher R. Evans, TrueFit Vice President. "The collective strengths we offer in all facets of product research, design and development will have a significant impact on innovation and entrepreneurship throughout the region. The integration of Gist's research and design skill set into ours will go a long way towards helping our clients manage the risks inherent in innovation. We are also thrilled to launch our second location downtown to be even closer to TrueFit's vital ecosystem partners, including universities, incubators and accelerators. This acquisition also enables us to serve our larger, national clients in more comprehensive ways."

TrueFit serves clients across North America, and plans deeper expansion into entrepreneurial ecosystems nationwide by launching new office locations in the near future.

About TrueFit
Enabling Innovation™. It's what we do. For the entrepreneur, and for the enterprise. Helping entrepreneurs, companies, and organizations bring new ideas to market--quickly. From the raw idea on the back of a cocktail napkin, to an enterprise-level release ready for development, web, social media and mobile applications and commercial software products come to life through our proprietary Idea Launch™ methodology. Dialing up the value of your idea to get investment funding, or to gain executive approval, TrueFit helps you take a product idea from vision to reality. From the whiteboard to the marketplace: www.truefitinnovation.com.

About Gist
Gist was founded in 2002 by graduates of Carnegie Mellon University. We've built our business on the principle of the "positive practical impact" of human-centered design to drive the product innovation process.  This means that we help clients better understand users and context-of-use, synthesize that learning into thoughtful and technically-viable solutions, and involve users in validating optimal design solutions that effectively fulfill user needs. As a result, Gist has built an exciting track record in clinical and consumer healthcare, personal fitness, and consumer electronic devices.

SOURCE TrueFit