"Women are still underrepresented in the design industry," says designer Erica Eden, of Smart Design. To combat that, Eden and three other female members of Smart's staff (Agnete Enga, Yvonne Lin, and Gina Reimann) have started Femme Den, an in-company initiative to address the needs of female consumers without alienating males by merely 'pinking and shrinking' existing products. As Eden explains:

A significant number of women live on their own, or are single parents, and have to use products that were not really designed for them. We don't adapt products to specifically target men or women, but we work to create cross-gender products...we believe that by understanding how gender plays a role, our designs will appeal to the largest audience and achieve [best-selling status.]

Femme Den will be presenting their most recent findings at September's IDSA conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Click here for their website.