Industrial design services

Briefing and proposal

Our industrial design services begin with a detailed discussion about your requirements and the type of product you want to design and develop. This is why we have developed a comprehensive Project Specification document that covers every aspect of your project and is designed to make sure we understand exactly what you need to achieve (Download a copy here). Once we have been through this with you, we will prepare a detailed proposal that sets out exactly how we can help you, how the work will be structured and how much it will cost. This phase of the project costs you nothing but your time, and we are always happy to discuss changes to the proposal to ensure that it meets your exact requirements.

Marketing and technical issues

For some projects, the briefing process delivers all the information that is required to complete the project, but it is very common for there to be some ‘missing pieces’ that need to be identified. These can be issues connected with market research, technical feasibility,  production costings or intellectual property. If the briefing process has identified gaps in any of these areas, it makes sense to fill them before any significant investment is made in design and tooling. This stage will provide vital information that will ensure the success of your project, and can take from a few hours to several days to complete.

Concept design

Once we have all the information we need, we can begin working on concept designs. The key word for this stage is options. We want to investigate all the possible ways to develop your product so that the best solution can be found in terms of cost, appearance and function. There are often two phases to the concept stage – a broad look at alternative routes followed by a more detailed look at the most likely options. The broad look will consider a wide range of ideas and intentionally ‘push the boundaries’, whilst the second stage will refine these down to one solution that will form the basis of the final design.

Technical development

Our concept ideas are fundamentally practical, but this stage adds the technical and design details that will define the finished product. We will make sure that the design will work; be inexpensive to make; fit for purpose; easy to use and maintain – and good to look at. Unsurprisingly, it is often the longest and most involved stage of the project and can take several weeks to complete. All our detailed technical design is completed using Solidworks, our 3D CAD software, and development models are often built during this stage to check function, appearance and ease of use. The outcome is a detailed design that is ready to prototype.

Prototype and test

Prototypes are an essential design tool to make sure that your new product is ready for tooling and production. What you will need from your prototypes will depend on the product, but they can range from functional test rigs to fully featured one-off products. We can help you build the prototypes that will meet your particular requirements. We can also help you get them tested to ensure that your product will function properly, meet the needs of your customers and be profitable to manufacture. Finally, we can advise you on the prototype suppliers and test labs – and work with them to guide your product successfully through the process.

Tooling and manufacture

We have been helping our clients manufacture their products for over twenty years, and can advise you on the right materials, the right processes, and the right suppliers, both in the UK and elsewhere. In particular, we can help you choose the right approach for your anticipated production volumes and target market. We always advocate identifying production suppliers as early as possible in the design process so that they can contribute their expertise as part of the design team. This will help ensure quality and minimise lead times, both of which can have a significant impact on your profitability and competitive position.