Market Research & Project Planning

Identify market conditions, validate concept, outline a project plan.

Client Consultation

The first thing we want to do is understand you, the client, and what your needs are. What is your brand, your goals, and your mission? We also want to understand what the product is. We should always be on the same page throughout development and that starts day one.

Market Research

We need to understand the existing market. Who is the competition, what are the existing solutions, and how can we do it better? We want to understand boundaries and barriers.

Concept Validation

Validating a concept is an important step in any new development. Validation may be achieved by doing rough sketches, initial engineering, and even prototyping. The goal here is to prove that a product is viable, understand the risks, and provide data to be utilized throughout the project.

Project Outlining

A project plan is the foundation for the entire project. While we have to be willing to adapt to changes and unknowns we must have deliverables, milestones, and various tasks lined out before development begins.

Industrial Design & Visualization

Explore aesthetic design choices, form factor, and user experience.

Concept Sketches

We start with concept sketches to determine the best route, visually, to move forward. We capture ideas regarding form and aesthetic design quickly before moving onto CAD and 3D modeling. We share ideas and sketches with the client in order to choose direction.

3D Modeling

3D modeling is a majority of our design process. We design and prototype digitally, with the ability to explore opportunities in a design and assess challenges or errors that may come about when physically prototyping or even during production. We explore form and shape, user experience and ergonomics.

Rendering

Rendering allows us to see what a product will look like without having to physically produce it early on. We can explore materials, colors, and various settings. Rendering allows us to share designs with the client as well as internally to assess direction moving forward.

Non-Functional Prototyping

We tend to build basic prototypes early on to experiment with new ideas, assess ergonomics and validate overall design and concepts. These prototypes may be made from clay, 3D printed or even built by hand. These are often kept in-house throughout the development process.

Mechanical & Electrical Engineering

Begin engineering tasks and implement industrial design.

Technical Requirements

Although much of this is documented in Phase I, we go more in depth and build a list of technical requirements. For instance, the client could specify that the product needs to hold a charge of 10 hours in an environment that’s 0 degrees Celsius. Or a requirement could be simple as “Product should feature and an OLED display.” These requirements allow us to focus and deliver milestones.

Hardware Development

Our mechanical engineers work side by side with our electrical engineers. Mechanical CAD assemblies are developed in congruence and simultaneously with electrical schematics and circuit designs. Enclosures have to house circuit boards and circuit boards have to fit into enclosures. Electrical and mechanical engineering compliment one another in unison.

Software Development

Once physical hardware has been built or designed we can begin software and firmware development. The logic, the code behind a product. The “if this, then that’s”.

Functional Prototyping

Having circuit boards and physical components built allows us to test engineering and design. It’s the stage where everything comes together albeit not perfect. It’s a stage of learning and proof of concept.

Optimization
& Productization

Finalize design, produce final prototypes, and assist in setting up production.

Re-engineer for Robustness

Once a few rounds of prototyping have been completed, it’s time to engineer and finalize a design. We design for worst case scenarios where environments and use cases are extreme.

Redesign for Efficiency

Over engineering can kill a product. The product must still remain friendly, attractive, and unobtrusive. We combine functionalities and features giving one aspect of a design multiple roles. Simplicity is always the end goal.

Documentation

We’ve spent time developing a product, learning and creating technologies and processes. Data was collected and assemblies were created. Documentation is built up throughout the entire process but in this phase it is tweaked and finalized. Processes may be removed and items consolidated.

Beta Prototyping

It’s now time for what is typically the last step, a Beta Prototype. This prototype looks and functions just as the final product should with albeit with limitations and small differences. For instance the enclosure is 3D printed instead of injection molded.