Looking for a consulting product design company? Each business has
its individual requirements, lets look at how we can help.
its individual requirements, lets look at how we can help.
At the core of our business lies the ability to solve a very specific set of problems defined by the client.
We can broadly place the types of clients who have benefited from working with our design consultancy into the two groups below.
From mums to ‘fred in his shed’, inventors are a group of individuals who have had a stroke of creative thinking and identified a problem and a solution. At Flynn Product Design we are kindred spirits with the inventor.
They may have just started out, down their road of discovery, or they may be an old hand, aka, The serial inventor, with many patents to their name.
The product design strategy for inventors of course requires them to communicate their idea (disclosure), we handle this confidentially via an non-disclosure agreement.
Employing smart design strategy means we encourage some early investigation into assessing the idea. Understanding if someone has prior art along the same lines and or any patents in existence. We recommend abettermousetrap.co.uk for this stage.
Often we are challenged with suggesting refinements to the invention, to improve the concept with design development, we ask that the client takes us to the original problem being solved and we may be able to enhance their invention, or offer better solutions. This is useful in that it demonstrates how the competition could react to their product if it went to market. Sometimes the client would go onto protect the intellectual property of their original approach as well as alternatives, which we developed for them. This move towards inoculating them against others trying to work around their patent.
Two of the most striking benefits, working with our design consultancy is, our ability to transform the design to something user friendly to operate, using applied ergonomics. The second being a visual makeover, as with all things in draft form, sometimes inventors have rather an ugly duckling of a prototype and work with us to transform the aesthetics. We are experts in developing your product for consumer appeal.
The inventor then benefits from us developing the design for mass production, so the invention can be commercialised. Our experience in design for mass production and manufacturing technologies means our output can be produced with true economies of scale. The objective is shared with all three of our scenarios : return on investment.
UK business has responded to the challenging economic situation by being proactive, the rate of business start ups has endured. The genesis of the start-up may lie in having identified a gap in the market that need a commercial product solution to be developed, to satisfy demand. Clearly they know how to run their business and recognise when to call in the product design experts.
Established brands, are often household names, those products and services you use everyday. They operate in more mature markets, with increased competition and higher saturation.
There is an enduring need to stand out from the crowd, to stay head and shoulders above the competition.
Brands know what they are doing right? They have the all the tools in place to have achieved the positioning they have & so will do so moving forward? Not always the case. The Smartphone market in 2011 is a case in point, Samsung allegedly took 60% of new mobile phone sales over the first quarter of 2011, outperforming some long established brands in the sector. Why? Largely because they pushed ahead with bold product specification and efficient process engineering to come in on price point. There are some European brands who are seeing dwindling market share, these are prime candidates for external industrial design consultants.
Involving external expertise is vital at certain junctures. FPD can offer insight on the existing product range and how it can be improved. Brands who understand their position is theirs to loose, often seek an external perspective, despite brands having in-house departments for their industrial design / or long standing external product design partners, FPD can invigorate their product range, in the way our size, dynamism and independence permits.
Additionally we have manufacture capabilities that may open a viable route for reducing cost to market. We have seen benefits to existing producers in reducing their production costs based on the part design or considering the latest material technology such as when moving to sustainable product design.
Product design for start-up’sStart-ups and Entrepreneurs, generally have a different set of needs to the establishment. The first few years are so critical, we offer our guidance as they may be in uncharted waters, with a lack of experience in bringing a product to market.
Acting as a sounding board for the strategy they are developing. We find this helps to ensure the brief and product design specification, really are the correct 'product DNA' for the intended market environment. Moreover we reduce commercial and technical risk through smart design strategy, important, as funds are always stretched.
We will interface with groups like the Technology Strategy Board and the Manufacturing Advisory Board on their behalf also. We pride ourselves on providing innovation on demand, this means our output stands enhanced chances of being able to be patented.
We have developed an effective way to fast track the design development, using virtual prototyping which in-turn reduces the cost for rapid prototyping, which in-turn reduces the cost of manufacture. We offer a full solution with our production capability, where needed, supplying the finished product and packaging.