Industrial Design Consultancy
The term Industrial Design Company is a little more common to hear over the pond. The actual definition of industrial design varies depending on the industrial designers you speak to. Here at Flynn we think industrial design has transcended the iterative improvement, aesthetic enhancement of a product. We think industrial design is the non-linear process of design thinking as it applies to physical, digital or even virtual experiences. Industrial design is ultimately about people and their product environment. Developing that industrial design so it is better for business, manufacturable, feasible and tangibly beneficial, comes as standard with our industrial design consultancy.
Re-think
Our consultancy aims to be a little different. There are many who offer industrial design as a service, but one of the core areas that sets limits are potentially those early assumptions. The brief even. In fact, we have a saying “a product is as good its brief”. While our approach is tailored, the basis is the same from international brands like Liverpool FC to start-ups like Pawtrack.com. One area that has the most impact is to re-think the starting place for the project. What inputs have arrived at the formula? What is the core problem statement? Sometimes this is hidden, but it can pay dividends to work through this in our workshops.
Imagine
When you deeply connect with the core problem statement, ideas start to flow. The solutions are out there waiting to be discovered, like tuning in to the right frequency. Our industrial designers have an uncanny touch at creating novel and inventive concepts which are more often than not, Patentable. Breaking free “sandboxing” and creating a safe place for ideas to live, even for a short time enables us to imagine a better way.
Test
Industrial designers must test and validate at each of these stages. We established it was critical to test the original thinking that goes into the brief and PDS (product design specification). Again, a good consultancy will test and validate its ideas at different stages. How do you know which idea to move forward and develop? Test – find a way, create a test rig, an experiment – prototype and validate. Move that idea forwards into prototype, test assemblies prior to investment in hard tooling as much to de-risk the process. Then A-B Test, mature design work and brand development even with Focus groups and target markets. Test, assess, listen learn and feed that back into the industrial design cycle.
Create
Building directly on that momentum our industrial design company begin to play alchemist. Bringing elements from left field, we can switch in design cues, influences, technologies, materials, mechanisms, forms – feelings even, these we call “design DNA”. It is at the creation stage we plant a range of seeds, hybrids of each other, sometimes distinct, sometimes the genesis is clear. We take the Darwinian approach to product development and nurture those seedlings into concepts, give them names and introduce our clients to the fruit of our imaginations. Once intros are out of the way we work with our clients to analyse which of these concepts is the best fit for its environment. Which one or which combination of attributes brought into a whole can thrive in the marketplace gaining market traction and disrupt sectors.
What is Industrial Design? We would argue it’s about people…
People are at the heart of our business, our highly experienced creative industrial designers and product design engineers, our prototype team, our materials specialists, brand consultants, tooling engineers. People are at the heart of our industrial design concepts as the “user”. All of our products are carefully considered from the user perspective and ergonomics is a forte of ours. You, our clients are our people, our consultancy fosters a bolt-on skillset approach, we sit on your side of the table, we understand your business and your priorities.
And finally, it makes such a difference to love what you do. Every day we get energised knowing the impact our industrial design consultancy can have when creating the future.
We never forget it’s a shared future and people are at the heart of our sustainable design program. Always strive to be at the forefront and ahead of the game on future polymers, alternatives to petro-plastics and reduction in single-use plastic are massive for us. And understand the responsibility we have to help lead our customers forwards on a sustainable pathway. Flynn Product Design is an award-winning industrial design company with 20 years of creating award-winning products. We love a challenge, reach out to us today to reveal your true product potential.
