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Product Development Experts

Starting from a napkin sketch or prototype, the Design 1st team creates custom outer enclosures and inner mechanics for innovative global products like the We-VibeTM, Christie M-seriesTM projectors, BelAir Outdoor Wireless base stations, ProDrive dental turbine, Mytrak M2TM fitness coach, Pliant Enterprise Flash drives, Gesturetek GestDisplayTM and GestTableTM, Stanley Healthcare PedzTM Tag, SecurabandTM and many more. Review projects and testimonials from our valued clients.

Design 1st provides services to entrepreneurs, start ups and corporations of all sizes who are looking to develop innovative and useful products to their markets to create business advantage by differentiating themselves from their competition. See examples of our work in Product Design Portfolio

Hire our expert team of designers and engineers to find solutions to your challenging product opportunities. Using the latest dynamic design tools, we fit in quickly wih your development team and business objectives.

Kevin Bailey, Founder & President

Design 1st is an Ottawa product design team of Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineers who understand how to make a product's design look great and operate the way you expect it to. Our product development team, with its 25 years experience in new product design engineering, is an ideal partner for corporations and start-ups to outsource their physical product design and development.

Equipped with in-house machining, finishing and part prototyping facilities, Design 1st can create finished models, first parts and assemblies - providing one stop for design engineering services. Clients rely on us to turn a napkin sketch into compelling images and then design well engineered product solutions.

We also help clients with pre-production part approval, component identification and supply strategy during new product introduction. Our team has worked with hundreds of manufacturers around the world in many kinds of processes. We help select materials, specify components and part design to meet production requirements and achieve low cost as seen in our engineering design portfolio.

Product development. It's the heart and soul of what we do at Design 1st.

Our product development team is one of Canada's most accomplished, with 25 years of design, mechanical engineering and product development experience.

Based in Ottawa, with offices in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, our product development experts can take your idea from the drawing board to working prototype and on to production. We are in Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Ontario, Montreal, Canada, Boston and Los Angeles, California.

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SEO Expert

How to Hire a Product Design Firm

Hiring a product design firm to assist in the development of a new product is a smart choice because it decreases the risk of product development while improving time-to-market. A product design firm helps businesses design great-looking products that function exactly as expected.

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Tips for Outsourcing Industrial Design

Industrial design is a combination of applied art and applied science. Industrial designers must design products with aesthetics and usability in mind, starting from conceptual brainstorming and leading to solutions that take a design team through to production start-up. The industrial design field combines function and form, and in the process, artists work alongside engineers and marketers.

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The 8 Steps of the Engineering Design Process

Engineering design is a process that engineers use to assist in product development. Physical product design is the creation of structures that serve a purpose and is one branch of the engineering field. This area of design requires trained professionals typically with a mechanical engineering background.

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Call Us toll free 1.877.235.1004 to discuss how a Canadian design firm can add value to your project.