End-to-End Product Design and Development Services

Turnkey new product development, or a flexible extension of your in-house team. We provide value at every step. Explore how we help.

Video: VP Design, James Henderson discusses Design 1st services

Trusted to Design, Develop, and Engineer Manufacture-Ready Products for Startups and the World’s Most Innovative Brands

End-to-End Product Development Services

Our skilled team works collaboratively across specialized service areas. From start to finish, we find the right solutions to transform your initial idea into a reliable and useful product.

Research your category and lay solid project plans.
Our cost-effective up-front analysis and user value testing provides a clearer picture of your competition, price/cost options, patent strategy, customer valued features, market specific requirements, and more.
Armed with these insights, we can work with you to set your overall innovation strategy, confidently refine product feature priorities, set cost targets, identify the most promising creative and technical directions, and establish a solid project plan.

Transform your vision into a useful engaging product.

Our lean process is a proven method for harnessing our creative and technical capabilities to turn ideas into simple to use products that deliver conspicuous customers value.

Whether in the same room or collaborating from a distance with our state-of-the-art conferencing tools, we work closely with you and your team to brainstorm, develop concepts, and iteratively refine these ideas into a business-oriented product solution.

Engineer products that perform on every level.

Your new product must exceed user expectations about performance, quality, and cost. It may also need to meet stringent regulatory requirements.

Our expert engineering team has the analysis tools and technical expertise to help you reduce risk and solve tough problems. Tricky assembly; sophisticated materials selection; novel manufacturing processes; complex stress, thermal, or vibration concerns – whatever your technical hurdles, we can help.

Add intelligence and connectivity to your product.

From industrial instruments and medical devices to Internet-connected consumer products and everything between, we have the electronics design experience to reliably deliver the whole market-ready product.

Our engineering team has proven methodologies, intimate knowledge of the latest standards and frameworks, and years of experience designing, testing, and certifying hardware, firmware, and software applications.

Seamless integration of electronics into new products.

Embedded software plays a critical role in the optimal function of physical products. Our expert team of software and firmware developers works together to design compact software with a small memory footprint and low power requirements.

Using an interdisciplinary approach to integrating hardware and software into your product’s design delivers energy-efficient, highly reliable systems with built-in redundancy and fault tolerance.

Show and validate your design early, reduce your risk.

Prototypes are essential when developing physical products. With our in-house modeling and fabrication capabilities, and our established network of reliable prototype suppliers, we build thousands of models and prototypes each year for all kinds of physical products and demonstration units.

For low cost predictable development, we create virtual renderings, physical bench models and fully functional prototypes to evaluate and assess your products utility to customers prior to manufacturing.

Quickly get your design into reliable production.

To design a great product, you must know the process. 70% of a product’s cost is locked-in during the early design stage, so we apply our extensive knowledge of manufacturing right at the start of your project.

We engage component suppliers and potential contract manufacturers early in the design or work closely with your in-house production team. This removes surprises during the new product introduction process to minimize the development cost and reduce time required to complete manufacturing set-up for full production.

A Tailored Team of Product Development Experts

When you work with Design 1st, you’re accessing a tailored, cross-functional team of specialists customized for your specific project. As your project evolves, so too does the team working on it, so you get only the most expert people providing input every step of the way.

Embedded Systems

Seamless integration of electronics into physical devices.

Embedded Design Team

Mechanical Engineering

Find creative mechanical solutions to technical challenges.

Mechanical Design Team

Industrial Design

Transform your product concept into a refined manufacture-ready design.

Industrial Design Team

Electronics Engineering

Add power, secure connectivity, and interaction control to your products.

Electronic Design Team

Transfer to Manufacturing

Move your product into volume manufacturing.

Manufacture Transfer Team

Design Strategy

Set your new product up for success with a well-laid plan.

Design Strategy Team

Our Unique Product Development Approach

Your innovation remains your intellectual property

We Recognize Your Ownership

It is your idea, your product, your patents, and your awards. We provide critical guidance to drive your project forward and get our motivation from your success.

Communication is Critical

Our process centres on close collaboration with you and your team. We invest in the best tools to collaborate remotely with you on design concepts and engineering details.

Tools to Save Time and Money

We invest in the most sophisticated tools for design, product visualization, engineering analysis, in-house prototyping, and manufacturing support.

Talented People Work Together

Our multi-functional design and engineering team works closely together with you to find solutions that work. Our manufacturing team guides our design choices.

Reduce Design Risk

Our Lean Product Design Process is based on rapid iterations to produce concrete ideas and tangible prototypes that can be viewed, assessed, tested, and refined.

Pride in Tour Success

By sharing our skills, talent, and network of partners, we are committed to the success of your world-class manufacturable product as you move to market.

Our Product Development Process

Our Proven 4-Step Process Reduces Your Product-to-Market Time and
Development Costs by 50%

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Concept Development

Turn your concept into a refined design, assess risk factors, and create architecture plans ready for engineering.

Detailed Engineering

Iterate on design features and create full documentation for a pre-production prototype.

Prototype and Test

Validate product requirements, confirm usability, secure suppliers and create a fully functioning prototype.

Manufacturing Setup

Select the most reliable manufacturer, implement quality-control processes, and oversee production — turning your idea to reality.

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Awards & Certifications

Design1st projects have received 75+ awards and we hold 1000+ patents

From Napkin Sketch to Manufacture-Ready Product, Designed Right the 1st Time

Design 1st integrates our knowledge and expertise with yours to bring your product idea to life