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Companies without an In-House Product Development Team

Does your company or startup need a team of specialists to develop your product concept, source parts and guide the setup of your product manufacturing.

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Our Clients’ Products Have Been Featured In:

  • Motorola
  • Shark
  • SomnoMed
  • Cloud9
  • We-Vibe
  • Ericsson
  • NASA
  • Liberty Pumps

Proven Process to Move Your Product Idea to Manufacturing

Using our proven step-by-step process, we work with you to create the product, packaging, and materials you need to confidently pursue your business goals, knowing you have access to engineering, design and commercialization support at all times.

Product Design Strategy

Two people reviewing sketches on a whiteboard above a desk with sticky notes

Starting with your product concept and primary customer needs, we work with you to identify the target user and explore visual concepts of potential solutions through sketching. Once a direction is chosen, the team creates appealing 3D CAD product models to bring your product vision to life.

Rapid Experimental Prototyping

Marker sketches of fitness wristband concepts spread across a desk

We quickly develop prototypes that showcase your product features and prove feasibility. We take the essence of your product vision and create a physical prototype so you can begin testing with users, displaying at trade shows, and presenting to investors and internal stakeholders as soon as possible.

Electronics Design and Wireless Connectivity

Designer at a workstation with a CAD model of a funnel part and 3D-printed prototypes

Add intelligence and connectivity to your product. Our experienced electronics and embedded systems engineers can add cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, RFID, GPS and other types of secure wireless control and connectivity to your product.

Reliable Engineering Solutions

Collage of an FEA stress plot, a transparent device render and an exploded electronics enclosure with thermal map

We help you solve the most challenging engineering problems and supplement your team with expertise. Our transparent, collaborative approach delivers learning and working product solutions that get prototyped and tested in-house before being integrated into your final manufacture-ready product.

Award-Winning Industrial Design

Circuit boards in a custom test fixture wired to a microcontroller on a workbench

A well-thought-through design delivers an enjoyable, easy-to-use product that brings your brand and vision to life. As you move from product concept options to a finalized design, our team builds physical prototypes that replicate the product experience to test and ensure a rewarding user experience.

Component Sourcing and Supplier Strategy

Exploded render of a wearable heart-rate monitor beside its phone app screen

The global shortage of electronics components, rising shipping costs, travel restrictions, and inflation make defining your components and supplier strategy early on critical. After your design concept is locked-in, we work with you to select materials, componenets, and parts that are easy to source and replace if issues arise.

Product Packaging Design

Two technicians rigging a blue Waterotor turbine unit to a crane sling beside a river

Choosing the right packaging design that follows your brand and customer values while meeting business needs is critical to get right. We work with you to finalize the design, create packaging prototypes that resemble the final package, and help you select a manufacturer.

Manufacturing Setup

Numbered exploded view of the Levy electric scooter showing deck, stem, wheels and battery

Did you know 70% of a product’s manufacturing cost gets locked in during the design phase? To mitigate this risk, we provide manufacturing set-up and support from the onset of your product design to ensure a smooth transition to volume production.

What Entrepreneurs and Inventors Say About Working With Design 1st

Portfolio of Projects

Across every industry, our team excels at developing technically complex projects

Case Studies

Learn how companies, like yours, have gotten their product to market faster with Design1st

Helpful Resources

From Napkin Sketch to Manufacture-Ready Product: Done Right the 1st Time

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