SERVICES
We help companies make beautiful, mass producible products that are easy to use.
WHY US
We are experts in industrial design, and work with companies to create the very best products—ones that are beautiful, manufacturable, and intuitive to use.
Throughout our two decades of experience in Industrial Product Design across multiple industries, we have identified the three pillars to the execution of any successful industrial design project: Communication, Constructive Feedback, and Industry Expertise. We live and breathe these pillars with our clients, and when they do too, the outcome is glorious. Are you an expert in your field? If so, our industry breadth and depth of design knowledge is ready to serve you.
OUR PROCESS
We listen. We strategize. We create. We collaborate. You win.
RESEARCH
The best product design is driven by data that is current, applicable, and focused. DesignStein reviews existing product data and hunts for unique insights.
Competitive Landscape – Any competitive strategy worth its weight must take a hard look at the competition. We review your competitors’ prices, features, benefits, reviews, patents, materials, and manufacturing methods to determine your place among your rivals. Our gap analysis strategy reveals your product’s marketing strengths, competitive differentiators, branding potential, and more, ensuring your product strategy is comprehensive and sound.
Surveys & User Reviews – Whether your industry has an abundance of market data or very little, we can help. We work within your established marketing budget to gather meaningful data that helps successfully drive your product’s design. Our established process is scalable and delivers the right information, so you can make the right decisions.
IDEATION / CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
DesignStein works with you to develop initial concepts that nurture innovation.
Sketches – Here’s where pen meets paper—or in our case, where stylus meets sketchpad. We explore multiple design directions and visually explain them using hand sketches and 2D renderings. Each design direction investigates different forms, aesthetics, materials, and finishes. We incorporate innovative ideas and work to solve design challenges early through this process.
Collaboration – Once we work together to define initial concept development, we schedule group sessions to keep the development process on track. During these sessions, we collaborate with you on the various product development concepts, combining our product design experience and expertise with your industry expertise, so we understand your perspective. This allows us to define the various strengths and weaknesses of each concept. Like a funnel, this process allows us to work together in-step to flesh out the best product design to move forward with.
3D CAD / 3D Modeling
DesignStein translates hand sketches and rough product designs into SolidWorks, to turn innovative ideas into prototypes.
3D CAD – Once we have worked together to define a firm product design direction by creating the best rough concept, the fun really begins! We model the product design using Computer-Aided Design software (CAD), paying close attention to the product’s required internal dimensions, human factors, and manufacturing methods, all while maintaining the initial intent of the product’s design concept.
PHOTO-REALISTIC RENDERINGS
Using Keyshot, DesignStein brings your industrial product design to life.
Renderings – After we successfully collaborate on your product’s CAD model, we bring your product to life by adding materials and finishes using rendering software. We go beyond just creating a realistic product image by paying close attention to every detail, using various textures, finishes, and lighting to create photo-realistic renderings. Our clients use these renderings to explore different materials, explain features and benefits, create marketing images, and of course, approve designs for prototyping as we move toward production.
PROTOTYPING
Putting rubber to the road – DesignStein creates 3D prints for prototypes to fine-tune your product design direction for mass production.
Prototypes – Prototyping is a critical part of the industrial product design validation process. Once we complete 3D CAD files using feedback during the product rendering process, we are prepared to prototype your product samples. This process allows us to further refine the product design to ensure the very best user experience and cost-efficient manufacturability. From vacuum cast products, to bent-sheet metal and sewn fabrics products, we have a vast arsenal of prototyping methods to suit your project needs.
SPECIFICATIONS
DesignStein laser-focuses on your product’s component dimensions, material call-outs, and manufacturing methods to obtain tooling and production quotes.
Spec Sheets – Once we have your approval for your product’s CAD files, we create all the documents needed for factories to provide a tooling and per-unit quote. This includes generic-formatted 3D CAD files and specification sheets that outline all dimensions, materials, manufacturing methods, and component requirements, and include all other important production details necessary to ensure you receive accurate manufacturing quotes.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
DesignStein takes your IP very seriously.
Patents – Trust is paramount. We value our clients, and we protect their intellectual property. We have two decades of experience in the design industry, and we know how to navigate the process of applying, obtaining, and filing for your product’s legal protections. We can recommend trusted counsel or consult on how to properly execute the patent and trademark processes while we collaborate on your design.
Supplier Diversification – Our primary strategy to protect your ideas is through supplier diversification. This sophisticated process of separating responsibilities and avoiding consolidation for your product’s design to any single production group is not always easy, but it is well worth the effort. We strongly recommend utilizing this strategy, and we can help you implement it.
MANUFACTURING
DesignStein makes sure your final product design is built right and ready to go to market.
Factory Selection – It takes more than a facility’s ability to make your product to get the job; final assembly and shipping to your distribution channels both play a critical role in your new product’s successful launch. We can see this process through for our clients. We will work anywhere you need us to, worldwide, doing research and executing the follow-up needed to ensure your factory gets the job done right.
Quality Control – We refuse to compromise on quality control. Our experience in end-to-end product design execution enables us to create QA/QC plans that ensure your product is made right the first time, and every time. This process begins with enforcing standards and expectations early and often through live inspections. Once we have established a high expectation of manufacturing standards for your product, spot inspections and timely reviews of QA/QC processes and records ensure these standards are maintained. We work hard to make sure your product is manufactured correctly with exacting tolerances, and is delivered on time.
Ready to talk? Let’s make something incredible together.
Complete the form below and let’s schedule a time to discuss your project.
DesignStein FAQs
The Industrial Designers Society of America defines industrial design as “…the professional practice of designing products, devices, objects, and services used by millions of people around the world every day.” This definition goes on to say that “industrial designers typically focus on the physical appearance, functionality and manufacturability of a product, though they are often involved in far more during a development cycle.” (you can see their full definition here).
While this is an accurate description of what industrial design is, for obvious reasons it does not address the deeper element of successful industrial design: The Industrial Design Process. This is what DesignStein excels at. We adhere to what we consider the Three Pillars for successful product design: Communication, Constructive Feedback, and Industry Expertise. We have nearly two decades of experience designing products across multiple industries. Our multi-industry experience gives us broader design perspectives, allowing us to think outside the box and apply creative solutions that ‘specialty’ design companies may not consider for your product. We execute an established methodology that ensures your product design goals are achieved, and combine it with a collaborative approach that ensures we are in lockstep with our clients from beginning to end.
To reference the definition from our friends at The Industrial Designers Society of America, who classify the industrial design process as follows: “Every object that you interact with on a daily basis in your home, office, school, or public setting is the result of a design process. During this process, myriad decisions are made by an industrial designer (and their team) that are aimed at improving your life through well-executed design.” The difference in design companies lie with the decisions that are made during the process of industrial design, from how sketches are created to thinking through the engineering and manufacturing considerations during CAD design, considering whether the product will stand up to the real world during the 3D modeling process, looking beyond aesthetics during prototyping, and even how to scale for lean, repeatable manufacturing and distribution.
This is where DesignStein provides the best value for our clients. We follow to our Three Pillars for successful product design: Communication, Constructive Feedback, and Industry Expertise. Our established industrial product design process is summarized as a combination of research, sketches, 3D CAD, 3D Renderings, prototyping, specifications, IP strategy, manufacturing and quality control, which you can learn more about in detail on our Services page. Want more? Check out our YouTube channel for videos that highlight our processes using specific case studies!
DesignStein Studios assists companies with applying, filing, and ultimately obtaining patents for your product design through consultation or recommending attorneys who we trust that specialize in Intellectual Property (we’re really good at this). To mitigate the risk of product counterfeits or stolen IP, we can help you execute a supplier diversification strategy that separates various manufacturing and distribution responsibilities across multiple production groups. This is a difficult strategy to execute, but we are experts at it, and it is worth the effort if you want to mitigate the risk of someone counterfeiting your product design.
The short answer is yes, we do. We don’t simply make your product look pretty, we get inside of it and thoughtfully position internal components, mechanical systems, or whatever else make up the ‘guts’ of your product to ensure reliability and manufacturability. When we combine your industry expertise with our vast expertise in product design across virtually every industry from mechanical devices to electronics to soft goods, the result is not simply a beautiful product that improves lives, but one that is also easily manufacturable at the best possible cost.
DesignStein has helped many of its clients’ secure reliable manufacturers who have integrity and keep your IP private to prevent counterfeiting. We do much more than simply provide a manufacturing resource, though.
To ensure your products are made right and work as intended, DesignStein creates your product specifications for dimensions, material types, best practices for manufacturing, and components specs before any manufacturing commitments are made. This process ensures that manufacturers have everything they need to provide accurate tooling estimates. We are prepared to go where you need us to go, anywhere in the world, to make sure the standards that we set to manufacture your product are met. We perform live inspections, ensure pre-established quality control processes are executed, and review the process of shipping to your distribution channels, all of which validate that your products are produced properly, and get where they need to go on time and on budget.
We further protect your IP through a sophisticated process of supplier diversification. Our approach to selecting a manufacturer and suppliers for our clients creates peace of mind on two fronts; It protects the intellectual property inside your product, and delivers confidence that your product will be manufactured on time to an exacting standard.
DesignStein can help you source component suppliers. We have an established process for helping our clients’ secure component suppliers that promises long term component availability, and protects the intellectual property behind your product to prevent counterfeiting. We diversify our clients’ supply chain and create distinct component supply channels so that your IP remains discrete. This complex process of eliminating component supplier amalgamation is proven to safeguard your products from copycats.
DesignStein uses SOLIDWORKS to create 3D CAD (Computer-Aided Design) models of your product. We have decades of experience with CAD, which when combined with our background designing products in multiple industries, allows us to consider your product’s design beyond the aesthetic. We factor in all the things that will improve the lives of your customers, and all the elements that are required to make the product manufacturable at scale.
DesignStein has deep experience in consumer electronics, mechanical products, military and self defense products, personal products, healthcare products, cut-and-sew soft goods, children’s toys, and pet products. We have experience designing products for multiple industries, which sets our product design firm apart from other industrial design companies. Our expertise designing products across multiple industries allows us to think outside of the box, enabling us to provide product design concepts that exceed many of our clients’ expectations.