What is Design and Prototyping
Design and prototyping is a typical design engineering service in product development. It is a flexible service but comes with two iterations of prototypes as standard. If the product is multi-disciplinary, co-development with other consultants and developers will be managed.
Design work is inherently iterative, not only is it useful to prototype products for testing, it is necessary for evaluating design, tolerances, aesthetics and more. Taking a design from a concept, say with some industrial design work, to a functioning real-life prototype is one of the most exciting parts of a project. Seeing you idea come to life is incredibly satisfying.
The aim of Design and prototyping is really to advance the design from a concept to a detailed design, ready to be validated via physical and user testing, to iron out kinks in interfaces and tolerances, and to reduce risk when investing in expensive tools. Usually prototype one is used to test the overall function and requirements and prototype two to iron out tolerancing kinks and test high risk areas.
The design work is geared toward prototyping techniques defined by an agreed strategy. If you have a manufacturer on board who can produce high-quality soft-tooled prototypes for relatively low cost we can design for tooling. If, however, a supplier is not yet engaged and the product needs to be proven out first, design for outsourced prototyping techniques can be implemented (eg. machining, sheet metal folding, welding etc.)
What Does Design and Prototyping involve?
What Are The Objective Outputs?
The subjective goal of design and prototyping is to take a concept and detail the design into something that can be made real. Then, we make it real. We check aesthetics, mechanisms, technology function, useability and more so that robust validation and DFM can occur on a product that we know fits the functional requirements. By the end, you should have a looks like, works like prototype ready for validation and preparation for manufacture.
Translated into objective outputs this might include some or all of the following:
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Initial Design Development
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Rapid prototyping and testing
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Design reviews
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Test reports
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Revision controlled CAD files
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Application layer firmware definition
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Part optimisation and refinement
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Risk and Unknown assessment and prototyping aims
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Project management and integration of other disciplines (eg, electronics)
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Prototype 1 CAD Package
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Prototype 1 build
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Test reports
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Further Design reviews and refinements
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Prototype 2 CAD Package
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Prototype 2 Build
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Looks-like, works-like prototype
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Test reports
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Final Design refinements and CAD files
Validated Concept
Design and Prototype
High Fidelity Prototype
Cost and Timeline
I like to be transparent about the work I do for accountability and for building great relationships with partners. Get in touch and I'd love to have a chat about timeline and pricing quotations for your specific product. I quote by estimating a timeline of engineering hours needed for the service and apply an hourly rate. To give an idea of the costs involved here are some rough prices and timelines based on varying complexity and demand of the products:
Simple Project
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8 - 16 Weeks
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~£12,000 - £24,000
Complex Mechanical Project
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16 - 40 Weeks
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~£24,000 - £60,000
Complex Multi-Disciplinary Project
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24 - 52 Weeks
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~£36,000 - >£78,000
Note: Development can have down time, the costs and times indicated are quoted for engineering hours, not timeline. Prototyping costs are not included, and will be reviewed with you before committing to builds.
Services Timeline
Below is a typical timeline of where each stand-alone service typically falls in the product development process. If you choose to go through the whole product development process with me, the services are far more integrated and iterative meaning that design verification and design for manufacturing considerations are baked into the detailed design and prototyping phases.
This reduces duplicated work in scope overlap and ensures smooth knowledge transfer throughout the process as well as a more natural, although still structured, development process.
Click on the buttons below to explore the Product Development service and find out more about how it works. Alternatively, if you know you need a specific stand-alone service, click the individual service buttons below to find out more
(All Services Integrated)