Product Design & Development Services
Some of the freelance product design and development services I can offer - please get in touch for more information, or see my portfolio for examples in more detail.
Industrial design & product visualisation |
Services for inventors and innovators If you have an invention, effective design can help you explore and make the most of its potential: turning it from an invention to a product. Professional presentation can help considerably in promoting your product (or ideas) to investors or funding bodies, prospective manufacturers and customers, highlighting innovative features and demonstrating the benefits. Depending on your stage of development, a number of the services outlined here, from technical consultancy to web design may be appropriate to help you realise your ambitions and bring your product to market. As a freelance designer with lower overheads than a large design consultancy, I can provide good value and work closely with you throughout our collaboration. And as an inventor myself, currently involved with developing and patenting a number of products, I'm well aware of intellectual property issues and can assure you full confidentiality with a non-disclsoure agreement of your choice. Please get in touch for a no-obligation, confidential discussion about your invention and how design can help you take it further. |
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| Product visualisation is an important part of
the design process: it can allow a new product idea to be communicated
at an early stage to potential investors, purchasers,
marketers and manufacturers. Design iterations - both
functional and purely aesthetic - can be visualised, demonstrated
and refined before a physical prototype or presentation model is
produced. With expertise in a variety of software in this field, I can offer a range of product visualisation techniques to suit your product or concept. Above: an early visualisation of my own project Incluminate [PDF link]; and the Genie SIM card data backup [PDF link] for Mayhem UK Ltd. |
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Graphic design & presentation |
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| Effective, well-designed communication of the benefits
of a proposition - a new product, technology, concept or service
- is essential to securing sales or investment in a project. By
mapping the proposition's features to benefits for
the consumer, I can offer presentations - in print, the web, or
exhibition displays - which can make a big difference to perceptions,
interest levels and desirability. See also modelmaking. Above: promotional graduate directories compiled and designed (as a team member) for the Cambridge-MIT Institute and Brunel University [PDF links]; and the development of a web presence for Global Inventions, a Hong Kong-based company which had not previously used the internet to promote itself. |
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Branding & packaging |
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| The branding and packaging of a product are an extension of
the presentation of benefits to the consumer; depending on
the context, they can, in themselves, move the product into additional
or different markets and help significantly in selling the product to customers (or,
again, to potential investors, manufacturers and retailers). Please get in touch if you'd like an assessment of how branding and/or packaging design could enhance your product - for example, I can produce small batches of 'mockup' packaging for presenting a product to potential buyers. Above: repositioning of an existing product for Mayhem UK, using new packaging and light-hearted branding, led to the bestselling DIY Diva and Handy Mandy gift items [PDF links]; more examples of packaging designed for Mayhem UK and its associate, Dunnes Stores. |
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Technical consultancy & prototyping |
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| With experience across a range of technology fields,
from practical electronics to gearbox design, I can offer technical
consultancy and proof-of-principle prototyping services
for new products or concepts, or advice on technology selection
or design enhancement for existing products. Above: one stage of prototype development for my ongoing wheelchair drive project, this shot shows the high-torque hub motor & PWM controller; an early proof-of-principle prototype for Incluminate [PDF link] incorporating a 'test' switch, this allowed the product to be demonstrated effectively at an award finalists' exhibition. |
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Engineering design |
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| Engineering design is the bridge between the concept
or initial prototype, and a real product designed for manufacture
or assembly, and can involve optimisation techniques
such as finite element analysis (FEA), in conjunction with intelligent
selection of materials and manufacturing methods. I have
relevant experience on projects ranging from bicycles and mobility
products to pharmaceutical packaging machinery, and can offer engineering
design consultancy and CAD tailored to your product's requirements. Above: a 3D assembly diagram used during the development of the wheelchair drive; and an FEA von Mises' stress plot from the same project, to determine the yield characteristics for a steel width-adjuster assembly. |
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Market strategy & patent research |
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It's important to have strategies in place for both identifying (and extending) your product's market, and protecting your intellectual property; from my experience, the insights gained in patent searches, preliminary preparation of patent applications, and analysis of existing markets and competitors' products can also be a great aid to the design and development process itself, and I'm pleased to offer these services, either in this context or independently. Right: a detail from a recently prepared patent application. |
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Aesthetic & presentation modelmaking |
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As an extension of product visualisation, a (physical)
aesthetic model can be a great aid in presenting a proposed
product to potentially interested parties, particularly at exhibitions
and presentations to investors or funding bodies. If your proof-of-principle
prototype conveys the function, the aesthetic model can effectively
communicate the finished product in parallel. I'm pleased
to be able to work in conjunction with - and offer the services
of - a very talented independent modelmaker whose impressive models
can give a production-quality appearance at earlier stages of
the design process. Right: an illuminated aesthetic model of the Richmond book-end light [PDF link]. |
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Get in touch
To discuss your project, please e-mail dan@danlockton.co.uk,
with your requirements and an outline of the work you need done, intended timescales, and so on. If signature of a non-disclosure agreement is needed before details of the project are released, I am of course happy to do this. As every job has unique characteristics, I will discuss the project further with you before providing an estimate.
Dan Lockton, 10/2 High St, Datchet, Bucks SL3 9EA | dan@danlockton.co.uk | 01753
540119 / 07754 211389