Industrial
Design

Innovation is a natural part of the design process and only ever arises where fields of knowledge overlap. Innovation provides the competitive impetus for the development of new products, with new technology often requiring a new design interpretation. This is why Imego has built up a very specific body of strategic design expertise for this purpose. Businesses can no longer compete by merely slashing prices or upping a marketing budget. Innovation in the form of design in combination with innovative research is the key to success.

For any company involved in the manufacture and marketing of products, the design of the product affects almost every aspect of their activities. Most obviously and directly, marketing, R&D but also in the areas of logistics, distribution, sales, PR and customer services. The potential wins to be gained from effective product design are undeniable. We operate within a highly skilled research and commercial environment with a huge number of considerations influencing our working process. Our business unit for Industrial Design, Product Design, Interface Design and rapid prototyping includes our own lab and is intrinsically linked with our core business, R&D in the field of micro and nano technology and the know-how of our strategic partners. This means we can offer our clients a unique and vivid knowledge platform, which is a formidable weapon in the battle for business success.

In a world where being able to predict and meet future needs is often equated with success, time has become a critical factor. “Time” and “risks” are the critical factors in all product development. In order to minimize the risks entailed in a development project, the right decisions must be taken during the entire development process.
 

Design is fundamentally about making things better - better for users, better for business, and better for the world. A well-conceived product will sell more, increase market share, obtain wider distribution, improve margins and carve out new opportunities - all of which will increase revenue and, potentially, also decrease costs.

Product design is vital to every company involved in the manufacture and marketing of physical products of any type. Products are an essential element of communication and often the only connection between users and brand. Emphasising design brings creativity into an organisation and increases the chance of producing market-leading, mould-breaking products.

Good design serves to protect the relationships between the producer and the user, which can make the deal good business – for both parties. This is where the Industrial Design department at Imego can be of help. With Imego as a development partner, your firm has access to expertise in industrial design with the relevant theoretical background and many years’ practical experience in product development. We can help you find the right solution and choose the right combination of methods required to bring your ideas to the market. Our expertise within industrial design merges ideally with the other components of Imego’s wider research and development process, giving our customers a powerful competitive advantage.

We start with careful consideration of the user’s needs. Establishing what our customer wants then translating their needs into useful blueprints is the first stage of our process. We build on the results of this enquiry using a mixture of creativity and commercial insight.

The requirement that form should reflect function is fundamental to the concept of industrial design in a twofold sense. The product must function in technical terms and the product must function in its interaction with the user. For a producer, a product is an item to be sold, and for the user, it is a tool that helps make life more creative, convenient, safer and sounder or more eventful. Good design is a means of creating an effective product and of strengthening the relationship between the product’s perceived value and its selling price.

Our industrial design unit has unique experience and outstanding, industry-specific knowledge at its disposal. This wealth of experience flows into another area of competence, a result of the close collaboration between Industrial Design, Interface Design and our research departments. This combination is unique in its reciprocity. Imego is the only institute with the industrial design expertise needed to meet the demands of its clients. We can draw up added knowledge for our customers and an additional advantage thanks to a wide range of expertise in different fields.

Collaboration with Imego ensures that your company has access to the latest nterdisciplinary technology. This results in rapid, efficient and low-cost product development, engineering and high-end modelling.

The activity of product design is always relevant to any company manufacturing physical products. Our customers benefit greatly from the integration of design theory and design process into their normal development activities. Idea generation and innovation.
Our Industrial design team accompanies all product development phases from the early concept phase right the way through to realisation, i.e. implementation.
 

Ideas judged by both client and designers to have potential are worked through in more detail, taking into account all influencing factors. This is done in order to arrive at early physical manifestations in the form of sketches, renderings and foam models, alongside 2D or 3D CAD work describing architecture and technical intent.

Concept development
A tighter focus on a smaller selection of concepts to merge the myriad different factors that might bear upon its fruition (ergonomic, technical, production and aesthetic). Typical output - as above but with more refinement and greater emphasis on 3D CAD.

Design development
Preceding phases have typically narrowed the focus for work to a single design proposal, although aspects of that may yet remain unproven. This phase is all about intent for eventual production and is largely geared towards the definition of each and every aspect of the product so that both marketing and engineering can sign off the design intent. Typical output - some 2D CAD, 3D surfaces, 3D solid modelling and finished model. The finished model defines in every way what the final product will be like.

Models and prototypes
Trend and market indicators are analyzed in order to develop new concepts for a dynamic market. Early product prototypes are a direct result of these concepts; ideas first become tangible and comprehensible in our lab. Models and prototypes are useful for evaluating design, function, ergonomics, construction, tool making, and marketing. They can pave the way for innovative thinking in relation to man and machine.

Models and prototypes can also simplify the production and assembly of new products. A physical product that can be held is considerably easier to understand than a blueprint, and with the Rapid Prototyping Technology available today, a model can be produced in a matter of days, or even hours. The model can be used to produce tools for Rapid Tooling that make it possible to produce prototypes in two-component polyurethane, plastic, or metal. This makes it possible to test the product with respect to design, functionality, ergonomics, etc, very early in the development stage.

Using know-how in industrial design and product development and our facilities for producing models and prototypes, we are able to provide our clients with a solid basis for decision-making through offering them the opportunity to see and test the actual products. This also means big savings, since errors can be corrected early in the development process, as opposed to during actual production.