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When it comes to prototyping your vision, it’s important to understand the process and educate yourself to save money and frustration.  Prototyping is usually the longest process in developing a product for market, so it is important to be realistic with your expectations and to understand the process. If this is your first time creating a prototype, consider these tips below.

Where To Start -

Unless your a CAD expert or graphic designer, just communicating your vision to your team and others is key to getting a great start on your product prototyping life cycle.

To keep costs down, use whatever you may have available to create a rough prototype so that others can better understand what it is your trying to achieve. Never underestimate your ability with a pair of scissors, some hot glue and scrap cardboard, wood or paper.

The benefits of going hands on with your industrial design is the ability to physically hold something, see it in 3 dimensions and discover basic flaws that won’t tie up resources and expensive development time.

Alternatively, you may be able to find an industrial design student at a local college, local handyman or crafty relative to help get your idea from your head to something you can hold.

When Is It Time To Call In The Pros?

Spending too much time trying to create the final product at the homebuilt proof of concept prototype stage can result in a lot of frustration. Often, creating multiple homebuilt prototypes to show different functions and designs can speed the process up and allow you to be more detailed about specifics. When you are satisfied that your home built prototype(s) meet your basic functionality, it’s time to find the right team to help take it to the next step.

What Is The Next Step In Prototyping?

Selecting the right team to help you build your prototype is one of, if not the most important step in your prototype development. There are thousands of service providers, I always recommend trying to work with someone local and that has been recommended. Communication is key, so spend some time with your development team and make sure you are all on the same page. An experienced team can make recommendations and offer up ideas on how to get you from A-Z on time and on budget. Alternatively, Using a site like www.thomasnet.com may help you find the right resources.

Creating a Design Prototype

This is where things really start to get exciting, your idea is literally just shy of becoming a real product. The design prototype looks, feels and operates the same as the final product, the only difference is the manufacturing process that’s geared towards low volumes. Avoid using rapid prototyping methods as these may add unnecessary costs.

The Design Prototype can be used to work out the final design and manufacturing details and to receive feedback from distributors, buyers, and retailers.

Things To Avoid

• There is usually no need to spend money on any production tooling in the proof-of-concept or design prototyping phases. Even if a production-like method must be used to produce a part in a prototype, the cost can be minimized by fabricating only what is absolutely necessary to make the parts.

• Only fabricate the quantity of prototypes sufficient to meet the needs of the team plus a small number of replacements. Do not fall victim to prototype companies that demand a minimum order quantity (MOQ) of prototypes.

Need more information? Please contact us with any questions or contact me directly at

joseph.donoghue ( at ) leardon.com