Launching your first product on the market as a start-up is an exciting thing!

The complexity of a market launch is often underestimated or minimised because there is no experience to fall back on. Apart from the many tasks that have to be completed in the area of financing, the first product is responsible for how difficult or easy the coming years will be. Is there a company philosophy? What can I do to reach my target group in the best possible way? What will the initial feedback be like? Does the effect of the product create trust? Do I have good options for marketing measures? Many questions are not even defined or need to be worked out first in order to define a company with a strong character. Of course you can talk about many of these questions - but decisions can only really be evaluated with the first visualisations. The technical function is a soft fact here and not really visible, how I see the product and subsequently the company are hard facts and a styling issue.

As industrial designers, we don't have any universal answers to all these questions - but in addition to our experience, we do have methods for clearly defining your goals and working out a clear roadmap with you.

Especially in the initial phases of a project, a lot happens simultaneously in different departments and with several stakeholders.

In this phase, the quality of communication is particularly important, even more so than the quantity. Decisions should be reviewed, validated and put up for discussion immediately. A sound basis enables rapid and gradual progress in the critical briefing, idea and concept phase. Working quickly and visualising dimensions, construction spaces, functions, ideas, packaging etc. are the keys to sustainable decisions.

Illustrated design work on these topics significantly improves the quality and efficiency of communication. The time required for this is minimal compared to the time lost in meetings without clear decisions. The result is unanimous and therefore much more effective. Clear decisions are of great importance for further development work. The increase in efficiency and the resulting cost savings in further development steps clearly speak in favour of investing in a design-accompanying target definition.

We have already seen companies having to reset everything to zero after several months of development work by their teams. That's a lot of money!

Of course, the complexity of a camera housing may be less, but who likes to burn money? In our work, we attach great importance to keeping the iteration loops as short and effective as possible. A 3D-printed prototype is an excellent tool for this. We often use this process at different stages of our work to make sure we are on the right track.

In this case study, our client provided the prototype himself, and we worked closely with his engineering department to coordinate details and changes.

Our customer was successful with his first product on the market - since then we have been supporting him in the development of his fourth model.

We are aware that industrial design is only one part of the complex process of successful marketed products. We always strive to get the most out of our field for a successful business. For each of this customer's products, we have developed intelligent solutions that have already solved problems during the concept phase. The waste heat from the electronics and the strong heating caused by direct sunlight required concepts that would meet these requirements. Our early involvement in the project was crucial here, as no options had yet been installed.

Our customer benefited greatly from our cross-departmental understanding and the support of all those involved. Just one more example: as we are also active in the development of car headlights, we were able to successfully transfer our experience in sealing to the camera itself.