Product Design
Promoting Your Products Before They Launch
For your product launch to be effective, you’ll want people to be expecting it by the time it actually arrives. There are all sorts of ways you can build the hype. You should look at your product launch as being one part of a greater promotional effort, and ensure you’re doing all the important lead-up promo work so that the launch is explosive. The following are a few ways you can get your new product all the attention it deserves in the lead-up to launch day.
Teaser campaigns
A really effective way to hype your product and build public interest before it’s launched is to run a teaser marketing campaign surrounding the launch. Putting up posters, stickers and so forth announcing that something big is going to happen — along with a company logo — will tap into people’s curiosity and make them want to know more. As you get closer to the launch date, use your teaser campaign to gradually reveal more about the product design and development — but don’t reveal too much, as you’ll still want it to be a surprise on the day.
Creating Unique Products for Your Business
Coming up with product ideas for your business that are creative and unique can be a hard task when it seems like everything has already been created, so you’re going to have to come up with ways to bend your mind a little. The best product ideas are often the simplest, so try and get back to the basics of your business and see if there is perhaps a product missing from your line-up. The following ideas will help you start getting creative.
Experiment
One of the big keys to coming up with creative and unique products for your business is to not be afraid to experiment. Trying new things may lead to a new discovery or a unique product design, one that you wouldn’t have come up with had you not been willing to try something new. If you’re going to experiment, make sure that you perfect your new methods and techniques before you release your product, as it may take a little tinkering before it’s ready.
How is a Toothbrush Made? An Overview of the Design Process
Whenever you brush your teeth, do you ever stop and wonder how your toothbrush was made? Thanks to plastic injection moulding, thousands of toothbrushes are made every day. A toothbrush may seem like a simple plastic object, but it’s an essential tool for oral health. Without toothbrushes, we would be susceptible to cavities, gum disease and mouth cancer.
History of Toothbrushes
Toothbrushes have come a long way over the centuries. Since 3500 BC, people around the world have been using tools to clean their teeth. Egyptians and Babylonians made brushes by fraying the end of twigs. In the 15th century, the Chinese invented the first toothbrush by attaching bristles from pigs’ necks onto a bamboo handle. The design was adapted by Europeans, who modified the design using soft horsehairs.
7 Tips for a More Effective Product Design Process
If you are interested in product design and the overall design process, you are probably already aware that there is far more to the process than simply creating an object. This process involves a great deal of creativity as well as the ability to look at a problem from a non-linear perspective.
If you are up to the challenge, we have collected seven tips that can help you create a more efficient design process:
1. Why Are You Designing This Product?
Asking this question is the first vital step in the design process. You need to fully understand why you are creating the desired product, the problem for consumer that you hope to address by creating it, and how specifically it will solve that said problem.
The Ins and Outs of Plastics
The process of plastic injection moulding was invented in 1872. Full-blown utilisation of the process has now resulted in a worldwide multi-billion-dollar industry. In fact, 32% of all plastics are processed by injection moulding systems. The durable construction, cheap prices and a steadily increasing demand had had a major impact on society.
Most consumers are unaware of the processes involved in this important industry. Plastic injection moulding is a way of making parts made from thermoplastic and thermosetting plastic by melting and forcing them into moulds which cool to form the desired products.
The process actually begins when an industrial engineer designs a product. A toolmaker then gets involved to make the mould to fit the created design. These moulds are normally made of metal, generally steel or aluminium, and these are capable of making the exact shape which is necessary.
Click Here To Read More
What Are Ribs in Product Design?
In terms of plastic injection moulding, the importance of ribs only becomes evident when you are aware of the entire design process. Ribs are used to strengthen the walls of your mould without increasing wall thickness which means that you minimise the problems that come into play when the wall thicknesses have to be increased.
In essence, if the wall is too thick, warping and sinking can result so that the entire design may need to be rejected. Using a rib to add structural support to a thin wall is an effective way to overcome this design problem.
Click Here To Read More
Principles of Product Design
Plastic injection moulding is used to produce parts from thermoplastic materials which can be used in a variety of industries. Without dwelling on the mechanics of the process involved, here we will take a look at the complex design process that guarantees a good end result.
Normally, an industrial designer or engineer will design a mould which can be precision machined to form the features of the desired part. The process can be used to design a huge variety of parts, from extremely small componentry right through to large body panels used, for example, in car manufacture.
As you are probably aware plastic is a very versatile and cost-effective material that can be used in a variety of ways. Designing and manufacturing the tools involved in plastic parts production can be very expensive, but because of the high volume output these tools can produce, the cost per part can be extremely low.
Click Here To Read More
All About Ribs in Product Design
Ribs are thin wall protrusions that extend perpendicularly from a wall or plane. They are usually found in clusters offering support to a plane that would have otherwise been too thick, but can also be a stand-alone support for a single wall. Ribs are an important part of product design and will ensure that your product will remain both strong and (depending on your need) flexible to your desired specifications.
Click Here To Read More
All About Walls in Product Design
Wall thickness in product design can dramatically alter the amount of materials used and the cooling time of your part after it has been injected into the mould. Ideally, your design will have consistent, reasonably thin walls, which will allow you design to maximise space whilst being efficient, saving you money on both materials and running costs.
- Thin walls have the dual advantage of using less materials and needing less time to cool. This reduces the overall cycle time needed to create the maximum number of units in the shortest amount of time.
All About Radius in Product Design
Radius [rey-dee-uhs] – noun (plural -di-i). 1. a straight line extending from the center of a circle or sphere to the circumference or surface: The radius of a circle is half the diameter. 2. a rounded corner or edge on a machined, injection moulded or cast piece of metal or plastic.
The humble radius is an all-important factor of your product design, arguably as (or even more) important than the straight edge or plane. The radius must be calculated when designing for rounding corners, hole width, inside and outside wall radii, not to mention any curved plane. Every surface that is not dead straight will have been designed using a radius. Here is a run-down of radius use when designing your product to be sent for injection moulding.