Engineering

Advice for product innovation, design, and development
2024 10 02 Three Ways Keep It Simple HERO
Three Ways to Keep It Simple When You Have the Urge to Add One More Feature
This tendency to want to innovate around every single aspect of a product stems from passion for the product and its mission. But while passion is indispensable, it needs to be tempered with rational thinking.
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#sideproject: SmartiPi Raspberry Pi B+ and Camera Case
I’ve always wanted to make a product of my own — something small I could manage — and this seemed like a perfect opportunity. I decided to design a Raspberry Pi case that’s functional, affordable, quirky, and fun.
2024 09 27 kickstarted what i learned HERO
I Got Kickstarted, and Here’s What I Learned
Having done all the research and scaled the considerable Kickstarter learning curve, I wanted to compile what I found to be the most useful resources.
2024 09 17 3 Things Kickstart Hardware Setup HERO
Three Things to Do Before Kickstarting Your Hardware Startup
The biggest pitfall for aspiring hardware entrepreneurs isn’t the funding part; it’s the hardware part and clearing the production hurdles.
2024 09 04 Consumer Wellness App that Clicks HERO
How to Design a Consumer Wellness App That Clicks
53% of digital health apps are uninstalled within 30 days of download. How can you design a consumer wellness app that engages and retains users?
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It Takes a Village to Raise a Hardware Product
Entrepreneurs going into hardware face a hefty learning curve, and missteps can end up costing them later in development.
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What Can You Learn About Product Development from HBO’s ‘Silicon Valley’?
Silicon Valley really speaks to us as interaction designers, user researchers, a mechanical engineers, and software engineers. There have been many times we wanted to jump into the screen and right the ship.
2024 05 22 tecnologies age aware design
Four Promising Technologies for Age-Aware Design: Let’s Think Actively About Aging
Aging consumers are an ideal market, with plenty of free time and unprecedented disposable income. We should get serious about age-aware design and tech for older adults.
2024 08 21 Headless Provisioning HERO
What Is ‘Headless Provisioning,’ and How Can We Make It Easier for Users?
Headless provisioning is part of the unboxing experience — specifically, it’s the part when a user connects the device to the Internet for the first time. Unfortunately this process is often confusing for users.
2024 06 19 Usability Lab HERO
The Case for Product Usability Testing in Simulated Environments
Why do we regularly transform our usability lab into a kitchen, hospital room, garage, bathroom, living room? It’s not because we’re filming a movie.
2024 06 18 RF Antenna Design HERO
On-Ramp to Electronic Product Design: 6 Key Considerations for RF Antenna Design
Now that everything from phones to automatic sprinkler systems have functionality that requires an internet connection, most of our clients’ products need some kind of communications rig. Most often, that means a radio frequency antenna.
2024 06 10 Designing for Home Healthcare HERO 3
Designing Home Healthcare: Ten Best Practices and Real-World Examples
The world is better when healthcare meets people where they are. As the home evolves into a central hub of healthcare, how can we design for it in a way that delivers safe and effective healthcare for all?
2024 06 04 ICU cockpit HERO
Why Can’t an ICU Be More Like a Cockpit?
ICUs need a more integrated source of relevant information to help physicians make better decisions and fewer mistakes.
2024 06 03 Engineering Team You Need HERO
How to Outsource the Engineering Team You Need
Outsourcing your engineering needs can be the answer—if you do it right.
2024 05 21 9 considerations for planning user research prototypes HERO
9 Considerations for Planning User Research Prototypes
Prototyping for user research is a major consideration of product development and one that often confuses, because it’s not an exact science. There’s always a question of what to test and when, and there’s no one “right answer.”
2024 05 03 underutilized role human factors HERO2 2
A Chronically Underutilized Role in New Medical Device Development
Utilizing this role to its fullest could minimize project risk and speed your product to market.
2024 04 19 User research in NPD HERO
Reduce Project Risk: Incorporate Research Throughout New Product Development
Research enables you to make good decisions throughout new product development, speeding up product development and creating a product that resonates with users. Here’s what research-driven NPD looks like.
2024 04 16 What Successful Hardware Innovators Do Differently HERO
What Successful Hardware Innovators Do Differently
Successful hardware innovators need confidence, foresight, and consideration to do something genuinely innovative.
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Personalized Digital Health: The Opportunity and Our Responsibility
People are now more willing to share personal health information online. What’s the responsibility of digital marketers in the health and pharmaceutical space?
2024 04 02 Prototype Breaking HERO
On-Ramp to Design Engineering: Prototypes Are Made for Breaking!
We will test a part, remove material, then test it again, and iterate that process until it eventually breaks. At that point, we know just how thin, light, or inexpensive a part can be.
2024 03 01 LED touch interface HERO
Developing a Product with an LED and Touch User Interface
Sometimes the simplest designs are the most difficult to get right. Here's how we approach the design of a low-information-density user interface.
2024 03 13 AI Trust Usability2 HERO
AI in Medicine: Establishing Trust Through Usability
In many areas of healthcare where AI has great potential, use of the technology is still in its infancy. In these realms where it’s slower to catch on, a common obstacle to adoption is lack of trust.
2024 03 12 3 UX best practices med product design HERO
3 UX Best Practices for Medical Product Designers
A few months ago, we shared our thoughts on three UX trends reshaping medical product design. Here are a few suggestions on how to incorporate those trends into your medical device UX design efforts.
2024 03 11 tolerance stack HERO_download
Download Delve's Tolerance Stack-Up Analysis Calculator
Our engineers have designed a better tolerance analysis tool that makes doing tolerance stacks a joy. Download it here for free.
2024 02 29 Parametric CAD HERO
On-Ramp to Design Engineering: Parametric CAD
We use Parametric CAD to design the majority of a wide range of new products. Here are some of the problems it helps us solve quickly and capably.
2024 02 29 electronic product design HERO
On-Ramp to Electronic Product Design: Which Is the Best Embedded Solution for Your Product?
Inside every electronic device sold today – whether it’s a coffee maker, phone, automobile, or Mars Rover – is an embedded solution, or a combination of hardware and software that makes the thing run.
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Diagnosing Unexplained Product Failures
Diagnosing problems in failing products that have already been released for manufacturing can be a tricky business.
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Rugged IoT: Considerations for Electronic Components
You’d be surprised how many startups come to us with excellent connected device concepts that have failed under routine, predictable environmental stresses.
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How 3D Printing for Rapid Manufacturing Is Pushing Boundaries
Features that would be impossible to pull off using conventional manufacturing methods are made feasible with 3D printing.
2024 01 30 Offshore Manufacturing HERO
How to Make Offshore Manufacturing Work
When offshore manufacturing works well, it can be fast, cost-efficient, and deliver good quality. But often speed, price, or quality is sacrificed without the right vendor, relationship, and process.
2024 01 23 8 Questions Smarter Parts Selection HERO
8 Questions to Smarter Parts Selection in Electronic Product Design
Using leading-edge parts comes with risks. You may have a great, even disruptive, product to debut, but realistically it needs to get to market before someone else beats you to it.
2024 1 10 Polished Prototypes HERO
How To Make Polished Product Prototypes Using Everyday Shop Tools
A couple of weeks ago I did a shop presentation to share techniques I’ve developed for making models come together in a more professional way.
2024 01 11 D Do S Defense HERO
On-Ramp To Electronic Product Design: 4 DDoS Attack-Prevention Tips
The huge number of unsecured IoT devices currently connected to the internet make DDoS attacks it all too easy. There are measures you can take to make sure yours is better protected.
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On-Ramp to Design Engineering: Sealing
Figuring out just how much sealing products will need is part of the design process.
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On-Ramp to Design Engineering: CFD for Product Development
In its infancy, CFD was complicated, expensive, and challenging—so it was only employed for complex projects like bridges and the space shuttle. Today, engineers use it to optimize everyday products that incorporate the flow of air, gas, and fluids.
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Product Design for Extreme Environments
Here are some of the harshest environments you might come across as a product designer or engineer and the ruggedized solutions and products that stand up to them.
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Wet and Wild: Our Favorite Fluidics Design Challenges
Product design and manufacturing are always more challenging when the wet stuff is involved.
2023 12 05 Over the air updates HERO
What Do Over-the-Air Updates Mean For Product Design?
Wireless updates are good for manufacturers and users who are worried about security concerns. But for product designers, they require extra planning.
2023 11 22 consumer med device usability HERO
Consumer Medical Devices: 6 Design Practices for Usability
Medical device companies can boost usability by adopting these consumer product development practices.
2023 11 27 Making Tech Accessible HERO
Making Tech Accessible: How To Bake Accessibility into Software Development
At Delve, we believe that mobile, voice, and “interfaceless” applications should consider accessibility before the first line of code is written or the first wireframe is constructed.
2023 12 08 8 Essential Prototypes HERO
Eight Essential Prototypes: The Nesting and Stacking Approach to Product Development
While a final product may appear to stand on its own, it’s actually buoyed by tiers of development. These include rounds of prototyping and testing.
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Don’t Launch Late! Four Ways to Reduce Risk in Connected Device Development
Launching nine to 12 months late can cost a project up to 50 percent of its potential revenues. Here’s how we reduce technical risks to keep connected device development on track.
2023 10 20 Io T product making movie HERO
How Making an IoT Product Is Like Making a Movie
Creating a connected device is a bit like making a movie: it has a beginning, middle, and end; challenges to overcome; and an ultimately victorious hero, the user.
2023 12 VR product design
How We Do It: Virtual Reality for Better, Faster Prototyping
Today we have the ability to set up and interact with a VR-simulated prototype. As the technology continues to grow more accessible, can leverage it for product design, easily translating to faster turnaround and cheaper development costs.
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‘Tell, Don’t Ask’ Is a Design Principle for Simplified Embedded Systems
There are an infinite number of ways to write the software for an embedded system. How do you decide which way is the right way?
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On-Ramp To IoT: Prototyping Your Connected Device
You've grasped the basic anatomy of an IoT device, identified how you’ll connect with and begin to communicate with the cloud, and selected a cloud service provider. It’s time to get prototyping.
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On-Ramp To IoT: Selecting a Cloud Provider
Make sure your provider uses a well-known and secure method for communicating.
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On-Ramp to IoT: Getting Connected and Communicating
When you’re designing a connected device, there’s a lot of testing you can do before you get to the production-grade prototype. Here are a few examples of different fidelity levels of prototypes you can use to test early on in your IoT product development.
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Rugged IoT: Creative Solutions for Extreme IoT Product Design
Delve has long been a go-to shop for creating rugged, mission-critical products. The communications equipment required for IoT devices adds an extra twist.
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Measuring ROI for a Usable User Interface, Part 2
Why should you invest in a usable user interface?
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Measuring ROI for a Usable User Interface, Part 1
Where do you fall on the Usability Maturity Ladder?
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On-Ramp to IoT: Anatomy of a Connected Product
Connecting a device to the Internet adds layers of complexity.
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Ingenious Engineering: Safety Razors
Few inventions have had as significant an impact on our daily lives as the safety razor.
2023 12 11 Non Finito Prototyping HERO
Non-Finito Prototyping: A New Technique for Digital-Physical Product Design
In art, an unfinished work remains unfinished. In design, an unfinished work opens up possibilities for the user.
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7 Principles for Designing Great Digital-Physical Products
Adding a sensor or touchscreen to just about any product has become cheap and straightforward. But it doesn't always make things better for the user.
2024 01 18 Tshaped Squiggly Engineer HERO
On Being a T-Shaped, Squiggly, Design Thinking Engineer
If Delve were a product to be opened up and analyzed, you’d find a lot of creative, dedicated, skillful people inside.
2023 09 15 ballpoint pens HERO
Ingenious Engineering: Ballpoint Pens
The ballpoint pen eliminated the need for messy fountain pens and all the problems that came with them. This breakthrough invention forever changed the way we write.
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Applying the Pareto Principle to Product Development
The Pareto Principle is a great tool for project teams when they’re trying to decide where to focus their energy and efforts.
2023 09 08 consumer robotics blog image HERO
Designing Consumer Robotics? Answer These Four Questions First
Convincing discerning consumers to buy a home robot isn't easy. To earn a spot in our homes and our lives, “home bots” (and those designing them) must answer four important questions.
2023 10 02 3 ux trends reshaping med device HERO
3 UX Trends Reshaping Medical Product Design
The acceleration of tech, and especially the mobile revolution, has deeply impacted both the consumer and medical device industries.
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How To Maximize Battery Run Time in Mobile Electronic Devices
Design efforts to maximize battery run time typically focus on minimizing standby power, but an equal emphasis should be placed on designing for peak power.
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How Design for Misuse Creates Safer Products
Users often go rogue, using products in ways they weren’t designed to be used. Design for misuse is a way to counteract this.
2023 08 11 implement the vision HERO B
Implement the Vision: Four Steps to Breakthrough Technical Innovation
These four steps for repeatable technical innovation have proven trustworthy for us on project after project.
2023 08 10 guide to developing product requirements2 HERO
A Guide to Developing Better Product Requirements
Creating product requirements can seem like a straightforward task, but it has plenty of potential pitfalls.
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Our Product Engineers’ Best FEA Simulation Tips
As product engineers, we use FEA simulations to develop, test, and refine designs. These best practices allow us to move quickly while keeping simulation results accurate, honest, and affordable.
2023 09 15 designing Io T medical device HERO
Designing an IoT Medical Device? Four Factors To Consider
Given the maze of use cases and associated certifications, designing an IoT medical device may take longer and cost more than you expect. Take the shortest path to a completed project by considering four factors.
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Design or Buy? 6 Tests to Tell If You Should Buy or Design That Component
More often than not, designing your cool new product relies on some new widget. You’re not sure if you should design your own or buy one from a supplier. What if there was a straightforward way to decide?
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How Root Cause Probing Improves Medical Device Design
Often, users don’t know why they made a mistake. Human Factors researches use the art of Root Cause Probing to uncover what went wrong.
2024 02 29 Troubleshooting Bugs in Electrical Products HERO
On-Ramp To Electronic Product Design: Troubleshooting Bugs in Electrical Products
Successfully troubleshooting these problems prior to product launch is in everybody’s best interest, and can be the most rewarding part of a project for an engineer.
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How Affordance Makes Medical Devices Safer
Affordance is the relationship between what something looks like and how it’s used. The user should be able to figure out how to use something just by looking at it.
2023 05 01 AI in Engineering Then Now HERO 1
A History of AI in Engineering from the 1970s to Today
With the transformative potential of new AI tools like ChatGPT on everyone’s mind, it’s easy to forget that artificial intelligence has been used in product design and engineering for many years.
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Concept FMEA for Engineering During the Fuzzy Front-End of Development
The “fuzzy front end” of product development can pose some unique challenges for engineers.
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19 Uses for AI in Product Development
The Delve team explores AI’s place in our product development process.
2023 03 27 Authenticate Consumables HERO
A Cost-Effective Approach for Authenticating Consumables
Authentication is not appropriate for every product, but there are many applications where it's necessary for the manufacturer, end user, or both. Authenticating your consumables need not break the bank.
2023 03 07 med device mri nest HERO
How to Design a Medical Device as Safe as an MRI and as Intuitive as a Nest
Medical device manufacturers need to design for a new kind of user. This has big implications not just for the devices they design but also for how they do business.
2023 02 28 consumerization of healthcare HERO
How the Consumerization of Healthcare is Transforming Medical Device Design
Patients are becoming empowered consumers of healthcare. They bring to medical devices the high expectations formed from their experiences with highly intuitive consumer products—as well as greater risk.
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A Better Way to Develop A Medical Device with Digital and Physical Elements (Part 2 of 2)
We’ve been experimenting with a new methodology for designing medical devices with hardware/software interactions. Here’s what a new, holistic development process might look like.
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A Better Way to Develop a Medical Device with Digital and Physical Elements (Part 1 of 2)
Next-generation medical devices with hardware-software interactions need a new, holistic development methodology.
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Biggest Innovations in 2022 That Influenced Product Design
A coffee pod system without a plastic pod. Headphones that read your mind. A touch-sensitive prosthetic hand. Check out the biggest innovations to influence product design in 2022.
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What Can Data Science and Machine Learning Do for You?
Here are nine examples across different sectors of how data science and machine learning can help unlock the power of your data.
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5 Groundbreaking Health Innovations Powered by Data and Machine Learning
Advances in data science and machine learning are transforming healthcare and public safety. Countless lives will benefit. Here are five inspiring examples.
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COVID-19 At-Home Tests: A Game Changer, But at What Cost?
Home self-testing kits have played a crucial role in managing the spread of COVID-19 in the US, but a steep environmental price is hidden in the societal benefit.
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What Mini Electronics Are Inside Tiny Wearables?
We opened up wearables from leading companies to see how so much was packed into something so little.
2024 01 04 off the shelf or custom HERO
Off-the-Shelf or Custom Embedded Display for Your Digital-Physical Product?
Learn about the 5 important factors to consider when deciding between an off-the-shelf or custom embedded display for your digital interface.
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15 Biggest Innovations of 2021 to Influence Product Design
We asked our staff to nominate the biggest innovations of the past 12 months that will have an influence on product design.
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The Medical Device Design Process
Having trouble deciphering the FDA waterfall diagram process for medical device design and development? You’re not the only one.
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The Role of Human Factors in Product Design
A primer on what, how and when the discipline of human factors is used in the design and development of products.
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Why IoT Data Collection Is Essential To Get Right
IoT data collection impacts data deployment, sensor selection, security, and more. It's at the core of every smart product's user experience — and success.
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Design for Sterilization of Medical Electronics
Learn design techniques to maximize device reliability for common sterilization processes — autoclave, ethylene oxide, and ionizing radiation.
2023 12 22 parts shortage HERO
How To Manage Product Development During a Parts Shortage
We’ve compiled some advice for those facing, or anticipating, the semiconductor shortage. These workarounds are useful when facing any kind of hardware part shortage.
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Why ‘T-Shaped’ Is the Best Fit for Product Design
“T-shaped” is a term used to describe someone’s knowledge and skills. For those of us in product design, it’s a good shape to be.
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CES 2021: Transportation tech promises a cleaner, safer future
The vehicle expo area of CES has been one of the most exciting parts of the trade show in recent years.
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CES 2021: 5G starts revealing its potential
At CES in 2019, Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg gave the opening keynote address about the upcoming advantages of 5G.
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CES 2021: Home is where everything is
If your home is your castle, during the pandemic it’s also your office, classroom, coffee shop/restaurant/bar, gym, entertainment venue, spa, and, yeah, that place where you sleep.
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Transforming Engineering
The list of industries experiencing huge disruption fueled by “technology” is growing by the day.
2024 05 24 DFM 7 things HERO
Design for Manufacturing: 7 Things Every Designer Should Know
When done well, DFM prevents quality issues and eliminates manufacturing waste. It de-risks new product development by preventing the costly scenario of learning about manufacturability issues when you’re about to launch.
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Top 5 lessons from Badger Shield project
Badger Shield gave me the opportunity to collaborate with an amazing group of men and women this year – designers, suppliers, manufacturers, and customers. I expect to have built lifelong collaborators and friends through this trial by virus. (For background, read the article in Wired).
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Universal PAPR hood design
We are happy to publish all our design files for the project.
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PAPR Hood for Healthcare Heroes
The goal: To outfit every health care worker with PAPRs – an amazing piece of equipment used to filter air and inflate a bubble around the wearer’s head to reject any contaminants.
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How you can help design succeed
Over the years, there have been designers still young in their careers that have come to me looking for advice and ideas of what to do next. They’ve all told me their tales of woe about how design is just not respected or understood where they work. And this, of course, coincides with their (and design’s) struggle to find a solid footing within the organization.
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You’re on your own
All right, who do I blame for this?
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CES never fails to entertain
The Consumer Electronics Show always starts the new year off with a bang. It packs roughly 170,000 extra people from around the world into Las Vegas for a seizure-inducing week of stimulation.
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Advanced Design goes to school
The scope of the Advanced Design workshop was to walk students through the research, ideation, and early prototyping phases of creating a backpack.
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From Digital to Digital-Physical Product Design: 5 Tips for Becoming a Multilingual Design Practitioner
Teach yourself to become a multilingual digital-physical product design practitioner using five simple strategies.
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CES 2020: Day two
Our team spent the second day of CES at Tech West, home base for health, wellness, home, wearable and fitness technology. It's also the hub for Eureka Park, where the scrappy startups vie for attention of venture capitalists and potential partners.
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CES 2020: Day one cool stuff
We roamed the massive Las Vegas Convention Center the first day of the Consumer Electronics Show, better known as CES. Here are some additional fun things we saw.
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CES 2020: Day one
We have a team roaming the massive Las Vegas Convention Center today at the Consumer Electronics Show, better known as CES. We'll be adding to this blog post throughout the day as we find cool stuff to share.
2019 12 30 Article Franchino Year In Review Trends
Dave’s 2019 Year in Review
As 2019 winds to a close it’s time to make my annual appraisal of some of the more noteworthy products and events shaping world of design and Innovation. And the last year certainly saw its fair share of significant steps and missteps. So, let’s wade in with a few things I’ll remember that helped define 2019 for me.
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13 Biggest Innovations of 2019 To Influence Product Design
Robots unleashed; the emergence of hearables; sustainable plastics and processes — we weigh in the biggest innovations of 2019 to influence product design.
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Innovative Technology To Combat Climate Change: Our 7 Favorite Solutions
A list of emerging, innovative technology being developed to reduce carbon, geoengineer the environment, and improve battery efficiency and cooling tech.
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Countdown to MDR: Are You Ready for the New EU Medical Device Regulation?
How does the new EU Medical Device Regulation relate to human factors and usability? It depends if your medical product is existing or new.
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Will it recycle?
Have you ever considered what happens to the materials you put into the recycling bin after they are picked up from your curb?
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Virtual Empathy
VR is an extremely powerful storytelling tool and powerful stories are fueled by giving people a sense empathy. More empathy is better for everyone.
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Our DIY Split-Flap Display: An Adventure in Inefficient Nostalgia
We weren't setting out to invent something radically different, but we wanted to prove to ourselves that we could make our own split-flap display.
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Running Effective Engineering Design Reviews
When not orchestrated well, a design review can very quickly turn into an unproductive meeting and send a team spinning with a poorly conceived action item list.
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Designing Military-Grade Products: The What, Why, and How
With the growing demand for rugged design across sectors, product developers need help figuring out when to accommodate military specifications.
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2018 Year in Review: Service Design
Here’s my list of “a few-of-the-mostly-best innovations from the last year or so.”
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Why is the Roomba so expensive? Why are the knock-offs so cheap?
What happens when all the engineers from Delve's three offices gather in Madison? We buy stuff and tear it apart to understand how it is made. Our product of choice? The robotic vacuum.
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Notes on 2/28 Stanford Discussion on Machine Learning
Last night, I attended a pretty cool panel discussion at Stanford’s D-School on “Designing Machine Learning.”
2023 10 Reducing Med Device Risk HERO
Reducing Medical Device Risk with Usability Testing and uFMEAs
Medical devices are commonly recalled due to usability issues that can be prevented with human factors plans and uFMEAs.
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To infinity and beyond
What’s a bigger number, the total number of atoms in Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s body or the total number of microprocessor clock cycles since the dawn of time?
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Urgency Understood: User Research and the Value of In-Context Experience
There is no short map of an anticipated journey that medics can plan for while transporting a patient out of any building to the ER. Each scenario and response is unique.
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13 Biggest Product Design Innovations of 2018
E-bikes, solutions for ocean-borne plastic, real-life Babel fish, 3-D printing metal, robot overlords, and more — we weigh in on 2018's biggest innovations.
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IoT Geolocation: How To Choose the Best Technology for Your Device
Environment, ruggedization, location resolution, and update rate are the framing questions that lead to the right geolocation technology for an IoT device.
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VR: From “Dactyl” to Practical
From a '90s novelty to an exciting design tool, virtual reality offers client-facing opportunities for design immersion.
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Green eggs and electric ham
Will the E-bike change the way Americans think about cycling?
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Pushing each other along
A recent project with Make-A-Wish gave us the chance to make a meaningful connection with a family, which is a great benefit of product design.
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Front ends, air flow, boats and aesthetics
The Tesla Model 3 has a front that upends expectations, and it's not pretty.
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#InstantGratification
“Wait. Is that it? Did the needle already go in? I can’t believe it!”
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Engineering in the Fun
Engineers constantly balance two roles: the engineer responsible for understanding and mitigating risk, and the product developer considering the ideal customer experience and wanting to delight.
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From Arduino To Production: “Look, Mom! I Got It Working!”
Explore some of the issues that need to be dealt with and acknowledged before a quick-turn electronic prototype can be put into high-volume production.
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Degrees of Sealing: Designing Rugged, Waterproof Enclosures for Electronic Devices
Electronic devices today are expected to go where they’ve never gone before. Demand is growing for waterproof, rugged consumer and commercial electronic devices.
06 Article Jesse Tolerance Tool H1
We are an open book
In the spirit of open source innovation, we are sharing our Tolerance Analysis spreadsheet for mechanical engineers.
06 Article Ami Design Shift H1
The Shift to Physical-Digital Design Teams: Are You Ready?
The world is changing ... are your design teams changing with the physical/digital times?
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Designing Systems Instead of Assigning Blame
In the immediate aftermath of any newsworthy accident, we often hear the words "human error" or "user error".
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Sensors for the Win! How Auto Industry Tech Drives Superior Olympic Athletes
The increasing sophistication, diversity, and affordability of sensor technology for autonomous cars has rippled into the sports world. Did we see the results in PyeongChang?
06 Article Ken Life Cycle H1
Life cycle considerations in the age of software-enabled products
As more products become software-enabled, our notions of expected performance and life cycle are changing.
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Ingenious Engineering: The Cutting Edge of Cutlery
Eating utensils require some sophisticated metal fabrication technology.
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What Does a Doctor Do at a Design Firm?
In medical product design, usability research was too often an afterthought. But you simply can’t expect something to look nice and assume patients and clinicians will know how to use it.
2024 02 21 fourth industrial revolution HERO
The Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Promise and Challenges of Industrial IoT
IoT makes sense for industrial applications where there are endless opportunities to monitor and automate.
06 Article Kent Kallsen Qms H1
QMS that works for us—and our clients
Quality management systems get a bad rap for slowing down progress and squelching innovation. We developed our own QMS approach to meld rigorous standards and the flexibility to innovate.
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From rockets to fidget spinning: 2017 year in review
Dave Franchino takes a whirlwind tour of a crazy year ... and that includes product design and tech.
2023 11 27 Using the PCA Method HERO
Using the PCA Method To Assess Use Errors in Medical Usability Testing
The PCA (perception, cognition, action) method recommended by the FDA helps researchers assess and understand why a use error has occurred.
06 Article Joan Neeno User Centered H1
User-centered design is on the menu
Launching a restaurant is the ultimate personal exercise in user-centered design.
06 Article Ami Verhalen Human Centered H1
Human-centered design ... but even more human.
Slowing down and practicing mindfulness in design can lead to better products.
12 Article Big Data H1
Health 2.0: Data — how to organize, access, and use it
At the Health 2.0 to focus was on how to effectively use the troves of health data we already possess for prevention and better outcomes.
2024 01 31 10 Questions Manufacturing HERO
10 Questions to Your Best Manufacturing Solution
“Do you know a place to get this made?” That’s a question we hear a lot from entrepreneurs looking for a manufacturing solution. It’s actually a very complex question.
06 Article Kent Kallsen Seal H1
Cyber security is a new spin on an old problem
The cyber-security scares of today are reminiscent of the Tylenol poisoning scare of the '80s, which led to tamper-resistant packaging.
12 Article Matt Poster H1
Ingenious Engineering: Dippin' Dots
Putting the freeze on cream and sugar is what it’s all about at Dippin’ Dots.
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The Latest on LoRa: Enabling the Internet of Things To Get Real
When major utilities accept a standard, you know it’s going to be real.
12 Article Emmerich Super Cap Illustration H1
Technical summary: Supercapacitors
Increased performance and declining costs will pave the way to new uses and improved system performance for supercapacitors.
06 Article Maker Faire2017 H1
Designing (and making) cool stuff
A recent Saturday at the Madison Mini Maker Faire reinforces the joy of what we do and how fun it is to turn kids on to STEAM fields.
2023 09 15 designing for healthcare 1 4 HERO pt4 empathy
Designing for healthcare part 4: Empathy is the diagnosis
Listening to, observing, and truly empathizing with healthcare professionals is necessary to deliver new solutions that are user-responsive and empowering.
12 Article Marlisa Iot H1
IoT: Just because you can doesn't mean you should
Sure you can make your product "smart." But have you really assessed the desirability of doing so for your users?
2023 09 15 designing for healthcare 1 4 HERO pt3 simplicity
Designing for healthcare part 3: The complexity of simplicity
Making the complex simple, or ‘simplexity,’ requires diligence in both iteration (build, test, learn) and designing the system and the details equally well.
2023 12 19 Six Teardowns HERO
Six Teardowns That Inspire Design Innovation
One of the best ways for engineers to learn about product design is to carefully examine other products. Engineering details, manufacturing processes, and material choices can all be used to inspire your own designs and decisions.
2024 01 08 5 Ds of Io T med devices HERO
Using the 5Ds of IoT for medical devices
Using the Decision, Devices, Data, Design and Deployment framework, also known as the 5Ds, can help medical device companies develop connected products.
06 Work Case Study Pro Nova Jarod Steve H1
Models and Prototypes 101
Delve's Model Shop creates a wide variety of models for concept validation and user testing. Learn more about the types of models we create.
2023 12 29 Ingenious Engineering Toothbrushes hero
Ingenious Engineering: Toothbrushes
Many of the simplest items we use every day require an amazing amount of effort to produce. Take, for example, the humble toothbrush.
12 Article Darley Pre Mold H1
The Role of Virtual Prototyping in Product Development
When you have to make something where failure isn’t an option, you better make sure that it will work.
12 Article Franchino Mgb H1
Of MGBs and multidisciplinary machines
Repairing the complicated carburator of a 1974 MGB convertible is a good reminder that multidisciplinary design produces better products.
12 Article Big Data H1
Answer the Big Questions Before You Begin Big Data
What's an important step that many companies skip in setting up their Big Data initiatives? Knowing why they're collecting data in the first place.
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UX Takeaways from Disney: Wherever Possible, Make It Personal
Disney fosters a greater sense of fantasy by concealing the mechanisms of personalization.
12 Article One Web Logo H1
OneWeb user terminal and solar array design wins IDEA
Delve's industrial design for OneWeb wins an International IDEA award in the social impact category.
12-Article Franchino-FutureEng
The Future of Engineering
Educating tomorrow's engineers will take more focus on teaching creativity, inclusivity, hands-on and team learning without losing site of the fundamentals.
12-Article-Eckholm-ServiceDesignJam H1
Service Experience Jam: Designing cool service sh*$!
As part of a global weekend service experience challenge, we took the concept of quantified self to new intestinal territory.
12-Article-Gennrich-CoreMVP
The Core Principles for Creating an MVP
A Minimum Viable Product approach to product development can speed things along—if you know what you need to learn.
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The Six Prototypes Every Startup Needs To Make
Smart startups spend on prototypes. Different levels offer different benefits along the process journey — here are six of the most important to make.
12-Article Conner BikeThatWorksForAllKids-S12
Design approach selected for adjustable hand cycle
The Lend a Handcycle project takes a leap forward with the selection of a scissor-jack design for seat adjustability.
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Man and machine
Recent workplace deaths involving robotic arms are a new variant of the dangers that come with using powerful tools.
12-Article Conner BikeThatWorksForAllKids-H1
Creating a bike that works for all kids
Progress is being made in our quest to design a fully adjustable hand cycle that can accommodate children with physical disabilities as they grow.
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What Will Healthcare Look Like in 2065?
We did a thought experiment and traveled 50 years into the future to glimpse the future of healthcare and of the patient's user experience.
06-Work-Case Study-Fitlinxx AmpStrip H1 @2x
AmpStrip Design Wins Spark Award
Our industrial design for the AmpStrip, a 24/7 heart rate and activity monitor, recently won a Gold Spark Award.
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Finding Simplicity in the Complexity of the Internet of Things
Is the IoT feeling overwhelmingly complex? Here's seven rules to extract simplicity from complex IoT product design projects.
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Designing a Family Internet of Things (FIoT)
Connected devices too often rely on a "master operator" framework that ignores the wonderfully messy realities of family life.
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Designing Handheld Devices That Don’t Hurt
What's behind the lack of useful thumb-reach and hand-grip data for designers of handheld devices, and how can designers gather their own?
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What’s New in Human Factors for Medical Devices
We noticed more discussion in general this year of user interface (UI) design, often in the context of smart devices. We anticipate UI becoming a stronger focus in upcoming HFES conferences as it continues to become clear that ineffective UIs represent the highest risk to safety and efficacy.
12-Article-Franchino-BetterIsntGoodEnough-H1
When better isn’t good enough
Want a Sansa or an iPod? Sometimes getting to market first is better than making a better product.
12-Article-Darley-Squash-H2
Target practice
A lesson in visualizing the target and aiming in squash is also a good reminder of how to design products.
12-Article-Schweitzer-Sprout-H1
Combine, separate or connect?
The urge to merge technologies can lead to really cool stuff ... and really stupid stuff, too.
12-Article-Emmerich-LED-H1
A System Approach to Advanced LED Product Design
LED technology opens up a world of possibilities and some new considerations for product design.
12-Article-Harris-IoT-H1
The Internet of (Disconnected) Things
Many SxSW Interactive talks pondered the future of connected devices. What we can address now and how we may bridge the user-experience gap for the future?
12-Article Harris-SXSW H1
Diving into the intensity that is SxSW Interactive
Drinking from the fire hose is an understatement.
12-Article-Franchino-MedTech-H1
Six Things to Consider as the Internet of Things Intersects Medical Devices
As the consumer-driven IoT culture, which moves fast and iterates frequently, meets the highly regulated med device industry, designers face new challenges.
2023 12 22 experience design healthcare HERO
Experience Design and Healthcare: Wicked Problem and Inspiring Challenge
Experience design is a field prepared to help healthcare workers effectively use new diagnostic technologies, but it is a pretty wicked problem to tackle.
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BioReactor Could Have Big Impact on Saving Small Hearts
Using the BioReactor we helped design and manufacture, Dr. Hopkins' team have reached a milestone in developing a process for replacing pediatric heart valves.
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Leonardo da Vinci and UX: The Interview
How might Leonardo da Vinci operate as a UX designer in the year 2014? I sent him a time machine and asked him.
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From Human Factors to User Experience: What’s In A Name?
We recently changed the name of our user interface design team to Interaction Design. The latter encompasses the dynamics of a user’s interaction with a system — including the user’s perceptual, cognitive, and physical interaction with the system, as well as the system’s response to the user.
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Blending Electrical Engineering into Our Speed-to-Market Culture
As the world and its devices have grown more electrical, Delve has followed suit.
"Delve brings strengths that we don't have, which is why I'm looking forward to working with them again."

Vamsee Pamula, Founder & President, Baebies