Industrial Design

Even great designs fail when manufacturability gets overlooked. Learn eight principles every designer should apply to reduce risk, avoid waste, and ensure your product is ready for real-world production. Need a broader strategy? Download our white paper on building resilient product development pipelines.

If your product strategy is being tested by supply chain volatility, this article will help you rethink reshoring as a design challenge, not just a sourcing fix. You’ll walk away with a practical lens for evaluating onshoring opportunities, making smarter tradeoffs, and building pipelines that flex under pressure. For a broader framework on designing resilience into your entire product pipeline, download the full white paper.

AI can accelerate product development—but only if it’s applied strategically. In this article, you’ll learn 19 real ways AI can support insights, design, and engineering work—plus what to watch for when integrating it into your team’s workflow.

Launching a product is just the beginning. In this article, you’ll learn why lasting innovation depends on how you plan for what comes next—from evolving user needs to version 2 improvements and system-level decisions. If your team is thinking past the launch, this article offers strategic considerations for sustaining momentum—and making smarter product decisions over time.

At Delve, our design philosophy seeks emotional outcomes through rational thinking. As with all things, our slant remains pragmatic as we gain more experience with multisensory design.

We're committed to sharing our favorite design principles. Here is part 3 from Delve's strategists, researchers, designers, and engineers.

Here are ten more of our favorite design principles, explained.

These are principles we’ve been curious about at some point during the course of our careers, and we thought others might be interested in learning more about them, too.

What could biology possibly have to teach engineers and designers?

Brands that push their products mostly via ad campaigns, websites, and packaging are missing an important opportunity: the point of connection.

The more it’s studied, the clearer it becomes that stress is the crucial, unseen factor in nearly any health-related situation.

We’ve compiled some essentials for product designers and companies who want to get started developing their own sustainable product design process.

Delve’s Philadelphia studio hosted an inspiring evening as part of the annual Design Philadelphia festival: the JeffSolves MedTech Pitch Night.

We’ve noticed a common thread running through all our work—research, strategy, mechanical and electrical engineering, industrial and interaction design—we make the complex simple.

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.

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.

More and more, people are conditioned to interact with their objects. Products developed according to a siloed industrial design process have little chance of fulfilling these new expectations.

Once upon a time, branding was good for companies but not so good for consumers. That’s no longer the story.

Moments of inspiration aren’t unusual at all; practically any product innovation you can name has benefited from several. And if they seem to happen out of the blue, it’s because that genius was primed.

Brainstorming can be very effective - if we don’t get lazy. At Delve, We subscribe to the notion of “more brain; less storm.”

The short answer: Empathic design makes us better designers.

Designing medical products for the home introduces a new set of challenges: unpredictable environments, untrained users, and evolving expectations. In this article, you’ll learn 10 best practices, drawn from Delve’s real-world healthcare work, to help you design safer, smarter, and more intuitive solutions for home use. Download the full white paper.

People often think of brand consistency as it relates to advertising and communications. But it’s just as important for designers of products to consider brand consistency when creating a new design.

Diversity on a design team is important for many reasons.

Our role as human-centered researchers and designers is to advocate for a decolonized future of design in every decision-making task we take part in.

Everyone has his own opinion regarding if and how brainstorming should be done. We use it frequently, but we’ve developed our own technique that is more structured than “stormed.”

Successful hardware innovators need confidence, foresight, and consideration to do something genuinely innovative.

To build better products, development teams need to integrate the hardware and software development processes. The design thinking mindset could provide the means to enable this reunification.

Why are LEGOs so awesome? Because you can mix and match them to create an endless variety of new things. The process is analogous to typical front-end innovation.

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.

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.

Without the right insights, a new technology is just a solution without a problem. Insights are the answer to tech for tech's sake.

What do ancient farm tools have to do with contemporary gender inequality? According to the Plough Hypothesis, there’s a direct link.

Designers love to talk about the needs of the user. But what if the end user isn’t the person making the decision to buy your products?

A question we get often from new clients while drafting industrial design proposals is how many concepts they’ll be reviewing in the early phases of a project.

Several years ago, someone gifted me with Twine, an Internet-connected 2.5 square box that can be “programmed” in plain English, without needing to know how to code.

Figuring out just how much sealing products will need is part of the design process.

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.

Medical device companies can boost usability by adopting these consumer product development practices.

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.

A click is a universally recognized cue that an action is complete. Here's how to get the right sound and feel.

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.

In a world of “ubiquitous computing,” how might technology communicate information without hijacking a person’s attention?

Connecting a device to the Internet adds layers of complexity.

Today’s users of medical devices expect a consumer-level experience. How can medtech firms make the shift?

A bottom-line approach drives meaningless products. Here are four guidelines for making meaningful wearable tech.

It’s not uncommon for a new client to want to see 20 or 30 concepts during the initial design phase, believing this represents better value.

Digital-physical workflows help us envision what needs to happen in the digital world and the physical world, as well as where the two need to work together.

Regardless of what you're designing, the options you present to users should be simple and straightforward.

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.

These early attempts at wearable technology were innovative but flawed—and paved the way for the more advanced devices we have today.

You’ve vetted your MVP design through low and medium-fidelity prototypes. Now use high-fidelity prototypes to amplify your MVP into a truly compelling offering.

I just spent six months researching experiential brand language for a client. Here's what it is, how to create it, and examples of great EBLs from Apple, Airbnb, REI, and, as the title promises, Taylor Swift.

It’s important to prototype and test soft materials at various stages in the product development process.

Touchscreens are now tactile. This may have big implications for medical devices and vehicle infotainment systems, where safety and error-reduction are paramount.

To develop the best version of your product, have you considered leveraging softer materials?

A multidisciplinary team has the edge in creating innovative, well-rounded solutions that meet the needs of all stakeholders.

How do you design better products for women? Our female researchers, designers and engineers compiled seven principles for individuals and companies to consider.

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.

While reviewing the early data from our ongoing research on trends in the medical device industry, three unexpected findings caught our eye.

Empowered healthcare consumers bring to medical devices the high expectations formed from their experiences with highly intuitive consumer products—as well as greater risk.

Not every product design is a home run. Here are 15 products we think could use some design help.

Next-generation medical devices with hardware-software interactions need a new, holistic development methodology.

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.

How to create a successful product – whether you're designing a product that's physical, digital, or somewhere in between.

In 2021 you devoured blogs about looking at old problems in new ways, unlocking your professional potential, and creating products that change the world for the better.

40-90% of consumers base their buying decisions on color. Learn how to apply user-first design thinking to finding the right color in product design.

Soaring demand for wearables has created a market saturated with the things—prompting an 18.1 percent year-over-year growth worldwide, according to Gartner.

A simple open-sourced design had a massive social impact—40 million face shields were produced for front-line workers fast and without expensive tooling investments.

More than just compensating for the loss of in-person collaboration, digital whiteboards provide clear benefits, namely reducing barriers between disciplines and fostering more open, dynamic relationships with clients.

It’s not easy keeping it together under pressure. Yet these little marvels do it every day tens of thousands of times over. Do you know how staples are made?

The JOC method lets you move into ideation confident that you're working from something more than a hunch.

The Badger Shield has shown that a distributed supply chain can create massive quantities of effective and cost-effective personal protective equipment (PPE) in a short time. Can this model translate to the developing world if COVID-19 cases start to rise in African, SE Asian and Latin American urban centers?

We are all feeling a little helpless in the face of COVID-19. We are looking for ways to help. Face shield shortages are putting health workers at risk.

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.

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.

I’d like to take the time and opportunity to reflect on our experiences at the Madison Mini Maker Faire and talk about each of the wonderful projects our team at Delve has been able to put together to share with the public, while hopefully inspiring young minds to be open and grow.

I, for one, am pretty excited that Elon Musk is bringing his 1980s sci-fi movie dreams to life.

Have you ever considered what happens to the materials you put into the recycling bin after they are picked up from your curb?

Humans are drawn to anthropomorphic form in product design. Here's how industrial and interaction designers can use this as a tool.

When we spotted our Orbit point-of-sale scanner in photos from the set of the latest Star Trek movie, we were tickled. And then we got to wondering.

For the circular economy to work, we need system-wide innovation, and that will require rethinking and redefining our products and services.

I’d prefer to never say words Industrial Designer again.

With the growing demand for rugged design across sectors, product developers need help figuring out when to accommodate military specifications.

Good mapping makes products easier and more intuitive to use. Done well, it can create a powerful connection between a product and its users.

How can product designers apply Maslow's theory of human motivation to their work? A design won't succeed if it doesn't meet users' most basic needs.

Nudge is a concept rooted in behavioral science that describes how minor changes in product design can markedly affect individual behavior.

From a '90s novelty to an exciting design tool, virtual reality offers client-facing opportunities for design immersion.

Is a bidet on brand? Our San Francisco team did some research and debating to find out.

Designing appliances increasingly involves and interaction design component. How do you integrate this skill into your development process effectively?

Co-creation means inviting users into your creative process. Users, instead of being subjects of study, gain agency and become active participants in the design process.

Delve's VP of Design Mathieu Turpault reflects on major changes in industrial design in the last 25 years and predicts where it's headed.

A product that's beautiful to the eye but feels shoddy in the hand communicates volumes about a brand. Don't forget to design for touch.

When applied appropriately aesthetic design enhances the sophistication, functionality and overall value of a product. Try tuning into the following core aesthetic design trends to inspire your next creation.

The Switch has a lot of great features, but the modular design leads to some clunky compromises. Ultimately, does it matter?

How do we know the difference between a designer handbag and a knockoff?

When we look back on an experience, we craft a narrative based on memory and emotion and the sum of our experiences. The same is true of how we process our experiences with brands.

Thoughtful multi-sensory design transforms the act of opening a perfume pouch into a sensuous expression of luxury.

What are the odds a new product will still be around in two years’ time? And, how do we decide what to design today?

An Electrolux from the '50s inspires a head-to-head comparison with a Dyson Animal. Let's just say there are some trade-offs.

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?

A lesson in visualizing the target and aiming in squash is also a good reminder of how to design products.

Great board games are designed to foster creativity, collaboration and compromise.

Sometimes we need to embrace our inner Janet Jackson and be the ones in control.

What's in a flange? Well, when it comes to product design, it's the attention to details that can make all the difference.

No need to pick sides. Become a hybrid designer instead.

Making a difference and calling attention to important issues through design is more achievable once designers get over the fact that they're not artists.

Manufacturers that lead the way towards sustainable medical device design will gain significant business advantages over those that sit on the sidelines.

If your design requires a photorealistic image to show it is different from prior designs, it may not be innovative enough.

How about smaller companies who don’t have the budget for an innovation lab or the leeway to afford failed experiments? How can they get in on Design Thinking?

In my first two posts about the future of design I outlined a few ways product designers should set themselves up to thrive in their careers. In this last post I’ll step back for a broader view of some waves of change headed our way.

As design and manufacturing become more commoditized, strategy to inform product experiences will be valued higher than implementation. This is good news for product designers who love digging into upfront work.

As the emphasis in industrial design (ID) continues to shift from form toward user interface (UI) and other elements of human to computer interaction, industrial designers will need to figure out how to thrive in a digital environment.