Our advanced R&D workshop has everything we need to rapidly prototype and test your wildest ideas
2
CNC Machines (3 & 5 axis)
4
Agile workshop rooms
15
3D printers in our farm
56
Cups of tea (per week, average)
Our core capability at UW is robust human centered product design. We’ve worked on a wide range of projects, right from early stage concept work through to design for manufacture, keeping the people we are designing for front and centre of our solutions.
Over the years we have refined our design process to efficiently uncover innovative solutions through physical prototyping. We will work closely with you to ensure you get the design service that is relevant for your project.
Our machine shop contains both 3 axis and 5 axis high precision CNC mills, as well as a range of manual machining equipment. By tightly integrating design and manufacture of components in-house we can iterate much faster than conventional design teams. We also offer standalone machining services for small and medium quantities of components.
Our team of designers are all hands-on and are very happy switching between traditional desk based design and physical prototyping. We are able to work with all conventional materials like metal, wood and plastics, as well as advanced materials such as composites and ceramics. By being able to work with these materials in-house, we can produce functional prototypes that can test technical elements of your design. We can work with you to make sure we can then test these prototypes thoroughly.
With extensive experience in fine carpentry and boat building as well as modern rapid prototyping techniques, we are able to produce high quality looks-like visual prototypes to support your product development journey. These can be used alongside photorealistic renders of your design to allow you to communicate with stakeholders effectively.
Our approach
New to the design process? We often use the double diamond to describe the general approach to developing great solutions. The combination of divergent stages to rapidly explore a wide range of ideas combined with convergent testing ensures that we address the core problem that you are aiming to solve.
What might our collaboration look like?
As you'll be working directly with our design team, we will customise the process directly to your project. To illustrate this, below is a breakdown of what might be involved across 4 main stages of a project.
Research
Understanding your design challenge is key to ensuring you solve the core problem. We can work with you to conduct user interviews and observations to effectively map the design space that you will be operating in, creating a solid foundation for further design work.
Work Involved
- Research
- Competitor Analysis
- Objectives
Stage 1
Ideation
We are able to lead or facilitate ideation workshops on site, working with you to rapidly brainstorm potential avenues for your design solution. We often make low resolution prototypes as part of this process to communicate efficiently.
Work Involved
- Brainstorming
- Workshops
- Product ideas
- Initial feedback
Stage 2
Prototyping & Testing
Once we have some promising concepts, we will work with you to identify areas where we need more information. Prototypes are a fantastic way to answer questions through robust testing and to spark further innovative ideas.
Work Involved
- Concepting
- Iteration
- Prototyping
- Feedback
Stage 3
Design for Manufacture (DfM)
Once the proposed design solution fulfills the original specification, we will work to optimise the design for the scale of production suitable for your project in collaboration with manufacturers.
Work Involved
- Concepting
- Iteration
- Prototyping
- Feedback
Stage 4
Considering applying for grant funding?
FAQs
Yes – we pride ourselves on our pace of innovation, honed through years working in the highly competitive medical design space. Get in touch and we can see where we can help.
Projects vary based on their technical complexity and the quality of the initial research. Let’s have a chat about your idea so we can give an estimate tailored to your specific needs.
When creating a project plan with you we will define workshops where we can build feedback into the design process. We want to involve you as a collaborator in the design process as much as possible.