Design Futures Product

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Design Futures Product

Design Futures Product banner image - composite of DF projects

We are creative product designers. We help clients by working together to create innovative, appropriate, and ‘future-facing’ product designs by fusing creativity with leading-edge enabling technologies and advanced manufacturing. We have a proven track record of innovation that can build brand value and provide significant returns on investment.

Our design teams can work from early stage research, insight gathering and opportunity identification, right through to final design realisation and production tooling data. This provides reassurance of working with people who are able to seamlessly navigate the design process from start to finish.

We operate across a number of sectors including industrial, consumer, FMCG, healthcare/medical sectors and automotive. This exposure to diverse sectors allows use to adopt best practices that may be new to a particular sector. For example, we were invited to conduct projects with a Formula 1 team, not because of our experience within automotive design, but because of our work in critical medical products.

We take an evidence-based approach to new product development. To achieve this, we are fortunate to be able to build multidisciplinary teams drawn from a wide range of research, creative and technical expertise in areas such as materials, digital, production, robotics and biotechnology.

For us, ‘future facing products’ can mean a number of things. It might involve creating modular products that are flexible and can be adapted as market conditions change. It may be embedding digital technologies to transition from conventional products to smart and connected product service systems. It could be reducing environmental impact through lower carbon manufacturing, dematerialisation and greater energy efficiency. Or many other things…

We work flexibly, depending on the type of challenge and the needs of clients. Where there is an immediate need, design consultancy offers a good way to respond and deliver solutions very quickly. Where opportunities are more strategic, research projects can provide a way to conduct deeper exploration with the prospect of breakthrough innovation - these may be funded or part-funded through research councils.

In summary, we take a holistic view of product design. Our aim is to create responsible and cost-effective products that work well, look good and are a pleasure to use. In doing so, we help clients to produce products that stand out in crowded markets.

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Related staff

Mark Phillips

Mark Phillips

Creative Director

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Heath Reed

Heath Reed

Principal Industrial Designer

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Nick Dulake

Nick Dulake

Principal Industrial Designer

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Anthony Jones

Principal Industrial Designer

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Julie Roe

Julie Roe

Project Manager

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Matthew Willox

Researcher

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Andrew Stanton

Creative and Technical Design Researcher

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Kate Philp

Senior Administrator (Research)

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Thomas Fisher

Research Assistant

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Get in touch

Contact us to discuss facilities, partnerships, doctoral research and more

Email us