At 4D Products, we’re all about pushing the limits to create standout products. Innovation is in our DNA. Our team loves exploring new ideas, materials, and technologies to keep your product ahead of the curve.

We don’t just follow trends; we set them, ensuring your product isn’t just in the game but leading it.

For us, user experience is everything. We believe a product should not only look great but also be a joy to use. By completely understanding what your users need and want, through testing and tweaking, we make sure every detail works to enhance their experience.

Focusing on the user, creates products that people love and keep coming back to.

Every design agency has its own way of working, but we’ve found these approaches work best for our clients. We offer two main options: fixed price stages based on an agreed design specification, or hourly billing.

To provide fixed costs, we need a detailed design brief and specification. Some businesses prefer fixed costs for predictability, while others like the flexibility to evolve the project without needing new quotes.

Our design team will discuss the best approach for you during your initial consultation.

How long is a piece of string?

Taking a product from an initial idea to a manufactured unit ready for retail involves various skills and a suitable level of investment.

Product design is a crucial part of this process. The cost usually depends on the complexity of the product—more complexity means more time. Since every project is unique, we can only provide a written proposal with costs and timelines after discussing your needs in our initial consultation.

Consider these costs before your product is sales-ready: design costs for developing the idea into manufacture-ready data, prototype costs for testing and optimising the design, regulatory approval and testing costs to ensure safety and legality, manufacturing costs for tooling and initial production, marketing costs for branding and sales materials, and intellectual property costs to protect your unique ideas.

Sustainability is a big deal for us at 4D Products. We know that great products should also be kind to the planet.

From the start, we think about how to make your product environmentally friendly, choosing materials and methods that reduce impact but still deliver exactly what you need your product to.

By making sustainability a part of our design process, we help you create products that are good for business and the Earth.

This might be the most crucial question you need to ask. To figure out if your product is worth developing, you really have to dig deep.

Many first-time inventors come to us wondering if they’ve had a "good idea." Just because something doesn’t exist yet doesn’t automatically make it a winner. A commercially good idea is one that offers benefits or solves problems for enough target customers at a price that makes sense, covering the costs of bringing it to market.

In other words, it should promise a solid return on investment.

As a seasoned product design company, we’ve honed research techniques to uncover what customers truly want in any given sector. With that insight, you’re more likely to develop a successful product.

Understanding your target market is key! Showing a high-quality visual or prototype to a sample group of your target market is a powerful way to gauge your idea’s potential. We can help you reach this milestone quickly and cost-effectively.

Here’s a question for you. Do you really know your target market?

Successful businesses have a clear understanding of who their target market is and what they want or need. This knowledge is crucial. If you’re unsure, we recommend focusing on gaining a deep understanding of your target market and what drives their decisions when choosing new products.

We can assist by conducting focused research to extract valuable insights that can be applied during your product’s development.

We support the entire design process, from pre-design research to the final sign-off of manufactured products. You don’t have to commit to every stage of the process though. We’re happy to support any part of the process.

For fixed-price work, we break the project into logical stages with pre-agreed deliverables, costs, and timelines. Our proven product development system broadly follows these steps: understanding, designing, engineering for manufacture, testing, optimizing, and supporting manufacture.

We have a wide range of in-house skills, including user and product research, idea generation, industrial design, 3D CAD, mechanical engineering, prototyping, supply chain liaison, photorealistic rendering, and product animations.

Established businesses tend to have funding in place before they contact us.

Start up businesses and private inventors may not, so here are a few options to consider;

Do it in stages – By working with 4D Products you can get started with the first stage or two, and then seek further investment when you have high quality design work to present to investors.

UK Government – The UK Government offers grant funding to certain industries which it sees as important to the growth of the UK economy. Latest information can be found at Innovate UK’s website – Innovate UK

Crowd Funding – There has been an explosion of interest in Crowd Funding in recent years. The essence of the idea is that you create a marketing pitch to your potential customers, and ask them to pre-order your product before it has been manufactured, usually at a discounted price to encourage people to buy. There are now a variety of crowdfunding websites operating, so it is worth doing some research to find out which is the best fit for you. Some of the big names include – Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Seeders.

It is worth noting that many successful campaigns spend considerable amounts of money in digital marketing to achieve their goals, so you need to think through how you will drive traffic to your campaign. A whole industry of crowdfunding agencies has sprung up that specialise in campaign planning, marketing, and support.

Local grants – There are often smaller grants available at local, regional level. It is worth visiting your local authorities website to see if anything is available. Criteria and type of grant are always changing, so you need to check what is current in the area that you or your business is based.