DMI Profiled in Inventors Digest

Article in a sentence: Understanding the customer’s needs are key to any product development.

by Inventors Digest, Inventors Digest Magazine April Issue 2008

If you have a web browser, you can have a prototype – a virtual one, that is. Design My Idea LLC has developed VirtuType, a Web-based computer-aided design (CAD) product. Post a virtual prototype on your web site, and potentioal investors and customers can zoom, spin and virtually try your product – even change its colos. We invited Brian Gates, the company’s president and lead designer, to this month’s session of TalkBack.

While a picture may be worth a 1,000 words, it would seem having a physical prototype in hand would be even better. What are the advantages of a virtual prototype over the real deal?

A virtual prototype allows an inventor to share unlimited samples of their product across the world instantly for very little investment. Users can examine parts, change accessories and simulate device functions. And you can modify colors or materials and ensure you have the most recent design at your fingertips. This technology delivers instant gratification.

Talk about the suite of services you offer and how you differentiate your operation from the competition.

Design My Idea offers inventors a single solution for designing, developing and marketing their invention. We offer a complete range of design services including industrial design, 3D modeling, packaging, product branding, web development and everything in-between. Our goal is to simplify the design process for inventors while enabling them to achieve superior quality design by bringing all these services into one company. Design My Idea operates on a National level by utilizing the internet to interact with our clients and our company’s success is based solely on the response received by our boss, the inventor.

Talk about how increases in computational power and Internet bandwidth affected your business.

The “new” internet has really enabled us to expand our business into every home. We have worked with stay-at-home parents thousands of miles away and individuals living in remote areas to develop their idea without ever meeting face to face. Inventors are able to instantly review their designs and offer feedback while being able to share their assets with friends and family at a moment’s notice. Just as we have seen the continual increase in online shopping for products, I suspect we will see the same for innovative product development through the web.

How can you reassure inventors and independent product developers that their ideas are safe with you?

Design My Idea treats every idea with the utmost consideration for confidentiality. We accept inventor provided non-disclosure agreements or offer a standard NDA to all potential clients. Submitted concepts are only reviewed by necessary personnel and the information is destroyed or returned should the client pursue another direction for their development. Inventors control user rights to all design materials through a private project portal.

Who are some of your clients and what did you do for them?

Our clients range from first-time inventors to corporations seeking help in various phases of product development. Plane Clean Air came to us two years ago seeking packaging designs and branding for their new product. We developed various styles of packaging, complete product branding, trade-show material and a video for an infomercial. With our help, they have landed their product in hundreds of travel boutiques worldwide and on target.com.

MBL of America, an ultra high-end audio equipment manufacturer, came to us seeking the development of an advertising campaign for their products.

Hexi-Deck was the first-time invention for a newly retired engineer, seeking to develop his new invention as a legacy for his family. We refined his design concept, created 3-D models for marketing purposes and developed the brand around the product. He is currently in talks with a major hardware manufacturer to license this product.

Tell us about your plans for the coming year.

Design My Idea in partnership with Patent Law & Venture Group will be releasing the world’s first and only Intellectual Property marketplace designed to allow Patent, Trademark and Copyright holders to post, bid and sell their IP through the World Wide Web. This unique service will allow for the free posting and searching of IP content while simplifying the negotiation process between IP holders and corporations. Visit www.MyIPdeal.com for more information on how to easily leverage your IP.

Design My Idea

Inventors Time to Sketchup

Article in a sentence: Download Sketch Up so you can begin experiencing your invention in 3D for FREE!

by Brian Gates July 2007

If you have ever sketched on a napkin or played around with drawing in MS paint to express your invention, boy do we have a solution for you! While these methods are great for getting your ideas out of your head and into the heads of everyone else, they lack the ability to change the viewing angle without you having to redraw everything. Well that has all changed thanks to the 3D modeling program called Sketch Up.

Sketch Up has been around for a few years and is by far one of the easiest 3D modeling programs around. Users start by drawing a simple 2D shape that can be pulled or pushed into a 3D form. From there users can add different surfaces or features to arrive at a final design. The interface is extremely user friendly with the modeling experience being very straight forward. Even if you are new to the 3D modeling world Sketch Up provides you with the perfect balance of ease of use and quality of model.

This all sounds well and good but how much does this application cost?
Ready for this…NOTHING, ZIP, Zero. It’s 100% FREE!

In 2006 Google bought the company that produced Sketch Up and began offering the program for free to everyone in hopes that users will eventually model the world. If you are familiar with Google Earth you will remember seeing some 3D models of buildings as you explored large cities. Those 3D models of buildings were all modeled in Sketch Up and the two programs, Sketch Up and Google Earth, now work seamlessly together.

While Sketch Up was targeted to help the architectural community in its ability to quickly create 3D shapes, the simple modeling method is perfect for creating you invention. If you haven’t tried the application, I highly recommend downloading it to give it a try. Sketch Up will have a huge impact on the inventor community as it will allow us to begin moving from the 2D realm of design, to the 3D world, just like the big companies.

Design My Idea & Sketch Up

Why are we advertising a program that impacts our services? Well to be honest, it makes our services that much better. A Sketch Up model is great for getting the proportions and style of your invention, but the application lacks the precision of a 3D CAD package.

When an inventor has created a Sketch Up model of their invention, we are able to add the precision and exactness required for production. The Sketch Up model saves us time, the inventor money and ensures that the product reflects exactly what the inventor envisioned on the first try. (A Sketch Up model is not required for any services by Design My Idea)

Additionally if the inventor has requested us to model the invention from scratch, we are able to provide them with a completed model to view and manipulate in Sketch Up. Not only does the inventor get photo realistic renderings of their invention provided by Design My Idea, but they now have the ability to spin the model around, remove parts and even print out their own views.

Pretty cool stuff, in my opinion… Download Sketch Up Here >>

To download a PDF tutorial covering a Travel Mug modeling example for SketchUP Click Here
To view a VirtuType of the SketchUp model follow this link: Travel Mug VirtuType

Design My Idea

Hello Inventors!

Hello,

Welcome to Design My Idea’s blog for inventors. We are a full-service design firm specializing in product design from a-z, concept to marketing materials, for the first-time and serial inventors.  We also have capabilities in small-business product design, and our inventors benefit from our engineering and technical knowledge from these services.

You can check out our Company Info page for more details.

This blog will be a resource of our monthly articles, news updates, tips and tricks for inventors, as well as linked to our own product, the cord management device Corg. Eventually a blog will be worked on for Corg when we get it off the ground.

Thanks!

Looking forward to your comments, suggestions etc.