Archive for the ‘Advice for Developing Products’ Category

We know how precious your ideas are and how easy it is for people to copy them, or even make ‘another version’ with slight modifications on your own design. It is sometimes difficult for individuals to protect their ideas before they expose them to design/manufacture consultants; in an aim to get their idea from their head onto paper and developed into reality. It’s a potential minefield; and limiting who and what you expose at different stages is one way to shield your ideas rather than exposing all the idea at once. Seeking advice from Patent attorney, or the patent office is always advisable before you see anyone with your ideas. A simple NON- DISCLOSURE agreement is another way to protect your idea before you expose it to any third parties. These are readily available from many sources, including your local BUSINESS LINK office.

So not only do we respect the concept at every stage, we also help you to protect it with advice on intellectual property rights, Patents, Copyrights and design registration. All these methods of protection are different in many ways and offer different degrees of protection. A lot depends on what your product is, and what you need to protect whether it be the aesthetics, function or purely just a design idea. Sorcit can assess your protection requirements and help to advise the route you need to take. We can also help to search for products that could be in the public domain and assess if the idea is worth protecting from the outset.

Our experience with Far East manufacturers ensures we undertake rigorous checks on potential manufacturers, and we only work with partners we are sure will 100% protect your ideas . We also require factories to sign a non-disclosure agreement (also known as an NDA) before we agree to discuss any concepts or drawings. If we get to a stage where tooling is needed, then the customer/Sorcit will pay for the tooling which we have ownership of, and cannot be used for any of the factories other customers. If required, we can remove the tooling at any point to ensure it is not being used.

A very easy form of protection before your ideas are disclosed would be to date your idea’s/drawings, put a copy in a sealed envelope and post to yourself with an official post date mark.

Most new products fail before they get off the ground. Some experts estimate that the new product success rate is no higher than 14%! This results in wasted time, money and opportunity. Conducting research with your target market helps you increase your chances of success in the high-risk arena of new product development by helping you identify unmet needs, screen concepts and plan for marketing communications to support the successful launch of your new products. “Presearch” Can be undertaken in a variety of formats, with it’s main aim to establish if there are any other products same/similar to yours in current circulation ; what testing or legislation you require to understand for you launch to your target market, potential retailers, or distributors that are selling similar products to the market; and example pricing structures and end retail price points. More detailed or focussed PRESEARCH can be done with, for example; patent searches. If patents have been applied for and a form of current protection stops you developing your idea. A great starting point are web searches, and the patent office website search engine. This will list all current patents and new applications going through the process. PRESEARCH, is a low cost, quick and simple process of consumer testing which can be done on Sorcit’s premises in our own facility. It will allow you to gain valuable insights into your market and define and refine your work every step of the way from needs assessment to developing your “go to market” proposition. Market research will improve your chance of new product success with timely and actionable information. Sorcit can help you to understand what makes your target consumer tick.

We’ve had a lot of questions regarding getting your ideas off the ground and how Sorcit can help you, so we decided to compile a little series of blogs called From Concept To Shelf and this one covers Design.

Got an idea you’d like to realise?   Or an existing product you want to improve?    Sorcit Design offers years of experience working with major blue chip companies on innovative product ideas. Our product designers can work in close partnership with you on the design and development of every element of the process.   We know how precious your ideas are. So not only do we respect the concept at every stage, we also help you to protect it with advice on intellectual property rights and rigorous checks on manufacturers. We also require factories to sign a non-disclosure agreement before we agree any concepts or drawings.

 The design of a product is one of the key elements of success or failure.  From the early stages you need to be thinking of something which makes your product unique, whether it’s the functionality, the visual appearance or the brandname/logo.   All of these are key elements of the design process.    If your product has a unique functionality, potentially it could be patentable which gives you significant protection against the idea been copied and potentiality could be very lucractive.  It is worth noting that Patents can be very expensive and it is not always guaranteed to be granted/approved as there may already be something similar in the market which is already protected.   If your product is visually unique, this could be registered.  Registering a design is relatively inexpensive (circa £300) and can give you enough protection to deter potential infringers.   Finally, to strengthen the appeal of a product it is always worth investing some time & money into a strong brandname.    Again this can be protected at a moderate cost by registering it with the UK Patent Office.    In some cases, it can be the brandname that eventually becomes the valuable asset of a company, such as Coca Cola.   

 Whatever your product is, whatever stage your idea’s at, Sorcit is on hand to help you make your products come to life. We work very closely with you to create your dream product & branding and we’ll make sure that whatever we come up with is fully protected under intellectual property rights.   As well as the actual product, you’ll need to think about things like packaging, merchandising and marketing – and this is another area we can help you with. Clever packaging goes hand-in-hand with clever product design to make sure you have the best possible product overall.  So as well as designing the actual product, we can play a part in designing you the perfect packaging. Don’t forget, a customer will see your product from the outside in, so you need something that’ll catch their eye. If your product doesn’t have any packaging, then we can apply graphics to the products themselves to add extra appeal.