An industrial design consultancy is a type of company that is composed of industrial design professionals who assist a company or an individual in developing a concept into a physical product through the application of their professional expertise. Such an industrial design consultancy also assists clients in achieving various manufacturing and production goals through the use of their experience to reduce the final overhead and direct costs of production. They may also assist their clients in the area of the selection of the various materials for the production process as well as in the area of registering patents for their products.
Assuming a company is trying to come up with a particular concept for a vacuum cleaner, it can contract the services of an industrial design consultancy to achieve this mission. The industrial design consultancy will analyze the concept of the company in order to discover the various attributes, such as the purpose of the company, which might be to develop a product that is more ergonomic or more aesthetically pleasing. Where such a company has not fully defined the concept, the industrial design consultancy will help it in this by developing a full concept that may be used as a springboard for the development of the product. After this has been done, they will further advance the concept by developing a sort of physical visual for the company in order to give it an idea of how the product will look after production. In the area of the vacuum cleaner, it may be a prototype of the vacuum cleaner or a three-dimensional representation of the proposed product, giving the client an opportunity to review the product and share constructive feedback.
Where the client does not have any concept, the industrial design consultants can help him or her generate design concepts. After the prototype has been approved, the industrial design consultants can also assist in the further development of the product through patent registration and the organization of contract manufacturing of the product for the client. During this process, they will use their considerable insider knowledge of the industry to give the client a competitive deal regarding a pricing structure for the mass-production of the product with the aim of giving the client choices that will lead to a reduction of costs in the manufacturing process.