Does anyone have a recommendation of a company/person that can design an retail product enclosure? Although I am very comfortable designing circuit boards and electronics, creating an enclosure is beyond my experience. When I look at all of the Quirky products using imp to communicate with the Internet, I feel there is a need for a “How to” on taking a product idea that is drawn on a napkin and transforming it into a product that can be manufactured in plastic/metal,etc for production. It goes without saying that going to a company like FrogDesign.com is way beyond my means, so looking for more of a grass roots designer/manufacturer that is willing to take part in the product development as a fun and possibly lucrative investment.
Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. Perhaps a new category should be created for this topic.
Are you expecting to have to pay?
Sure, just not the kind of money that a large design firm expects. It would be useful to get an idea of what the going rate is for this type of service. For example, I have have used eLance and oDesk for software development and paid for projects. I am looking for something similar where the person is a freelancer or student but has great skills and is looking to add to their portfolio of experience.
one approach would be to try to win a spot in a hardware accelerator program such as:
a freelancer is probably what you want, not a student. Students are awesome at a lot of things but most would not know how to get a product to production. A semi-retired mechanical designer or one with extra free time might fit the bill.
Do you have a hackerspace/makerspace in your city? You could try networking there.
are you in the USA?
sorry I don’t have better or more detailed advice.
Thanks all, these are good places for me to research. I was not aware of haxlr8r.
I just ran across this web site which has a lot of interesting links:
http://www.productdesignforums.com/topic/1868-online-resources-list/page-2