Design Interface Inc.

From first sketch to a tested prototype

The product work begins with concept drawings and moves on to 3D renderings built in Keyshot, followed by ergonomic review, working prototypes and product testing. The company says this sequence is meant to show how an object behaves in the hand before any tooling is committed, so that a client is not paying for a design that has never been checked. Inventors bringing a new idea and established companies wanting to update an older product both use the same route, and the team looks at how a product looks and also at how it is used day to day.

Medical devices shaped with clinicians

Medical device design is one of the firm's main areas. The company says it has guided doctors, nurses and physical therapists as they took a device idea through to a product that improves patient care. Clinical users know what a device must do on a ward or in a clinic, so the design work is largely about turning that knowledge into a form, a grip and a set of controls that suit the people who will use it every day.

Packaging that sells at the point of purchase

The packaging practice covers structural design, food labels, header cards and the UPC and GTIN codes that retailers scan at the till. Prototypes and mock-ups let a client see how a box, pack or label will fold, print and stand on a shelf before production starts. The company describes good packaging as a silent salesperson, one that speaks to the shopper at the moment of choice. Because packaging sits alongside product design, the same team can take a product from its shape to the carton that holds it.

Brand identity, graphics and printed material

Logo design, brand identity, typography and color selection form the graphic design side of the business. The firm also produces infographics, annual reports, brochures, instruction manuals and other publications. Its view is that a brand is the foundation of a company's identity, and that the colors, fonts, imagery and logo should stay consistent across business cards, letterheads, packaging and the website so that each item reinforces the others.

Photography and video made in house

An in-house photo studio creates product images for social media and online marketplaces. The company also offers video art direction, production and editing, and it lists animation among its creative services. Keeping photography and video in the same studio as the design work means that the pictures used to sell a product match the brand and the packaging it wears.

Clients with a product, a brand or a clinical idea

In the company's own account, its clients fall into three groups: inventors who have a new product idea, companies that want to refresh a product that has aged, and clinicians developing a medical device. The work is run from its base near Cleveland, Ohio, and the firm uses 3D rendering, photography and graphic design tools in its own studio. A client who needs one stage of work or the whole path from concept to launch can use the firm, with the different disciplines handled under one management.

Experience and the tools behind the work

The firm has been operating for about forty years, and the company says that long run gives it a working knowledge of how products reach shelves, clinics and screens. The tools it names include Keyshot for 3D rendering, and the team builds models and prototypes in house, so that concepts can be checked against real measurements before a client commits. The result is a single point of contact for a project that might otherwise pass between an industrial designer, a packaging house, a photographer and a print firm.