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Guide for founders
You have an idea for a device. Maybe a sketch, maybe a board that works on your desk, maybe just a problem you have lived with for years. What you do not have yet is a product a factory can quote.
This page explains what happens in between, in the order it happens, with the times and costs I work to. I am Eugenio Cruz Cornejo, an industrial designer for electronic products, with ten years of product design plus a master's in project management and an MBA.
Because a factory quotes drawings and 3D files, not ideas.
Before anyone can give you a price, someone has to decide the shape, the materials, how the parts fit together, where the buttons and connectors go, and how it all gets assembled. If those decisions are left to the factory, they make them for their own convenience, and you find out what they chose when the samples arrive.
A product brief is a short written document that settles what the product must do before anyone designs it: who uses it, where, what it has to survive, how many you plan to make, and roughly what it can cost.
It comes first because every later decision traces back to it. On a field sound recorder I worked on, the brief said it had to hang in a tree, take the rain and be found again without disturbing the birds. The shape, the mount and the colour all came from those lines.
A brief takes a few hours. Skipping it is how projects end up redesigned three times.
Five steps: a call, a written brief, one design direction, the developed 3D design, and drawings for your manufacturer.
My design work runs in three fixed-price steps: $300 for the brief and concept direction, $750 for the developed 3D design, and $1,500 for the manufacturing-ready design. You can stop after any of them.
| Step | Price | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Brief + concept direction | $300 | 7 days |
| Developed 3D design | $750 | 14 days |
| Manufacturing-ready design | $1,500 | 21 days |
Prototypes, tooling and production are paid to the manufacturer and are separate. The design is what lets them give you an honest price. Full details are on the packages section.
About six weeks from the first call to a design a manufacturer can quote, if each step is approved promptly.
The brief and concept direction alone take a week.
No. Most people who come to me do not have one.
The design and the electronics can develop side by side, as long as the brief records the size and position of what goes inside. If you already have a board, even better: we design around it.
Your electrical engineer, or one you hire.
I design the product around the electronics: the housing, how it opens, how the board is held, where the heat goes, where the buttons and connectors sit. I work directly with your engineer so the two fit first time.
Files you own: the 3D model, drawings with key dimensions, a spec sheet, and renders.
Your manufacturer verifies the files and makes the tooling. You can see what a review looks like in the sample DFM review and the sample time and cost estimate.
Book a free 30-minute call, or send what you have: a sketch, a photo of a prototype, or a paragraph describing the problem.
I will tell you honestly whether I am the right person for it.
◆ Taking projects
Book thirty minutes. The discovery call is free. You will leave knowing what it takes to turn your idea into a product, what it costs and how long it takes, whether or not you hire me.
No preparation needed. Bring the idea, any sketches or reference products, and whatever you know about the volume you are aiming for.