Durability is one of many categories to consider when your team is developing a new product. For many products, it’s…
Modern Product Design
A blog covering news, stories, and information about what we do.
The Cost of Prototyping a Product
Updated 8/1/22 Prototypes serve an important role for companies developing new products. When developed and used properly, prototypes can speed…
Why UX/UI? Best Practices for Successful Product Development
From the smartphone in your pocket to the vehicle you drive, great products don’t just happen. They require more than…
Developing a New Electronic Product? Avoid These 3 Common Firmware Engineering Problems
The market for connected products and IoT devices continues to grow. Products from coffee makers to sporting goods are now…
“Amazing People” Key to Our Success: Highlights from The BigTime Podcast
We’ve come a long way since our company’s inception in 2008. What started with three co-founders and a Rolodex has…
SGW Designworks Receives 2021 GOOD DESIGN Award
Since 1950, many of the world’s most well-designed products have been recognized by the GOOD DESIGN® Awards. This is the…
The Build-Measure-Learn Loop: The Linchpin of Successful Product Development
Since its publishing in 2011, Eric Ries’s bestselling book The Lean Startup (along with its principles, like the Build-Measure-Learn feedback…
How to Improve Company Culture: Lessons from Leaders
“Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love…
Improving Company Culture: Top-Priority for Product Development Firms
Does your company culture need a reboot? Continue reading for part one of our Conversations on Culture Series, in which…
Outsourcing Product Development? Ask These Questions First.
“Good design is the most important way to differentiate ourselves from our competitors.” —Former Samsung CEO Yun Jong Yong At…
SGW Receives International Recognition with Prestigious Good Design Award
What do you consider to be the most well-designed products in recent history? Perhaps you might think of important inventions…
Reflecting on 2020 — Our Year of Change, Adaptation, and Innovation
At SGW, we've spent recent weeks reflecting on 2020 and how the past year has impacted us and our industry…
So You Have an Idea for a Product — Now What?
Are you a small business, startup, or inventor and you have an idea for a product, but aren't sure if…
6 Reasons Why Most Products Fail (and 6 Tips for Success)
If you wanted to embark on a new business venture but knew it had only a five percent chance of…
The SGW / Portsmith Partnership: Developing Products That Improve Human Existence
“Leave the world in better conditions in which you found it.” — Baden Powell At SGW, we reflect frequently on our…
SGW Designworks CEO Accepted into Forbes Business Council
"As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others."—Bill Gates At SGW Designworks, our…
6 Product Development Trends to Expect, Post-Pandemic
A few months ago, several members of the SGW Designworks leadership team convened for a roundtable discussion that served as…
Doing Our Part: Product Developers Behind the Scenes in the Age of COVID-19
We’ve been talking a lot lately about our mission here at SGW Designworks to “improve human existence” — and, in…
The Human Side of Product Development
During my college years, a family friend asked what I was studying. They were quite surprised when I told them mechanical…
Improving Human Existence — And Our Ethical Obligations As Product Developers
In 2019, we saw a lot happen from a product standpoint, from groundbreaking developments to unfortunate and sometimes tragic mishaps…
Product Development in 2020: An SGW Perspective
Recently, several from SGW’s leadership team convened to discuss the state of product development in 2020 — specifically, trends and…
Increasing VR Capabilities Lead to Breakthroughs in Product Design
In recent years, virtual reality has all but revolutionized the world of product design (at least for the companies that…
SGW Designworks Clients Recognized at 14th Annual Idaho Innovation Awards
“A noble purpose inspires sacrifice, stimulates innovation and encourages perseverance.”— Gary Hamel, Management Consultant This year, 2019, marked the 14th…
Nonstop to Taiwan: Cementing a Manufacturing Partnership with Megaforce
In recent months, you may recall reading about our new manufacturing management service offering, or seeing press coverage of our…
Lean Hardware Development: What’s Working Among Companies Large and Small?
If the terms “feature creep,” “waterfall,” and “agile methodology” are a regular part of your vernacular, it’s safe to assume…
Empathy in Action: An Example of Empathic Product Design
“Empathy is one of our greatest tools of business that is most underused.”—Daniel Lubetzky, CEO, Kind When people hear the…
From Stanford to SGW: Perspective From a Product Design Intern
Hi, I’m Kenzie Roan — Boise born and raised, a product design student at Stanford University, and SGW Designworks’ summer…
International Business: Benefits for Our Clients and the Classroom
Like most product designers and developers, we thrive in an innovative, fast-paced environment. (We are problem solvers, after all.) As…
We’ve Found It! Transforming Product Development Challenges into Eureka Moments
Eureka! It only took two weeks and we finally had it. We had started with a blank canvas and we…
Just Launched: Solution-Based, Manufacturing Management Service
In our over ten years working with companies to accelerate their product development projects, we have learned a lot about…
Destination Oshkosh: SGW Lands at AirVenture 2019
When you hear of the Wisconsin town of Oshkosh, one might think of overalls and industry. After all, the area…
Exceptional Ground Support Equipment Design: The AERO Specialties Story
When AERO Specialties first reached out to us in 2013, we were eager to prove our ability to provide exceptional…
Client Confidentiality in Product Design and Development
If you’ve been acquainted with SGW Designworks for a while, you know we are vocal champions of our clients’ successes.…
Developing Service Equipment (That Lasts)
In recent years, SGW has established relationships with companies whose products and equipment must hold up to incredibly harsh conditions…
Product Testing, 1,2,3…
“Manufacturing is more than just putting parts together. It’s coming up with ideas, testing principles, and perfecting the engineering, as…
Commercializing an Idea: 9 Steps for Startups and Emerging Businesses
Mature businesses are keenly aware of the resources and investment required when commercializing an idea. However, startups and emerging businesses…
Well-Designed Products — and How We Build Them
Well-designed products make me happy. The feeling of holding a product and immediately understanding what it is and how I…
9 Tips for Early-Stage Product Development
“Everything is designed. Few things are designed well.”Brian Reed Whether we’re working on an industrial design project, firmware development, or…
Prototype Development: The 4 Levels to Consider
So you have an idea. Maybe you know you’re going to need to show more than just an idea to…
Lean Principles: 5 That Guide the SGW Environment
We’ll be the first to tell you: there is a lot to be learned in the world of product design…
Electronic Product Design — and the Technology That Makes It Possible
As time goes on, more products are designed with integrated electronics to provide specific functionality or connectivity. Businesses that have…
Injection Molding vs. 3D Printing – Which One, When?
As a product development company, we focus on applying lean principles and working with insight. This requires prioritizing frequent and…
10 Machine Processes Used to Create Product Prototypes
“You do not need to be Alan Greenspan to understand that the more things a machine can do, the bigger…
Product Design Companies and Clients: Two Perspectives
At SGW Designworks, we take great pride in our ability to work with clients of all types. In fact, the…
The Engineering Development Process Then and Now
Engineers who have been around pre-CAD remember when sketching their designs on paper was a standard part of the engineering…
Insightful Product Engineering: The SGW Philosophy
Any good product development engineer knows that, in addition to repetition and practice, they must think critically about how the…
Product Design: How Outsourcing Reduces Cost
Many companies tend to think that the leanest way of operating is to focus on product design internally. This approach…
How VR is Revolutionizing Consumer Product Design
What comes to mind when you think of applications for virtual reality? Gaming? Military? Education? What about prototyping? Believe it…