Custom industrial design — from sketch to prototype
Industrial design turns an idea into something that can be manufactured: an electronics enclosure, a lamp, an appliance or a tool. Describe the product and how you plan to make it, and designers will send you responses. Or choose a designer by the prototypes and finished products in their portfolio.
Industrial designers
How much industrial design costs
What affects the price
The stage you start from
A concept from scratch, refining your sketch or only preparing a finished model for production are different amounts of work.
Complexity of the shape and structure
An enclosure made of two halves is simpler to work out than a product with moving parts, latches, buttons and seals.
Manufacturing method
A model for plastic injection molding needs draft angles, an even wall thickness and a well-planned parting line, while sheet metal or 3D printing call for other solutions.
Prototype iterations
Every printed or machined prototype and the changes after testing it add work, and making the prototypes is often paid for separately.
Drawings and documentation
Drawings with tolerances, a bill of materials and files for the manufacturer are a separate stage that is not always included in the cost of the design.
Prices come from specialists' profiles on Nexperity and update automatically. You agree the final price with the specialist directly.
How to find an industrial designer
Two ways — pick the one that suits you
Pick a specialist yourself
- 1Open specialists' profiles and their work
- 2Send a request that describes the task
- 3Once accepted — contact the specialist directly
Post an order
- 1Describe the task, payment and the timing you want
- 2Receive responses from specialists
- 3Pick the best specialist and agree directly
- Free for clients
- Orders can be posted anonymously
- Your contacts open only after acceptance
- No commission on the deal
How to choose an industrial designer
- 1
Products that reached manufacturing
Ask to see not only renders but photos of prototypes or production units: a good-looking model does not yet mean it can be molded.
- 2
Experience with your method
Plastic molding, sheet metal, CNC machining and 3D printing each have their limits. Ask which methods and manufacturers the designer has already worked with.
- 3
Design only, or engineering too
Check whether the designer will work out wall thickness, fasteners and tolerances, or whether you will need a separate design engineer for that.
- 4
Model file formats
Agree that you will receive editable CAD files and STEP files for the manufacturer, not just renders or STL files for printing.
- 5
Rights and confidentiality
Discuss before you start who will own the rights to the design and the 3D models, and whether the designer is ready to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
What to put in the order
What the product is and how it will be used — in general terms
What you already have: sketches, a circuit board or a working mock-up, the sizes of the components that must fit inside
The conditions the product will work in: indoors or outdoors, moisture, dust, drops, heat
How many units you plan to make: a prototype, a small batch or mass production — and from what material
What you want to receive: a concept, a production-ready model, a prototype or drawings
Payment, the preferred deadline and whether you need support during manufacturing
Questions about Nexperity
How Nexperity works — separately for clients and for specialists
For clients
Nothing. Searching for specialists, sending requests, posting orders and receiving responses are free.
No. You agree the price and the payment method with the specialist and pay them directly. Nexperity does not take payments and is not a party to your deal.
A request goes to one specialist — from their profile. An order is posted for everyone: specialists send you responses, and you choose which one to accept.
How the specialist will do the task, a price — fixed, a range, hourly or “on request” — and, optionally, an estimated timeline.
30 days from publication: all that time it is visible in the feed and specialists can send responses. The exact end date and time are shown on the order in your account. From that moment the order is closed and a response can no longer be accepted. You can cancel it earlier, and if no specialist turned up, post a new one.
Yes: you can hide your name and photo in an order. The anonymity lasts until acceptance — the specialist whose response you accept sees your name and photo. The task description is public: anyone visiting the site can read it.
Only after acceptance — when you accept their response or they accept your request. And only the contacts you chose to show.
After acceptance you see the contacts the specialist chose to show, and they see the ones you chose. You can also message on Nexperity when the chat is on: on an order you decide that, on a direct request the specialist does.
Once the work is done, mark the order or the collaboration completed in your account — then you can say whether you recommend the specialist. A review can only be left for a collaboration that happened through Nexperity: one per specialist, which you can change or delete at any time.
For specialists
Nothing for now: this is the free period, and no subscription is needed yet. Nexperity takes no commission on deals — you settle with the client directly.
Sign up, fill in your specialist profile and add your services — each with a category, a description and a price. Once the profile is complete, it appears in search and on the category pages.
Two ways: clients send you requests from your profile, which you can accept or decline; and you see public orders in your categories in your account and can respond to them.
You describe how you will do the task and give a price and, optionally, a timeline. The client compares responses and accepts one.
Contacts set to “Public” are visible to everyone on your profile. A client sees contacts set to “After connection” once you accept their request or they accept your response. “Hidden” ones are not revealed in new connections: a contact already revealed to a client stays visible to them.
Each service has a fixed price, a range, an hourly rate or “on request”. Prices show on your profile and in search results, and you agree the final price with the client.
Through search and the category pages of your services. The order depends on your clients' reviews — how many of them recommend you — and in search also on how well your services match the query.
A photo, a description, your region and way of working — online or in person — your contacts and a portfolio: photos of your work, each with a short caption if you like.
A client leaves a review after completed work, and only for a collaboration through Nexperity: they say whether they recommend you and may add a few words. Each client counts once, however many times you work together.
Related categories
Are you an industrial designer?
Get orders from your category and respond to them — with no commission on deals.