By DE Editors
Hyphen Design (London, England), a design consulting firm, credits its use of SolidWorks with cutting weeks out of its product development process. The firm is also able to tackle more complex projects and explore more design options for clients such as Virgin Mobile, GlaxoSmithKline, Speedo, and Hasbro.
Founded in 1998, Hyphen designs consumer, medical, and industrial products ranging from hardware tools to mobile phones to respirator masks for premature babies. Recently the firm designed a digital handset for Virgin Mobile in less than two weeks. Though the sleek, ergonomic profile and complex organic shapes posed a challenge, the design team was able to create a solid model in five days using SolidWorks. The design would have taken as long as three weeks to execute in the firm’s previous software.
“Fifty percent of the geometry we create never gets used because we have to try myriad approaches to get the design just right,” said Hyphen Design Director Cameron Treeby. “SolidWorks is an invaluable exploration tool that lets us quickly see the best path to take. It also allows us to do complex surfacing, detailing, filleting, and other finite work with ease. That’s why we love it. It does what we want it to, without a lot of unnecessary steps or errors to fix. It doesn’t hold us back.”
Hyphen follows an iterative design process, especially when developing complex or innovative products. During the design process, the firm may present its work to a client in the form of a computer rendering, a visual model, or a functional prototype. Designers can use SolidWorks to ensure that the 3D models are accurate before handing them off to partners who use them to generate rapid prototypes.
To view some examples of Hyphen’s work, visit its website and select from various clients at the bottom of the page. http://www.hyphendesign.com
http://www.www.solidworks.com
Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.