Our Process

We work with ambitious brands and forward-thinking companies across multiple industries, from funded, early-stage start-ups to larger organisations. Typical clients include companies producing small domestic appliances (SDAs), consumer electronics, health and wellness products, medical devices, and high-performance industrial products.

Smallfry is conveniently located in central England, Warwickshire, and works with clients across the UK and internationally. We hold regular online meetings throughout each project and, when necessary, have successfully delivered many projects without any in-person meetings.

To get started on a project with Smallfry, get in touch via our contact form or send an email to design@smallfry.com, and a member of our team will look to arrange an initial meeting with you. We’re often happy to put an NDA in place before discussions begin to ensure your ideas and information are protected.

In short, however works best for you. The benefit of working with a consultancy like Smallfry is our flexibility; our multi-disciplinary team is built to support your product development however and whenever you need, and when you don’t… there’s no unused resource for you to worry about.

If you already have in-house design capabilities, we can seamlessly integrate with your team to extend its capacity.

If not, we can become your out-house design team/partner, on standby for you to call upon as and when you need.

As well as the traditional project-by-project approach, with defined stages, timelines and deliverables, we can also evolve a longer-term partnership. We have worked with several clients for upwards of ten years, acting as an extension of their team, providing ongoing support across multiple projects with the mutual understanding and investment in company goals that comes with a long-standing working relationship.

We know that protecting your idea is important. We are happy to sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement, sometimes called a Confidentiality Agreement) before any detailed discussions take place, ensuring your information remains confidential. All of our projects are handled with professional discretion. Nothing goes public until you are ready.

At Smallfry, every project is tailored to your specific needs, so costs will vary depending on your scope and requirements: where you are starting from and where you need to get to. Having understood the brief, we usually create a detailed proposal outlining project stages, deliverables, and associated costs. We offer flexible payment options, including monthly retainers or stage-by-stage payments.

We aim to respond to all enquiries within one business day. Following an initial meeting, we typically provide a quote within one week, depending on the complexity of the project. Where input from multiple partners is required, we will clearly communicate expected timeframes on a case-by-case basis.

Unless agreed otherwise, on completion of the project (and full payment), you will have full ownership of any designs we create for you. All of our staff work under full confidentiality, and ahead of any project, we typically agree and sign a mutual Confidentiality Agreement with our client and any key suppliers. During the project, we minimise external file sharing and will only do so under the protection of a similar confidentiality agreement.

Smallfry’s process is structured and tailored to suit the needs of your project. We typically follow six key stages: Research & Insight, Concept Design, Design Development, Design for Manufacture, Production, and Marketing Material Creation.

Throughout the process, we provide the core services required to support our clients in delivering human-centred products that transform consumer experiences and drive measurable business impact.

The length of a project is highly dependent on its complexity and scope. All of our projects are tailored to client requirements, and therefore can span several weeks to a few years. We work with some clients for upwards of ten years, acting as an extension of their team, providing ongoing support across multiple projects.

We always define a clear timeline with key milestones at the outset and, if you have specific deadlines, we’re happy to tailor our approach to meet them wherever possible.

While we offer a wide range of services, allowing us to support projects from research through to production, we are flexible to your needs and happy to help with smaller, isolated aspects of your project as needed. You can explore our full range of services here.

We only use AI in a way that improves efficiency without compromising on quality or accuracy; it is used simply as a tool, like any other, handled by professionals. All projects are led by our team’s proven expertise in delivering designs that resonate with real human users.

No. We specialise in creating, developing, and refining products rather than selling or manufacturing them ourselves.

However, we have extensive experience in the production process and an established network of manufacturers and suppliers. We often work closely with clients to identify the best supplier for their needs. From there, we focus on optimising the design for efficient and cost-effective production – allowing you to remain in full control of your product and manufacturing.