Menu

Sector

Medical

Image Credit: 40% OPACITY

We use award-winning insight and design expertise to help ambitious med-tech companies create world-leading, easy to use medical products.

Our Approach

Having worked on medical device development projects for over 50 years, Smallfry use insight-led design to help ambitious start-ups and global brands to translate lab-proven technology into market-ready medical products.

Why Choose Smallfry for Medical Device Design?

Proven Experience

With over 50 years of experience creating award-winning medical products, our structured design process delivers confidence at every stage.

Human-Centred Design

We create intuitive medical devices shaped by real user needs, ensuring positive outcomes for patients, clinicians, and wider stakeholders.

Cross-Sector Thinking

Experience across multiple sectors enables us to apply fresh thinking to your project and help solve complex problems in innovative ways.

Direct Collaboration

You work directly with the people actually delivering your project, enabling clearer communication, faster decisions, and better results.

A Connected Network

Our long-established supplier and specialist network helps move products efficiently from development through to manufacture.

Insight-Led

To support project success and remove NPD guesswork, we aim to apply insight-led design thinking across all our projects.

Smallfry Design QuickCheck Medical Device Design Intuitive

ISO 9001:2015 Certified

This certification backs our robust quality management system. We ensure everything is documented correctly from the beginning. We also regularly work within clients’ ISO 13485 systems, enabling us act as a seamless extension of your team helping us move products through development and approval faster.

Communicating Value Through Design

We bring medical concepts to life through the creation of high-quality renders and block models. By making your product tangible, these assets help communicate value, build investor confidence, and secure further funding.

Photon UVC - designed by Smallfry for Photon Therapeutics.

In-House, Medical-Grade Prototyping

Our comprehensive medical-grade prototyping capability allows ideas to be tested and validated quickly, helping reduce risk and accelerate development.

A Snapshot of Our Work in the Medical Sector

Photon UVC - designed by Smallfry for Photon Therapeutics.

PhotonTherapeutics | Photon UVC

A 5-second treatment for the leading cause of blindness.

Smallfry Design QuickCheck Medical Device

MicroBioSensor | QuickCheck

Results 10,000 times faster than the current method.

Confidence BE, Salts Healthcare

Salts Healthcare | Confidence BE

6 million sold in the first year, exceeding an 800K sales target.

ds1 medtronic, Touch Surgery

Digital Surgery | DS1 Touch Surgery

The first AI-powered surgical platform that facilitates safe and accessible surgery for all.

The CyteCount medical diagnostics device - designed by Smallfry for Cytecom.

Cytecom | CyteCount

Translating lab-proven technology into an optimised solution ready for industry adoption.

Quanta Diagnostics | Quanta DT

Redefining dialysis for home and clinical environments.

“Smallfry delivered fresh ideas and creative angles that added real value to our project. Their input has helped shape a strong, user-focused foundation for our product.”

Dr. Magdelena Karlikowska

Cytecom, CEO

“We couldn’t have asked for a better partnership with Smallfry… the detail in the design and engineering, understanding the patient experience, and coordination with our partners all made the journey smoother.”

MicroBioSensor

“Thanks to this support, we are now positioned to bring our rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing solutions to market sooner, improving patient outcomes and supporting the fight against antimicrobial resistance.”

Dr. Magdelena Karlikowska

Cytecom, CEO

“Out of 4 design agencies we’ve used, Smallfry is the only one who has exceeded my expectations.”

Callum MacGregor

Healthcare Technology

Our Work

Our Services

Exceed your goals with our strategic guidance and in-depth research, supporting you to make the right decisions for your business and unlock opportunities for success.

Strategy & Research

We use sophisticated techniques to deeply understand your target audience’s needs, wants, desires and behaviours to uncover invaluable insights and opportunities.

Consumer Insights

Our talented team combine form and function to create visually striking, user-centred designs that elevate your products and captivate your target audience.

Industrial Design

We can deliver powerful storytelling, effective data visualisation, and engaging brand communication through captivating graphics that leave a lasting impression.

Graphic Design

Bring your ideas to life with our rendering capabilities, showcasing your products in stunning virtual environments so you can market and present with impact.

CGI Visualisation

Harness our precision and expertise to develop robust and efficient mechanical systems that integrate seamlessly, ensuring your product excels in performance and reliability.

Mechanical Engineering

Our prototyping and testing services enable you to refine and validate your product designs, guaranteeing impeccable functionality, durability, and user satisfaction.

Prototyping & Testing

Streamline your production process with our expertise in optimising your product’s design for efficient and cost – effective manufacturing, ensuring high-quality results.

Design for Manufacture

Exceed your goals with our strategic guidance and in-depth research, supporting you to make the right decisions for your business and unlock opportunities for success.

Business Support

FAQs

Can’t find exactly what you’re looking for?

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.