Leveraging product design experience from major brands such as Logitech and Adobe, Silvershore covers the product development cycle from concept refinement and market research, to prototyping/proof-of-concept development and first-run production.

Product Planning and Market Research

The gap between a good product and a great product is surfaced by iterative usability testing. Throughout the development process, "pre-prototype" units should be tested with real users as soon as possible. This early period is the best (and least expensive) opportunity to adjust product features and the overall design.

Usability testing is also the right way to inform tough trade-offs in product development. (is backlighting required for the keys? what could be dropped to save money in the design?)

From conjoint analysis, to UI prototype walkthroughs, to moderated "behind the glass" focus group sessions, we'll help coordinate a cost-effective approach to surfacing what your future customers value most.

Electrical Design

Silvershore's electrical engineering talent is what differentiates us from other product design services.

From the early product concept discussions, we'll start to sketch out a schematic for the electrical design. Our team will hunt down the right components that balance cost with the opportunity to introduce unique market-leading features in your product.

When it comes to PCB design, our guidance on placement of components, exterior ports, and displays will pull from consideration of development and production costs, per-unit budget considerations, and manufacturability constraints.

PCB Fabrication and small volume assembly

Getting your PCB design right for fabrication can be tricky. We've worked with a number of US based and overseas board houses - and know a lot of the tricks to get boards right the first time - saving time and money.

When the boards are ready, check out our small-volume PCB assembly services.

(Note: our tool of choice for PCB design is CADSoft Eagle)

CAD and outer shell design

While we think the insides of your device will be amazing - your customers care about the aesthetics and ergonomics of the exterior shell.

But you can't design a feasible product shell without tight coordination with the evolution of the electrical design. EE constraints will dictate how big or small the product has to be, and sometimes where key ports or buttons have to be placed.

For enclosure designs, our engineers use Solidworks and Autodesk Inventor. Plastic, metal, or rubber enclosures are then fabricated by our partners in the SF Bay area.

For a design that really stands out, we work with some of the best industrial design agencies for unique outer shell designs and user experiences.

Software and Firmware development

Almost every electronic design we do has sophisticated software for networking, motor control, displays, and sensor management.

Our expertise in micro-RTOS systems for AVR, ARM, PIC, and Coldfire systems can help make your design an intelligent connected device.

Testing and Assembly

For product development and board assembly engagements, we'll normally build a test rig and application to verify correct operation of the design before it's sent out.