IP&R’s goPROTO Division Offers Cutting-Edge Product Design

SAN FRANCISCO--Inventors’ Publishing & Research, (IP&R), a rapidly growing product development and invention licensing firm, now offers industrial design services through its goPROTO Division. This division creates highly functional and visually attractive prototypes to help inventors market their products.

If an IP&R client chooses the company’s industrial design services, the goPROTO team will take the client’s rough drawing and re-design it to reflect proper form, fit and function. IP&R’s goPROTO Director Troy Stevens said, “First, we determine who will use the product. This enables us to create the proper sizing, ergonomics and other attributes that will help the product work well for the intended user. Essentially, we put the inventors’ original concepts through a filter, editing out non-practical and other non-marketable elements, to make the products consumer friendly and salable.”

The goPROTO industrial designs are based on best practices. The team generates as many ideas as possible before starting on the prototypes. Their designs are based on logic, functionality, past experience, and market trends and needs. Prototyping is an invaluable service to inventors; many times, a well-designed prototype can cinch the deal with potential licensees and manufacturers.

A good example of IP&R’s new industrial design capabilities is illustrated with the Wrench Clencher™. The inventor, Larry Barbrow, came to IP&R with a rough, hand-made version of his product – a handle for carrying several different wrenches at once. Hansen Global Inc., the company that now licenses the product, loved Larry’s idea, but wanted the product design refined before showing it to a major retailer.

The goPROTO team took Larry’s original idea and created a prototype that was easy to use, practical and good looking. For example, the original handle was made from fiberglass; the team created a sleeker, sturdier and ergonomically correct handle out of red plastic. They also designed the new product for manufacturing, so that it could be mass produced. After sketching up variations and building a 3-D model on the computer, they output the computer-aided design (CAD) file to a rapid prototyping machine and created an actual physical plastic prototype that mimics the material properties of the final plastic product. The goPROTO team then attached the stainless-steel tool hanger, made by the inventor, to the handle and the new prototype was ready.

Hansen Global President Bruce Tichy said he was quite happy with the Wrench Clencher prototype. “IP&R did a great job on the prototype – I was very impressed with its functionality.” Hansen Global presented the Wrench Clencher prototype to a major retailer that is now interested in selling the product.

Inventors’ Publishing & Research CEO Steve Barbarich said, “Many of our clients’ ideas – like the Wrench Clencher – are great. But most of our inventors are not designers or engineers. Licensers and manufacturers are much more likely to act on product ideas they can see, handle and understand, and that will attract the consumer’s eye. That’s why our goPROTO team’s ability to create functional, visually appealing prototypes is critical in getting inventors’ products to market.”

About Inventors' Publishing and Research (IP&R), LLC

Founded in 1995, IP&R is a rapidly growing product development and invention licensing firm whose team of 150 professionals have helped thousands of inventors bring their inventions to life, in a wide range of product categories. Although IP&R primarily licenses inventions to other companies, they recently started manufacturing inventions under their own AbsolutelyNEW brand, and selling them directly to retailers. The company's founder and CEO, Steve Barbarich, wrote the popular book for inventors, called "The Complete Manual to Making Money with Your Inventions and Patents." For more information, visit www.inventorspublishing.com or contact Jill Beaverson at 866-805-8655 x468 or jillb@absolutelynew.com.