Industrial Design for Connected Products

From first sketch and prototype to a manufacturable, production-ready enclosure, designed alongside the electronics and firmware inside it.

The Enclosure Is Part of the Engineering

A connected product's enclosure is not a shell added after the electronics are finished. It affects board dimensions, antenna clearance, connectors, buttons, sealing, thermal behaviour, assembly, and eventually the tooling that manufactures it.

That's why our industrial designer works alongside the PCB and firmware engineers from the start. The enclosure is designed around what the product has to do, how people will use it, and how the factory will build it.

Designed With the Rest of the Product

Electronics

Board shape, component height, connectors, and antenna requirements influence the enclosure from the first CAD iteration.

Firmware & interaction

Buttons, LEDs, displays, charging, and physical controls are designed around how the product actually behaves.

Certification & environment

We consider sealing, materials, thermal behaviour, and construction before compliance and environmental testing.

Manufacturing

We make draft angles, wall thickness, snap fits, parting lines, and finishing decisions with tooling in mind.

Industrial designer at work with 3D printers

Designed With the Electronics, Not Around Them

Most electronics design studios treat industrial design as a separate phase, something that happens after engineering is done. We do the opposite. Our industrial designer is in the product definition meeting, not the product handoff meeting.

Board dimensions are defined jointly with the enclosure concept, not retrofitted after layout

Connector placement, button locations, and indicator lights are designed around the enclosure, not worked around by it

Thermal management, IP sealing, and mechanical stress on components are considered before the first PCB is sent to production

The enclosure is optimised for injection moulding from the start, avoiding costly tooling modifications later

Our Capabilities

Concept & Ergonomics

Form exploration, proportion, grip, reach, and interaction with the physical product.

3D CAD Modelling

Fusion 360 and production-ready part files.

Enclosure & Sealing Design

Enclosures designed toward the required environmental protection and use conditions.

Design for Manufacture

Snap fits, draft angles, wall thickness and parting lines.

Rapid Prototyping

SLA, FDM and SLS prototypes for fit, form and user testing.

Injection Moulding Preparation

Tool-ready CAD, materials and finish specification.

CMF & Surface Finish

Colour, material, texture, painting, pad printing and laser marking.

Packaging Design

Packaging concepts that carry the product design through to delivery.

From Sketch to Production-Ready Enclosure

Define the physical constraints

We start with the electronics, user, environment, target manufacturing method, and cost constraints. Board size, batteries, antennas, connectors, and sealing requirements all influence what the product can become.

Explore the product form

Sketches and early models test shape, proportions, interaction, ergonomics, and how the product should look and feel.

Build and test the CAD

We develop the enclosure around the real components, then prototype it to check fit, assembly, access, comfort, and physical interaction before committing to tooling.

Design for manufacture

We review wall thickness, draft angles, snap fits, parting lines, material choice, and surface finish with manufacturing in mind.

Tool, inspect and iterate

Through our manufacturing network in Shenzhen, we can coordinate tooling, review first-shot parts, and work through modifications before the design moves into production.

Good Design Still Has to Survive DFM

Nyckle Sijtsma, partner and iF Design Award-winning industrial designer, leads our industrial design.

The aim is not to make an engineering product look prettier at the end. Form, usability, and finish have to work alongside sealing, PCB fit, assembly, tooling, and the realities of production.

One Team, From Concept to Production

Industrial design, PCB design, firmware development, and manufacturing management all sit within the same Insyght team. No files lost between vendors. No specification gaps. No finger-pointing when the enclosure does not fit the board.

Designed Around Real Constraints

JOGO: a sensor the player shouldn't feel

The sensor had to live underneath a football player's foot without feeling like electronics. We iterated the insole shape, thickness, material hardness, and electronics cavity together until the device behaved like an insole rather than a gadget hidden inside one.

Read the JOGO story

MedeMeter: industrial design around a solar outdoor sensor

MedeMeter had to bring solar power, environmental sensors, LTE-M, and outdoor installation into one physical product. Industrial design developed alongside the electronics and field constraints, not after them.

Read the MedeMeter case study

Frequently asked questions

When should industrial design start in a hardware project?

Ideally before the PCB layout is locked. Board dimensions, connector locations, antennas, buttons, displays, batteries, and sealing all affect the enclosure, so developing the two together avoids compromises later.

Do you handle prototyping as well as the final CAD?

Yes. We use SLA, FDM, and SLS prototypes to evaluate fit, form, and interaction before moving toward production tooling.

Can you design an enclosure for an IP rating?

We can design sealing and enclosure architecture around the target environmental requirements, including products targeting IP54 through IP68. The final protection rating still needs to be confirmed through the appropriate testing.

Do you manage injection moulding and tooling?

Yes, where included in the project scope. We can prepare the design for injection moulding and coordinate tooling and first-shot reviews through our manufacturing network in Shenzhen.

Building a smart padel racket with sensors, an app, and AI feedback sounds straightforward… until you actually try to do it. Insyght took care of everything: the electronics, integrating it into the racket, the firmware, and the app. One team and full ownership. And honestly, just great people to work with.

Manuel Benavente RoldánDirector at PadelPlay

Read the case study

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