A detailed consideration of the design of the product. At this stage we bring together all the findings of the Vision and Research stages to produce a mental picture of how the final product will look and work. This will be supplemented where appropriate, with software simulations and visualisations. The output from this stage is a Concept Design Specification. This extends the Project Definition Document into a very detailed functional specification which is used as the basis for the practical development of the first prototype. It is at this stage that we lock down the functional parts of the design. Changes after this stage in the programme can be expensive.

Typical Deliverables:

Concept Design Document
Software Flowchart
Simulated user Interfaces
Electronics block diagram
1st sketch of enclosure and keypad
List of all key components and costs
Refinement of all the project plan based on finalisation of Concept Design
Definition of key performance parameters.

Time: 1-4 weeks