Services

The client most often realizes the need for a new product or improvement before contacting the designer. Although this idea can be rough or refined, it benefits from exposure and development by creative professionals. Inspiration or necessity, either can be the genesis of a new product. We bring new ideas to new and old problems and tasks. Our cross disciplinary background brings a wide swath of creative and specific input to our customers.

Every product or service intended for the real world has to be discussed and analyzed at the earliest stages. Will it survive in the vast marketplace? Is there a need? is it the right time and place? How can it be made to better fit the task and the anticipated tasks? These core questions should be at the foundation of all successful developments.  Developing with the fundamentals in place, a strong and supported vision, allows a product to arrive and have the best chance at success and profitability.  We bring a critical eye to a concept or a rework, we aim for success in the crowded marketplace and bring all the resources from the inception. In reality, this step is most often done before bringing the design brief to the design agency, it is beneficial to have enough room in the discussion for an honest evaluation down to the most basic level.

The basis for any solution is knowing what exists in a given category. No product exists in isolation, we research the product ecosystem around your product and build a technological, social and functional map for the development, that will fit in seamlessly or carve new territory into the market landscape.  By keeping in touch with the latest trends, attending trade shows around the world in multiple fields, sport, industry, manufacturing and materials, we maintain the context of object production.

The NXAKT catalog and experience spans several industrial cycles, enabling comparison between current and past trends.

Solutions are cross products of inputs and requirements.  Inputs can come from other fields, historical references, new technological possibilities, social trends, cultural traditions and breakthroughs. The balance of the new and the conventional is a gray science, it is inexact, it is evolving and it is experience.  NXAKT has created leading edge products for a variety of fields.

We like our work to be both flexible and grounded. Hybrid sketching involves hand working over a technical basis. The technical basis can be a rough CAD model with the correct mechanics or proportions, or a series of photographs of existing or similar basis. Hybrid sketching can take place throughout the 3D development process, both physical and CAD surface and shape development. This allows the strengths of both processes, the organic flexibility of the hand, and the precision of the computer to co-contribute without one overshadowing the other.

For some products, styling is one of the most important aspects. To acheive and judge the look and feel of a product, a physical form must be developed. Clay modeling remains the most direct and intuitive way to reach a final emotive form. Established as the gold standard in automotive styling, the best forms in consumer products are iterated in the physical form before committing the design to CAD representation for manufacturing. We build 1:1 and scale models that can be physically related to be everyone in the decision making process.

The advantages of clay modeling a physical form and then digitally building the industrial file are many.

Full surface models are generated for model creation, tooling generation or rendering to simulate materials and final cosmetic appearance. The quality of the surfacing is called Class A for its attention to transitions and overall surface integrity. Various simulated reflection tools and NURB modeling approaches are used to assure a beautiful and smooth surface.

NXAKT takes it’s surfaces very seriously. We have been working with CAD tools since the first version became available. Many designers fall into the trap of believing that the computer is the solution to every problem. Our experience has shown us that each set of tools and technologies have their strengths. Beautiful products require a deep knowledge of how to create and replicate real world surfaces in a CAD program. We have gained and honed that skill and it is reflected in the work.

Our experience has shown that there is no substitute for real world testing. One of the tools in the technical toolbox is structural analysis. We use a new generation program called Scan and Solve. This method allows computer approximation of material and simulates the forces acting on them. Deformations and stresses can be illustrated. This gives additional background to the specification of materials and dimensions. In combination with prototypes and material testing, product specification can be arrived at efficiently and accurately.

Design decisions require experimental data and substantial experience; they should never be made based solely on a software simulation. Simulation is not intended to replace physical testing of prototypes, which is required to validate any design.

You want to see it shiny. Naturally we can take the 3D geometry and make pretty pictures to check the surfaces and the potential shelf appeal of your finished product. We love renderings at the right stage of the project, communicating the surface appeal of a defined project. After the real world resolution of a shape, looking at a turntable model of the final geometry is a great way to explore various finishes and surface treatments.

We have experience with a wide range of metals, composites and plastics, injection and compression molding. We can recommend the right characteristics of thermoplastics for most applications and design the products to take full advantage of the material properties.

We are able to predict the relative strength of the final product through computer analysis of the structure (FEA) and through machining or sintering models during the development process.

When a product has been concepted, designed, and optimized for marketing and all the rest, it needs to be made. Communication with the manufacturer becomes the biggest key. NXAKT’s knowledge of industrial processes keeps these discussions on track. Close work with factories in the US, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and China has built a wealth of knowledge in getting products through the process of industrial and production realization. Tooling is often the biggest single cost in any new project next to marketing. Tooling is should last the lifetime of a products cycle, yet costs should allow the recoup of investment in as short a period as possible. Nxakt has experience in compression, injection molding, blow molding, casting and foam tooling.

Nxakt has a hands on approach to manufacturing. For existing technologies we support factories at what they do best and make sure the project is in their comfort zone. For new technologies and breakout products we often tailor existing technologies or build new manufacturing technologies to meet the project.