What's the best way to start a project with you?

Start with our enquiry form. It's a short set of eight questions, but it tells us a lot: where your project actually stands, what you need from us, and how our services might fit around that. If you'd rather not share details before anything is agreed, an NDA is available on request. From there, we'll usually follow up with a video call, partly to answer any questions you have, but also to walk you through how we work, so there are no surprises once a project actually begins.

Do you offer both project-based and ongoing work?

Yes. Most of our work is structured stage by stage, which means clients can set their own pace and see a tangible output at the end of every stage, rather than waiting months for a single big reveal. Some clients, once that relationship is established, choose to keep us on through a rolling retainer instead of starting a new project each time. That gives them ongoing access to our services without having to re-scope a new brief every time something new comes up.

How long does a typical project take?

There's no single answer, it depends heavily on where your idea is starting from and how complex the product is. As a rough guide, a well-considered concept can be ready for production in around 12 weeks, assuming there are no setbacks along the way. Projects starting from an earlier stage, or those with more technical complexity, naturally take longer, and we'll give you a realistic timeline once we understand your specific project.

What kind of clients do you usually work with?

We work with a real mix of clients, from small businesses and start-ups bringing a first product to life, to established companies developing new ranges or improving existing ones. What our clients tend to have in common is a physical product that needs to go from initial idea to something that can actually be made, whether that's involving injection moulding, electronics, or meeting specific regulatory standards. If you're not sure whether your project fits, get in touch and we'll tell you honestly.

Can you work with our in-house team or other collaborators?

Absolutely. We're very used to working collaboratively with in-house teams and working with third party experts, including engineers, electronics developers, manufacturers, IP attorneys, and marketing teams. We see part of our job as being the bridge between different experts, so if you've already got people involved, we'll fit around them rather than duplicate what's already there. We always seek to add value where you need it most.

About D2M Product Design | Cheltenham Product Design Studio

Curious by habit, hands-on by choice, and straightforward about the rest.

01

Curiosity

Staying fresh matters to us, so we make a habit of looking out for new ideas, not just when a brief demands it. Working across such a wide range of sectors keeps that habit sharp, there's always a different problem, a different material, a different way of thinking close at hand. That breadth is part of what keeps the work interesting, and part of what keeps us useful.

02

Hands-on

We're doers. We'd rather get our hands dirty testing an idea crudely than make assumptions that may fail later. Our in-house workshop and 3D-print room, gives us the breadth of tools to make the right kind of mess, whatever it takes to test an idea properly, get the answers we need and find the right direction forward. Ascertaining the feasibility of a concept provides reassurance to everyone.

03

Directness

Every project carries a budget and its own risks, and we've found directness is the most efficient way to protect both. We say what we think, even when it's not what a client wants to hear, because our experience is only useful if it's shared plainly. We're here for the project's success, and that's what honest, straightforward communication is built to serve.

04

Know-how

Fifteen years across a wide range of sectors has given us less a formula and more real know-how, knowing which details matter and which don't. We're confident in that experience, but we hold it with enough humility to know that even familiar territory can throw up something we didn't expect. That's what know-how actually buys you: not certainty, but the ability to navigate what you didn't see coming.

05

Commercial Reality

Nearly every product we develop is shaped by money somewhere, a funding round, an investor deadline, a budget that shifts the brief halfway through. We don't design as if that pressure isn't there. Understanding it properly makes us better at the decisions that sit on top of it.

06

Balance

Cheltenham and the Cotswolds have shaped the pace we like to work at: without rush, without noise. That pace isn't a compromise, it's deliberate, and it's part of why the work holds up under pressure. A studio that never slows down rarely notices the details that matter.

Smiling woman with glasses and shoulder-length hair standing by a window with greenery outside.

»Great products start with trusted relationships. We work collaboratively alongside our clients, not just for them.«

Hannah Staunton, MD

Some of the clients we've worked with

Smiling man with short dark hair and beard wearing a white button-up shirt by a bright window.

»A good design requires a profound understanding of its true purpose and meticulous planning for where it will live in our daily lives, before it can transition into reality.«

Hamit, Head of Design

The range of industries we design across, showing the breadth of experience behind every project we take on.

7 Sectors

We design across

A snapshot of the outcomes our work has helped create, measured in the results that matter most to our clients.

$96 M

Revenue created

From project scopes to retainers, we’ve answered some of the most common questions we get from new clients.