Bit Bead – the first product from filament pd labs

Making Products Not Just Coffee. An Internship With A Difference: Glasgow Product Design Agency Introduce Exciting Product Born Out Of Unique New Interniship Programme

Gone are the days of the traditional internship, thanks to Glasgow product development agency Filament PD, who today introduce Bit Bead – the first intern-designed product born out of their three month product accelerator programme for students- Filament PD Labs.

Filament PD Labs provides design students with real hands on product development experience providing “maker space” facilities and mentoring from initial sketch to Kickstarter campaign. “It’s Makerbot’s not Macchiato’s” said Craig Lynn, Filament PD’s Director “we really push the idea of an internship far beyond the humble coffee run. The Filament team is there to guide and enable the students but the ideas and drive has to come direct from them. Within the 3 months they gain experience by doing, by making, everything from design, engineering, branding, marketing and product commercials are covered. It’s like the ‘design a product’ Apprentice challenge but will less egos and more talent. At the end the students achieved far more than a line on a CV, they can say ‘I designed this, this is my product’ and Bit Bead is well and truly Ross’s”

Bit Bead – an innovative customizable iPhone case for fuse beads – is the brain child of 22 year old Product Design Engineering Student, Ross McBride, who embarked on a summer internship with Filament PD in 2013. He realized that he wasn’t in for a typical student internship at his interview when, instead of a CV, the company’s directors asked him to present ten new product ideas.

Filament directors Craig Lynn, Daniel Kane and Gregor Aikman offered Ross an unmissable opportunity – to become the Beta tester on their Filament PD Lab programme. The programme allows design students to work alongside professionals to make their product ideas a reality over a three month placement.

The first product to emerge from the programme is Bit Bead – a customizable iPhone case where the user can create “8-bit designs” out of craft beads, sold by likes of Hama, Perler and Ikea. Designs are created in three easy steps:

• Design it – Take the Bit bead frame, custom peg board and a handful of beads and let your imagination go wild.

• Fuse it – Borrow an iron and fuse the beads to the specially designed frame

• Show it – Insert the frame into the iPhone case, you can interchange them on a daily basis and have a design for every day of the week.

Ross identified the opportunity to combine the creative output of the beads with the huge demand for personalized and unique iPhone cases. The 8-bit aesthetic the beads create is reminiscent to the graphics in Minecraft and early video games like Super Mario.

Ross and the Filament PD team are now looking to launch the product into production through a Kickatarter campaign which aims to raise the £18,000 needed to cover tooling and production costs and to allow the first batch of products to be shipped to customers. The Bit Bead starter kit is on pre-order for £25.00 and if the campaign can secure over 600 pre-orders within 35days then the product will be manufactured and units supplied later this year in September.

If the campaign successfully reaches its goal the Filament PD Labs programme will be rolled out to a wider intake of students this summer in Filament’s new 1,700 square foot workshop. The Labs programme will not only provide the students with mentoring and guidance but with access to modern prototyping equipment like 3D printers.

Craig Lynn Director of Filament PD and Product Design Engineering tutor at Glasgow School of Art said:

“At Filament PD we put a great focus on nurturing new design talent. Ross has been the perfect person to test our new programme – Filament Labs – and has used the process to come up with a fantastic product – Bit Bead.

The Labs model is low risk, we have everything a student would need to turn their idea into a prototype in-house, we then look to use crowdfunding as a tool to acid test the market. With Bit Bead we’re turning to crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, if we get enough pre-orders to cover tooling and production then Ross could have his first product on the market this September, one year before he graduates! This is exactly the kind of outcome we are aiming for with Filament PD Labs – my role as a tutor at the Glasgow School of Art has shown me the vast design talent that exists in today’s students, I created Filament PD Labs to give them an output for this talent.”

“If this year’s beta test with Ross is anything to go on, the Filament PD Lab programme looks set to lay the pathway for next generation of product designers.”

Ross McBride, Filament Labs Beta Tester and Design Engineering Student at the University of Strathclyde said:

“The Filament PD Lab process has been invaluable to me. It’s been incredible to see Bit Bead taken from an initial sketch to a working prototype within such a short space of time. I feel as if my internship has been so worthwhile – I’ve had expert guidance from start to finish and have personally been through the full design process from beginning to the stage we’re at now. We just need to raise enough funds through our Kickstarter campaign to make the product a reality.

“People nowadays love to have their own design on their iphone case, showcasing their creativity. The issue with current cases is that the design is fixed- sure they can get an Instagrammed photo printed on a case for £35 but people soon get bored of these. Bit Bead lets you create any design you want, you can swap a different design in for every day of the week, on Monday you’ve got a moustache and by Friday you’re your favorite superhero. The product really fits in with the current resurgence in the 8 bit art culture on the internet and the likes of Minecraft, so I cant wait to get it out there to see what people think.”