Working with beta testers… creating board games isn’t easy! A crucial and oftentimes overlooked stage for creating a commercial board game is the beta and alpha testing.
I was commissioned to create a board game prototype to teach children about youth homelessness. My primary role was – mostly – visual design and gameplay, and illustration. And… consulting and guidance on creating a game.
When working with Beta testers, I tried to create an environment that was open and invited constructive feedback.
While I took notes, I allowed the Beta testers to play how it suited them to play. Down to opening up the initial black packaging box to reading the rules, in whichever order they chose.
Setting up the Playtests for a board game prototype
This was my first playtest in quite a while. In the past, I have been involved in both helping to set up alpha testing and the follow-up stages of a Beta test. Beta testing on behalf of a 3rd party client was a new experience for me. And there was a lot involved.
Before preparing 2 different environments for beta testing. I had to get the testers to sign NDAs on behalf of the client.
It should also be noted that a large amount of effort was involved to find both beta testers, and finding a space to carry out the beta testing. Money also needed to be paid to the venue for lunch.
Alpha Testing vs Beta Testing
There are some key differences in the alpha and beta testing stages. With alpha testing, this is often a case of a game or game prototype being experimented with and developed internally. In my case, I was the first tester of the rules. I created the rough rules to see how the game mechanics may work and wrote these down as I went along. This is typically the very early stages of creating a working board or card game. The more alpha testing you can do before going to external beta testing, the better.
This is a photo of some of the first game components and alpha
Beta testing the game involved finding other parties to look at and play the game. These people had never read the rules or knew what the game was or anything. Once I sourced the beta testers, found spaces to play the game – this then set about into motion the gameplay.
The beta stage is the more developed stage of creating the game prototype.
Creating the gameplay | My experience of working with beta testers
I was involved in creating the initial gameplay as well as working on all the visual design for game. This was part and parcel of the commission of the game project – from top to bottom. Finding board game testers can be tricky ( external website on finding beta testers ) , but I feel that these beta testers offered tremendous value to creating the board game prototype.
Here are some initial screen grabs from the playtest. An important stage when creating a board game prototype.
The first draft low-fidelity prototype
The later stages of the playtest | working with ‘other’ beta testers
I would advise when doing a playtest of your game, to try the game on people you don’t know. ( although I do know Paul here – thanks Paul, Paul is also a drummer I’ll have you know! ) The wider the pool of people… the better. Below are some visuals of the playtesters in action doing their thing!
And me… taking notes on how the game is being played.
Doing these live tests is not always easy on the ears. But they can be essential for making a better and more rounded board game.
A special thank you to the playtesters for this game
This lot should be proud – although the Conwy Council may not know the names of the playtesters I would like to announce who helped make the prototype a more rounded and playable experience.
( me, I was the first tester ) Faye Willets + Family, Helen Edmonds, Jake Joung, Paul Whibley, Steve – and a Special thank you to Liz Chadwick for introducing me to some fellow playtesters!
If you would like any advice or a design service to design your board game you can read more here – freelance board game designer
Are you a playtester?
If you are a playtester for board or card games? Feel free to drop a message across with a bit about you, what you do, where you are based, age, your demographic, and the types of games you like to play. ( please note that many of my playtesters are currently based in the South East – UK )
Are you looking for playtesters?
Playtesters or beta testers can be tricky to find if you are just starting out. This article here on Dragon Bone games About finding playtesters may be helpful – ( Alpha ). Or if in the later stages of development – where to find Beta Testers. ( external website )
Notes – On Prototype
It was a fun project to work on. I would like to say I have no idea what the mass production or future edition of the game will look like but either way – I was happy to be part of the pre-first edition of the gameplay.
Are you looking to create a board game? I was involved in the visual look and feel of the game along with the vector character illustration. Feel free to get in touch if you want to discuss your game project!
Wimbledon Brewery UI – This project was carried out through a local agency based in Wimbledon. After some initial meetings and discussions with the agency Director, I was commissioned to come up with an early proof of concept for a new website idea for Wimbledon Brewery. It was to pitch a new idea.
I was commissioned for only the ideas and visualisation stages of the project. My part was to come up with a new UI ( user interface ).
In this post, I wanted to share both my involvement, and some of the processes to create for this project.
Gathering Research | Working With The Brief
At first, I went over the brief with my client and discussed the limitations or any important criteria that would affect the project.
After collecting together all of the information for the project, I then set about gathering some additional research and ideas. This could range anything from looking at recommended drinks companies, looking at competitor websites to seeing what we could learn. And browsing Pinterest to name a few.
What was important – was that the brand image of the company was sustained. The UI design needs to stand on its own two feet with the brand being seamlessly integrated.
Roughing Out Ideas
Once some of the initial research was collected together, I then set about putting together the low-fidelity visuals and ideas to share and discuss.
Initial Design & UI Kit Pieces
Bit by bit, I started to put together some initial designs for the various components on the page. For example boilerplates, brand accents, information cards, and the main navigation amongst other important pieces of content.
The design process and the idea generation were created modularly. Key components were examined in close detail before committing them to a polished design and compiled into pages in their entirety.
Proof Of Concept | ( POC )
After the various stages of discussion and mutual brainstorming with the client. I then started to put together some complete and polished visuals for the early proof of concept for a new website.
*This was put together for illustration purposes only
How to edit text on your card artwork in Adobe Indesign! This short tutorial shows you how to make some quick and easy edits to the text in your card artwork in Indesign. This post also covers some general text frame editing.
Editing your playing cards should not be difficult if you know how, and have the right tools.
It should be noted that this article focuses purely on the card editing stages, and not the whole card creation process.
This is a general help article to edit text on your card artwork in Adobe Indesign. You don’t need to be an Indesign guru or know your way around data merge to follow this.
This tutorial is ideal for those that just want to jump and edit the text quickly and hit save. It’s short and sweet, quick and dirty – no fuss. Or however else you want to describe quick text edits for game cards. The same applies to editing text too.
Common Question | Ways of editing the card text in Adobe Indesign
It is quite common for me to hear “how do I edit text on the cards” after I have created the initial prototype for a client.
With the card artwork, it is often in my client’s interest to know how to edit the text themselves or assign somebody else to edit the text. This is especially true in the late stages of production or mass production for various reasons.
One being, I’m not a copywriter profession!
How to edit text in Indesign on your card artwork – put simply
In order to edit the text easily, open the document in Indesign ( if you’ve not done so already). Select the card face you want to edit, ( use the pages panel ) and change the text. You will then need to save your work or export it if you are intending on sending the work to print.
That is the simplified and short answer to editing the game card text in Indesign.
I cannot edit text in Indesign!
If you are finding that you cannot edit text in Indesign or you cannot edit the text on the cards. A few of the reasons could be either the text frame is locked, the layer is locked, or you need to override the master page template.
You can read more on editing your text frames in Indesign at the bottom of this post.
6 Steps to editing text in your card artwork In Adobe Indesign
1 ) Open up Indesign
Assuming that you already have Adobe Indesign installed, in order to edit the text you will need to have Adobe Indesign open.
If you don’t already have Adobe Indesign, you can download it. ( make sure to download from Adobe – DO NOT BUY OR DOWNLOAD from an unknown source )
Make sure that you have permission to install the software and that your computer has the technical requirements to run Adobe Indesign.
*Friendly Disclaimer | Adobe Indesign is not run or owned by myself. Indesign is part of the Adobe Creative Suite. I cannot take any responsibility for any loss or damage incurred should you download any 3rd party software or Adobe Indesign.Please take precautions!
Please check all the requirements from their official website before downloading. ( Adobe Creative Suite ) And make sure that you download the software from a safe source. Do not use any unauthorized 3rd party platforms when downloading InDesign. ( also based on past experience )
2 ) Open up the card artwork
You can either ‘Open’ the artwork from the ‘File’ drop-down menu in Indesign ( File, Open – Select artwork ) or you can open the artwork by ‘dragging and dropping’ the artwork onto the application icon from your desktop.
Or if you have your recent items window on view when you start up Indesign, open your document this way.
Tip – Don’t overwrite your original card artwork!
As a tip, I would strongly advise that you create 2 versions of your artwork and leave the original intact. If you edit the text, change something and save over the original artwork ( ruin it by accident ) you won’t have a way of back-stepping from this mistake.
Create another version! And avoid editing the original version. A piece of advice from past experience.
3 ) Navigating the card artwork for your game
Theoretically, you now have your card document open in Adobe Indesign. It will look something like this.
If you have used a template or a file such as the one shown in this article, then you should be able to scroll up and down through the cards. As you scroll up and down, you should see the back and front of your cards.
Or, as an alternative way of finding the card you need, go to window > pages. If this tool panel is not already open.
You can either scroll up and down to go through the cards, which is okay for smaller decks, but not as efficient if you have a larger deck. Or if you have your ‘pages’ window open, you can double-click on these to jump to the card you want to edit. This is a faster and more effective method of navigating through your cards.
( Handy tip! Did you know you can see which page you are on at in the bottom of InDesign interface when you are editing the card you want to edit? The illustration above has a close-up of ’19’ to show this. )
5 ) Find the text box ( interacting with an Indesign text frame )
Assuming that you have now selected the card you wish to edit. Go to the text box ( as shown below ) click on it, and edit your text!
Tools you should only need!
If something has gone awry, here are some simple steps to follow.
) Make sure that you have the ‘selection tool’ active.
) Go to the box or area you wish to edit.
) Double-click the text box.
) Find the word or sentence you wish to edit.
If you are having trouble being able to edit the text or some of the text, this bit of troubleshooting may help. Cannot edit text in indesign – help!
6 ) After you have edited the text
Now that you know how to edit one text box and all has gone smoothly, you can edit any basic text box in these card files.
Once you are happy with your work and your edits just make sure to save your work. You can save your work by going to file ‘Save’ or ‘Save As’. Or by pressing CTRL+S ( Apple + S ).
7 Bonus Step ) Exporting your file for print
It should be noted that this process is a bit more nuanced and may require more experience and skill in saving your work correctly. It can be easy for somebody inexperienced ( or with experience! ) to run into difficulties when setting files up for print.
Remember, when doing this that you are shouldering the responsibility for all the print production for your cards. If you would like somebody to share the burden feel free to get in touch or read more here. Card game design.
‘Export’ your file as a PDF’
Remember to Select all pages if you wish to save/export all pages for print.
Double-check that the images are above 300 DPI when exporting ( otherwise you will get a low-res file )
Check that it is in CMYK
Hit ‘Export’ and select a location
This is a simplified version of how to edit text on your card artwork in Adobe Indesign. The added end step also instructs how to save your work and export it for print.
Troubleshooting Game Card Editing in Indesign – cannot edit text in indesign!
When looking at how to edit text on your card artwork in Adobe Indesign, sometimes it is not as straightforward. There can be issues such as locked layers, master pages being selected, or even limitations with hardware.
Here are some troubleshooting steps for editing the text on your cards.
Why can’t I select the text box? I can’t edit my text frame!
This could be down to a couple of reasons as to why you can’t edit the text box in your file. Here are some of the potentially straightforward and obscure reasons as to why you may not be able to edit your text :-
You don’t have enough ram/processing power on your computer
If your computer is struggling to run Indesign properly, an odd quirk that can show up is an inability to edit or select text boxes.
Possible solutions:
1 ) Turn off other programs such as Outlook, Your Web Browser, and other non-essential applications to see if this loosens up some grunt for Indesign. Remember to only close nonessential programs
2 ) Change the view to low-res draft mode. This can also make InDesign less taxing on your computer.
3 ) If you have tried all of the above. With a minimal amount of applications still running to allow more resources to go to indesign, close Indesign and re-open it to see if this does the trick.
The object is accidentally locked
There could be a couple of reasons as to why you can’t edit the text in your Indesign document. And, fortunately, the fix for this can be as simple as unlocking your text frame to get it working again.
Here are a couple of ways to check if you have a locked object. Unlocking text frame solutions in Indesign:
– The Object has been manually locked! This is a simple case of unlocking the object. To make sure the object isn’t locked go to > top menu > and check the drop-down for the Object – Unlock all on spread. Here is an image showing the menu option.
( Here is some more accurate information from Adobe on where to find this exactly – unlocking objects )
– Your text frame is on a locked layer. Alternatively, your text frame could be on a ‘Locked Layer’. On your ‘layers tab’ in the interface window, check to make sure the editable text layer ‘is not locked’. ( With a padlock on )
You want it ‘unlocked’ – you may also need to open the ‘layers’ window open.
– You are editing the wrong layer. If you cannot edit your text, it can be as easy as having the wrong layer selected. And, having the layer you want edit locked. Make sure you have your correct layer selected and that you are unlocking the correct layer!
You are trying to edit a master template
Another potential reason that you may not be able to edit the text is that you are trying edit from A, or the Master Page. A way to check is to:-
Select the card ( page )
Right click
And “Override Master Page Properties”
*Just remember not to override and edit the Actual Master template. This may otherwise change the text or design on ‘all of the cards’ or pages. ( remember what I said about keeping a backup? Always, keep a back up file!)
Thank you for reading and editing the text on your card artwork in Adobe Indesign
That is a share of my experience on how to both easily edit the text on any card artwork or card artwork template for your board game. And, how to edit the text in Indesign – when you cannot edit text in Indesign.
Hopefully, this post has saved some time, money, and headache. Feel free to share this post if you feel it is helpful.
If you would like help in designing a card game or creating some illustrations for your game please get in touch.
Final bit of advice on how to edit text on your card artwork in Adobe Indesign
My final bit of advice on editing your text on your card artwork would be to hire a professional if you are doing this as a DIY thing for your business. Or at least find somebody that knows their way around Adobe Indesign, how to save it etc.
Although I appreciate that budgets can’t always make this a viable option it is still potentially the better option.
Getting somebody that is experienced can save headaches later on.
This post has been put together to offer guidance on how much it will cost to mockup/prototype / “graphic design” a board or card game.
Answering “how much does it cost to design a board game” is a very broad question that I will endeavour to break down and answer in smaller bite-sized steps.
There are many factors that can influence the ‘design’ ( graphic design look and feel ) stage of the game.
It should be noted that the combined cost of prototyping and designing a game is not a small undertaking.
“It depends on what is required to bring your board game to life! That will be what determines the budget.”
How much will it cost to have your board game ‘designed’? ( Graphic design )
It is difficult to answer without knowing the scope and size of a project.
For the services that I can offer, and it should be noted prices and tariffs are worked out on a case-by-case basis. This is a rough example of pricing.
– Projects scales can range between £5200 – £1200 spread out over the course of 4 or 5 months. This is a rough number and total budgets can influence the size and how a project is broken down.
If when you refer to ‘how much does it cost to design a board game?’ you are also referring to making and manufacture, this can push the budget well into to around the £10,000 mark. If not more.
It should be noted that I don’t manufacture games. But I do work with prototype makers.
Typically speaking if you are looking for a graphic designer to work on a large board game from scratch – depending on the designer skills, knowledge, and services you may be looking around the £5000+.
But this all depends on what is to be done. Written below are circumstances that will influence the cost of designing a board game.
Boardgame design prices
It should also be noted that these numbers are not formal quotations. They are a rough price guide on what to expect when undertaking to design a board game prototype.
The pricing mentioned above that a game ‘may’ cost £5200 to design is a simplification of what it is that affects the cost and ultimately the outcome of creating a board game prototype.
Factors that will influence the cost of the game:-
Has the look and the feel for the game already been established?
Is this a design from scratch?
Have you already created a very rough paper mock-up?
Has the content already been written?
Are there many different cards and desks?
Is there a rule book? Or is it just a sheet?
Does your board game come with a board and box or is a small card box?
Do you have a logo?
Are there characters in the board game?
Does the game require some interesting typography?
Will the game require illustrations or cover artwork?
Using some of the questions above may now give you an idea of how games can become costly to design by professional designers & artists.
Some cover illustrators alone can charge £1000’s for their services and that’s before using the graphic designer to put all the artwork together and create the visual look and feel of cards and boxes.
Developing the look and feel for your game
One of the main areas that I personally cover is the early design and concept design for the game’s look and feel. The concept and Creative Direction to be precise. This important and early stage if you have aspirations of making a retail-ready game.
This stage can require less attention if you making a game for private use. This design and development stage can occupy 70% of the project. And when you spread this across numerous components, cards, pages of a rule book it quickly becomes evident where the budget can be spent.
Vector character design for your game
A board game design project can encompass multiple disciplines into one. And character design and vector illustration are just one of those disciplines. Character design alone is a field in itself, that requires planning, research, and drawing to make the best characters possible for your board game.
My services cover both the early sketch and concept art to fully copyrighted and licensed game-ready character artwork!
Creating the visual look and feel for a card game vs creating a top and bottom box board game can have a large influence on design cost. More often than not, designing 2 or 3 decks of cards can be a smaller budget project than say designing a full board game with cards, rule books, leaflets, tokens, etc.
*It should be noted, if you have 1000’s or cards with 10 different faces, that may expand the “board game budget”. That’s a lot of cards!
Rulesheet vs Rulebook | How this can quietly affect the board game budget
I have come to find that a ‘rulesheet’ for a board game can often evolve into becoming a booklet.
And, designing a single A5 page compared to designing a small booklet for a board game requires more time, more focus, more work, and… typically – more editing and tweaking.
Why does this stage often expand to what was initially discussed?
When in the very early stages of the game project, a client may have written a rough set of rules to play from. This set of rules are often a basic first draft and is often ‘just enough to work with.
As they playtest their game, read and re-read their draft and have it proofread professionally, they find more space and time is required for the rules.
The rules are improved basically. ( Written rules often require the most editing throughout a project. )
It then becomes necessary to fit all of the text into a booklet, as a single a5 sheet of paper isn’t enough anymore to fit all of the text on.
In other words, the rules expand into something else because it has been given more time and attention.
Last minute changes – this can affect the cost to design your board game
The more content – specifically information and components is laid out from the outset, the easier it is to gauge a budget time for a project. If all of the information stays the same throughout the whole project, the more likely the budget will stay closer to the original estimate.
But, I will let you in on a little secret, information, components, and game plans rarely stay the same. More so for larger projects.
As a board project evolves and improvements move from the original seed of an idea. The more budget and resource and time is given to a project. Some board game projects aren’t small!
Example of a past project
How much do designers and artists charge for a board game?
Each artist, and designer is different. And ‘ design a board game’ eg create all the visuals for a game is a very broad area. It really does depend on some factors such as how many images or pieces of artwork there is to create.
As a very rough idea on how much do designers or artists charge to create the visuals for a board game. These can be influencing factors.
Who will retain the copyright
Experience, knowledge and skill of designer or artist
How big – in terms of time, the project is
And generally how much content is there to create
Their geography
The designers or artist studio overheads ( expenses )
Written example typical project sizes ( budgets )
More often than not, when I see a board game assignment come through, they are of a larger scale. And larger scale projects require larger budgets for time.
This is not to say that I won’t work on a smaller game. It is often the case that I am involved in the game as a whole, but I am happy to work in varying capacities on a project.
Working on a board game with clients from concept to prototype is an exciting prospect that I love to dive into. I have more information on my Creative Direction and board game services than I have mentioned previously.
*It should be noted, that if you are a start-up thinking of embarking on creating a full board game with lots of components and cards – It is not a small project undertake. Especially if this is a game you have aspirations to take to the retail market.
Below is a rough table of how a project and budget ‘might’ work but each project is treated case by case scenario. If you would like to get a more accurate estimate, please get in touch.
**I am not a manufacturer, I am not able to itemise a lot of the design and journey into a checklist. Creating a retail-worthy game is rarely that straightforward – sorry!
How much does it cost to ‘design’ a board game? Potential cases
My personal commercial experience and skills are covered in the paragraphs written below. It essentially outlines some of my own skills when working on a board game project for a client to create a board game prototype or a core look and feel for the early game.
Initial Concept
Creating the core concept look and feel for a board game or card game. This is one of my main areas of focus. This covers the early ideas and the Creative Direction. Once some of the initial concepts have been established, this will move the project to the next step!
Adding a touch of character design to your board game
Using a trusty pencil and paper and Adobe Illustrator I can draw characters for your game. This is another service that is covered ‘under board game’ design. You can read more on vector illustration services to see how I may be able to help.
For example cards, rules, tokens, 2D miniatures. These can be a subject in themselves that require a lot of time and attention. Or if there is not too much inside the game box, not much at all!
Here are some examples of casess / scenerios that may give you more of the idea of project size and scope that will influence the cost and outcome.
Example of budgets and scope. This is not an itemised list but it will hopefully I’ve an idea of some past cases for budgets for a board game and projects.
Budget case table for design project (1) ( Small card game )
As an example. A card game as such with the items listed above would be a smaller budget than say a board game with a large box.
Case 1
Project Brief
Budget / Size
Other Information
Design a few characters
4 or 6 characters
Potentially smaller budget
Covers earlier sketches and vectors
Put together box artwork +
Look and feel already put together by another
Medium budget to create a retail ready ‘prototype’ box
Some content already supplied, design a nice box for the game
Important also if you want a uniformly designed and styled game
Create an illustration
Create vector cover art
Depending on illustration complexity* – medium to large part of budget
An eye catching illustration for the box cover or cover design
Create a single leaflet for the rules
1 a5 page of text
Often smaller end f budget and time required
Might be a simple plain page with some text
A written example of potential project format
The table above should give you an idea of how some of the time may be allocated on a smaller card game project. But this can be varied. It all depends on the complexity of the game and what is really involved in bring all these individuals elements together!
Below is another case table for board game budgets. Both of these tables are hypothetical but are based on past experience.
Budget case table for design project (2) ( Medium-sized board game )
Something of the scale would be more expensive to create.
Case 2
Project Brief
Budget / Size
Other Information
Design 10 characters
10 + characters plus lots of ideas
Potentially larger budget
Covers earlier sketches and vectors
Put together box artwork +
Establish a look and feel for the box – from scratch
Medium budget to create a retail ready ‘prototype’ box
A board game vs a card game will be more expensive
Create the look and feel for the game
Create the whole look and feel for the game
Largest part of project but an important step in part of the design journey
Important also if you want a uniformly designed and styled game
Create 3 or 4 illustrations
Create multiple vector illustrations
Depending on illustration complexity* 3 or 4 = much larger time allocation
Creating illustrations can take a while to complete
Create an 8 page booklet
1x 8 page booklet
More content is needed for 8 faces for a rule book.
Nice cover graphic, diagrams, more text / editing / tweaking
A written example of potential project format
Hopefully, this second case scenario gives you an example and difference between the two levels of budget and my involvement. Typically, the more I need to create – the larger the budget and along with polishing and editing all of the design and illustration content.
Case 1 is a smaller budget because it is a smaller project that requires less. Case 2 is a bigger project that requires more.
The creative the journey | the ‘real thing’ that is billed
* It should be noted, that the items in the board game are not strictly the reason for the budget being smaller or larger. But, that being said, the more elements there are to your game. Eg cards that need artwork, box covers, etc the more likely it is that the budget will be more expensive.
It’s a longer road!
I myself cannot, and do not charge for the items themselves. For my design services, I charge for the journey and the money is the fuel to get the project where it needs to be. The items, just help to offer markers and waypoints for the project.
It depends on what is required to bring your board game to life! That will be what determines the budget.
Read more about my design services – link takes you design services page.
How much does it cost to ‘design’ a board game?
The conclusive answer of how much does it cost to design a board game, is sadly – it depends. It depends on the size of the project and what is really involved in creating the board and how much there is to design,
Many board game design projects can sit around the £4000 – £5000 mark but each budget is unique to each game brief.
Keep in mind that if you need a designer and illustrator for a game that you will also need to factor in manufacturing and potentially marketing your game.
* This s not an official estimate, for an official estimate please get in touch. Rates can also change!
How much does it cost to make a board game for Kickstarter?
Considering all of the above to design to create a photo-ready prototype you may be looking at the following figure.
( Game design budget ) + Prototype Manufacture £100 – £300 + Plus shipping ad set up (£40 ) approximately.
This should give you a photo-ready prototype for a Kickstarter campaign.
Other helpful posts around How much does it cost to ‘design’ a board game?
How much does it cost to ‘design’ a board game for personal use?
If you are thinking of creating a board game for personal use, the more of the game you can create yourself, the lower the budget you will need to design the game. This method won’t strictly make it a retail-ready game by going down the do-it-yourself route, but you never know!
Some people want to create a board game just to figure it out and get into the industry and for that, I commend you. You may find this article helpful – how to draw on a computer starter steps.
To answer how much does it cost to design a board game for personal use, or for yourself. It depends on how far you wish to take it.
If you want to get pen and paper and create a white paper box. This can be perfect for a prototype and playtest model. Or you can try to learn some digital drawing skills.
How to make a STEM product to sell: I wanted to share this knowledge on how myself and my past colleagues went about designing and creating STEM products that were sold in retail stores across the UK and Europe and other countries across the world.
When considering how to make a STEM product to sell there are many factors to consider before you open up a CAD or design program.
You need to consider your audience, the budget, how to keep the cost down, and whether the product is actually good enough.
Those are the basic steps.
In order to make a STEM product to sell, you will also need to observe the competition, look at similar products, identify a demand, and the manufacture a product. You will also at this stage look at how to make a product as cost-effective as possible.
This post covers how to design cost-effective models, develop a product, and then prepare it for sale “make it retail-ready” if you are looking at ways to potentially monetise your idea for the future. Or “How to develop a product for under a £1”
The items shared in this post are actual products that were designed by myself whilst working at gadget and gifting company that sold 10,000s of units across the globe.
Most of this post is written from a design perspective but the all-important money stages have not been skimmed over.
Many of the products listed on this page are geared towards, science, tech, and learning all of which will help you when you to want to design your product.
How to make a STEM product to sell | preparation
In short, we created products that would both satisfy demand and be affordable in a retail environment.
In order to keep things affordable, having production costs low was never far from our minds.
We took into account the materials needed to be cheap and time was very precious, and we also wanted to avoid too much trail an error where possible.
The example here is called the “3D hologram”. After many hours trawling the internet, watching gadget videos and looking for cool products for smartphones we arrived at this.
A packaged 3D Hologram for your smartphone.
So the first stage is to check and research to see what the competition is doing and whether there is a demand for the product.
After this step, what can you can do differently and how could we carve a product out in a busy retail environment.
How did we know if it would sell?
In a few of words … we didn’t.
But we tried to do as much early research as possible to increase the possibilities that this product would stand a good chance, but there was no guarantee.
As mentioned before. Do your homework to test the waters. Try to make it more than a hunch!
If your product falls flat, even the How to develop a product for under a £1 motto won’t count for anything if there isn’t a want or demand.
When I was brainstorming with the team and sharing ideas on how to make a STEM product, we arrived at the conclusion that creating the 3D hologram would be a great item to go with.
It was educational, it was tech and the network of ready retailers was there.
We put hours and hours into the research stage.
Don’t rush the research stage and do not cut corners or “trim the fat”
These are some of the factors we used to grill the idea and see if it was a viable STEM / or learning product we could sell:-
STEM and learning products was a growing market
Many customers were asking for “learning” and build your own type of products
Researching various websites gave us statistics and the assurance that the product was likely to sell.
We didn’t want to leave to much to chance. But, even with all the research and careful consideration…
There is no guarantee that the product ‘would’ sell.
But doing so on all products if you are wanting to make money from your idea should be thoroughly researched.
Do your homework!
( for the record, this product did sell! Phew..! )
Grill your product idea | next step
Get an idea, love it a little bit, season it with joy, and a healthy dose of optimism. Then start taking it into reality.
Research to see if it is an existing product on the market, or whether there is a demand for your idea. If there isn’t a demand, eg there is nothing similar to your idea that doesn’t have an audience – don’t make it. (sorry you are not Steve jobs) end of the first mean hurdle.
See if people may want it. Scour the internet, see if there are communities, websites, shops, and products to see if there is a modern audience on the lookout for your offering.
Listen to what the retailers are saying and try to meet their demands as they will have good insight into what is a popular product. If you ignore them, the failure of your product increases.
Does it fit in with the rest of the products that you are trying to sell? If you are an established brand there will be certain expectations of you.
I call this a ‘grilling stage’ for a product or an idea.
This logical and critical approach to your idea is important, don’t scrimp on it.
Research your product!
These scrutinising stages of your product are arguably one of the most important and shouldn’t be passed over. That lack of critical thinking for your product may backfire later in their form of the general public writing bad reviews or nobody buying your product.
In order to make your product a success, you will need to make sure it will stand up to the competition. Create a viable product that can be sold.
In other words.…
Really think about what you are going to create and whether people will buy it.
It is better to come to this conclusion sooner rather than later. Coming to the realisation you can’t sell your product 9 months after creating it will be bad for your business and you will most likely have to pay to store products you can’t sell.
That is the end of the big critical thinking stage of how to make a STEM product to sell. Leave nothing to chance, research the market, and always check cost prices of manufacture.
How to create your product for under a £1
Now that you have stress-tested your ideas, you need to consider ways to manufacture your product for as cheap as is necessary without forgoing the quality of your product, and I can’t stress this enough…
The quality of your product matters, be this high-end STEM or learning product or an entry-level gadget.
People care about what they are spending, even if it is only £5.
Make it the best it can be for however much you can afford, and if it falls short of being anywhere near the best it can be, wait. Or perhaps consider doing a Kickstarter.
In the past, and on current projects, I take practical steps in order to make a minimum viable product that I feel is worthy of being to be sold. I take pride in what I do, and so should you!
When creating a product, you should always be considerate of the consumer’s wallet, keep your product affordable if you want to move high volumes.
But in order to consider how much your customer can spend, you need to consider how you can keep the production costs lower.
More of this is mentioned below.
Product Development Opinion
This is a personal opinion but none the less one I would advise you should take heed of as a business of 2020+.
Don’t make rubbish! Don’t make a product that offers very little to consumers, makes the world a worse place, or is generally complete landfill!
A product that fails after a couple of uses is a product that is arguably a waste of resources, a bad experience for the customer, harmful to the brand, and terrible for the environment.
Be considerate of what you are making, both at the start, middle, and end of the product’s life.
No amount of clever packaging or marketing should disguise a bad product, even if it was developed for under £1!
I like to believe the products shown here were fun and beneficial and that the customers and their children may enjoy them – perhaps even learned something from them.
The next stage of this article offers the steps and details of creating your product to sell or “how to make a STEM product to sell”
Checklist on how to make a STEM product to sell
1) Identify whether your product has an active market. Check that you have channels or retail spaces where you can sell the product. Such as a high-street retailer or online store.
2) Develop your idea, rough-out drawings – try to come up with something that is different but also easy to understand to the lay person. This will make it easier to market and sell your product with packaging or online.
3) After you have established the core product and drafted up a few different concepts, look for ways in which ‘features’ can be reduced. In order to reduce the cost and make your product lower in production costs, you now need to trim the fat. (create a minimum viable product)
4 ) Reduce expensive materials and unnecessary parts. Consider what the product actually needs and what will be of benefit the user. Does it really need gold foiling and spot UV on the packaging? If not then you should consider removing it.
5) Consider your materials: you can reduce the cost of your product by considering what materials you are using. Can you use something cheaper to save costs but still offer a complete item? Different plastics, reduce the size. Look at the compounds that make your product. Or consider using a card?
6 ) Get a prototype built. I would highly recommend creating a mock-up of your product. DO not gamble £1000’s on a product just because you want to save a few £100. Going with the ‘just ship it’ to retailers can seriously backfire and I have seen it happen! Your brand, reputation, and business will be on the line if you do and you fail this gamble. I would advise strongly – to get a prototype.
7 ) Reduce costs on the packaging. There are a few ways to reduce costs for a product and one area is certainly packaging! In the vein of how to develop a product for under a £1 so you can get a bigger margin, you can still create ‘well designed’ but cost-effective packaging.
The list above gives you an answer and guide on how to develop a product for under a £1, and how to make a STEM product to sell for your product line.
Do your research and study the market. And look at ways or reducing material costs.
Reducing costs on product materials
In order to follow the guidelines and create a product for under a £1 or a dollar. You will need to look for ways to lower the production cost without harming the quality, one of the surest ways of doing this looking at the materials.
In other words, creating a product that is as awesome as it can be … and stripping it right back to what is needed.
And maintaining some of the ‘awesomeness’ of the product. ( Awesome is overused, but that is the level you should be aiming for!)
These are some real questions I have asked myself In the past when working on a product.
Questions to ask when reducing the cost of your product
Does it need foil and spot UV on the packaging? Maybe remove it.
Can I reduce the thickness of the cardboard on the box? A good idea if it doesn’t compromise the structure of the box or product.
Can you reduce the size?
If possible, can you take any surplus of fluff features of the product?
In the example shown of the VR cardboard, which was created as an introductory gadget into virtual reality and as a learning/exploring product was created with the mindset of keeping the production cost low.
Below is a breakdown of the contents list for the VR cardboard, outlining the core components.
STEM Product Example (reduce cost)
STEM product cutting list: items that were considered in order to lower the cost of the product.
1 Silk coated card sleeve. This needed to be good enough to show the punchy colour and sell the product! Nothing else! I took the opportunity to use the area on the cover and turned it into a space theme.
1 fluted VR Cardboard (the product). The body of the product is made from white-coated fluted cardboard. Cheap enough to make and structurally strong enough to support the product on its own.
Velcro adhesive – in order to close the front guard and to secure the smartphone in place ( and assemble the product) velcro was attached to various flaps and arms.
* The plastic poly wrap – This may not be compulsory but some retailers may require this to sell in their store. The poly wrap can be good for securing the product and showing that the product is factory new and untampered with.
The ‘real’ cost of developing a STEM product to sell – from scratch!
In order to create a product that you actually sell and make a profit from, you need to make sure that production and running costs are kept low.
But there is much more to creating a product just the cost of materials and production.
Other expenses need to be considered such are the time, creation, design, planning, human effort, storage, packaging the physical size of the product to name a few.
If you do not keep the production cost low in early stages, this may have a knock effect when it comes to selling your product in retail or online, if it sells at all if it is too expensive for it’s perceived value.
In order to help you keep track of the money, reference the illustration below.
What is often overlooked, is that actual creation cost for ‘entire process’ and the buying of a single unit.
In all of these products in this post, salaries were involved, logistics, where to store your product marketing for the sales team to promote the product.
The list below shows a more candid look at the entirety to creating a product, something you should consider when trying to create your product whether for £1, $1, or £5.
Process cost for entire product creation
How to develop a product for under a ‘£1’ the whole process to selling your STEM product.
Scenario 1 – Actual single unit cost and stages:
Research and analysis
Hours spent designing and developing the product
Paying for a prototype or developing a prototype in-house
Making mistakes, the design journey, getting a complete idea.
Revising and polishing the design
Testing the product
Getting the card artwork ready for print and manufacture
The packaging for the product
Writing any manuals and conformity if needed
Creating marketing collateral for the product to help it sell
Taking product photo’s to promote it
Designing a webpage/website
Creating an email marketing campaign ( you can read tips here on designing an e-mail campaign)
These are part of the reality of creating a product if this is your first attempt.
From a pure design perspective, (myself being a designer) many of the stages above would generally be missed out. But being in involved in the whole process from concept to completion, I feel this is something you should know now.
The number of hours it takes to create the product. The testing of the product, the development. Marketing – There is a lot of work with many hands involved.
It would vain of me to say that the sole monetary success of a product hinges around the design alone. Don’t get me wrong, and I bound to say this. But design is still important for many products.
If this has helped you to take stock and evaluate whether you want to make a STEM product to sell, I hope it has so far given you some positive advice.
Before going onto the next section and showing you some of the STEM and learning gadgets I have created, I wanted to share some pointers to summerise.
Do your homework and see if the market would like your product offering.
Create a mock-up (even a low tech one)
Keep the cost of the materials down to prevent this inflating the RRP too much or reducing your profit.
Consider all processes
And consider who will be involved.
Prepare to invest
This is especially applicable if you are a small team and not just an individual making a product. An individual going about setting up their own product or doing this as a hobby won’t need to worry about staff on logistics etc.
At least not for the immediate future.
Whether you are a team or one day you would like to be part of, or have your own team. These points are an important thing to consider when you wanting to know how to design a STEM product to sell and how to develop a product for under £1.
In other words, how to create a low-cost minimum viable STEM product.
You may find some of the following articles also useful for developing a product.
Below are STEM, Science, and general learning products that I have designed and co-designed using the steps, principles, and methods as mentioned throughout this post.
The mindset of “How to develop a product for under a £1” was used when creating these.
This product tapped into a growing tech trend. A simple concept that turns your smartphone into a budget VR headset for under £5 for RRP.
With this pack, you had to assemble your VR cardboard from scratch! It was added as a learning and tech product.
And you may be pleased to know that cardboard engineering wasn’t as complicated as you might think.
The die cut was sourced from a factory and the artwork was illustrated by myself. The great thing about this product was you didn’t need to spend time to create the product from scratch!
So saved on time.
Learning + tech. So time was saved on the trial and error of creating prototypes as the dieline was supplied.
The product is made only from cardboard too! As the name would give away.
VR Cardboard Frontier
Following on in the same vein, this product was another low-cost tech product. Only that this one was pre-assembled and it retailed for £5 RRP.
This budget VR headset is another entry into smartphone VR. The blank diecut and sleeve were supplied from by a Chinese factory on request and I created the vector artwork and space theme in Adobe Illustrator.
I played with the idea of “frontier” with VR being the next stage of exploration.
For children, it was created to inspire a sense of awe and fun whilst learning when using the headset. And if they chose to, simply play a game.
It was created to appeal to children and be sold in places such as the science museum. You can read more about my vector drawing service on the design.
Freelance vector illustration & design.
3D Hologram – Mostly made from Cardboard and PET
At one stage, this product went on to sell in museums, learning centres and general retailers across the globe and I was pleased to find out that this was a success. (Thanks all!)
With this product, I was involved in the design and research spending many hours on how to make holograms and numerous Youtube video’s on how to construct them.
Have you heard of Peppers Ghost? If you are curious to know about Pepper’s ghost I would advise have a read of it on Wikipedia.
As this topic is based around how to design a STEM product to sell and how to reduce the production costs of your product I wanted to mention a few key points about this product in particular.
Example of “How to develop a product for under a £1”
The actual product is made from clear PET which is folded flat inserted into the card sleeve packaging. The production cost for this was very low!
The packaging is simply a sleeve which contains 2 PET holograms and A4 information manual.
Retail packaging is small and flat so more units can be placed on a EURO hook
The main market for the product was STEM, learning, smartphone tech, and gadgets!
In terms of components, there were very few parts involved. The biggest challenge was developing the product to a standard that it could be sold in retail.
Build your own telescope
Now there are a few things you may notice with this product. It’s similar in nature to the hologram which is a STEM/learning product and that has a similar-sized box to the 3D hologram.
This project was a collaboration piece between myself, another designer and how could I miss… the far east team! (Thanks Ann) to bring the product to life.
The nature of the product is that you can create your own product (build your own) by following the instructions. By the end of the process, you should have a Miniature Telescope
The product is used the same process as mentioned before, basically, try to keep the material and production cost low as possible.
To keep the STEM product cost as low as possible some of the following techniques and shortcuts were used.
An existing packaging dieline, (Hologram)
The flat pack get as many units on packaging
Card packaging
An instruction manual
Build your own boxing robot
For any budding engineers in the family, this product is a must – all the more if they like boxing.
My involvement in this STEM product was to create retail packaging.
I strove to make the box as appealing as possible with the boxing ring added as an additional feature that would make this awesome product even more appealing.
The artwork was created in a mixture of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. The Photoshopping of the robot supplied by a colleague.
The factory-supplied the existing dielines so no extra time was required to figure out how to make the box work. If time is against you this can be a brilliant time and money-saving measure.
*Assuming that the box is actually any good.
Technically, this STEM product would have cost more than £1 to create.
but due to it being from the STEM selection and carrying many of the principles I wanted to convey in this post I wanted to include it.
These principles are listed below in helping you to lower the cost of making your product.
Cost saving measure example
The product was sourced, requiring significantly less time and money to develop a complete product. Fewer growing pains!
An existing dieline was used for the packaging, another way at looking at how to develop a product for under £1 and keep the cost low. as no time would have been needed on the cardboard engineering and working out the sizes etc. A blank box was supplied, the artwork was created by myself.
We had looked at the market to see if there was a potential demand. Due to the nature of similar products, of the build your own. We felt this STEM product may have done well also.
Although the actual single unit cost of this product would have exceeded the £1 or $1 dollar mark. The product was so quick and relevant to our market at the time we grabbed it with both hands and made it our own.
In terms of reducing cost, as so much was ready to use straight out of the pack so to speak, it would have saved weeks of time and money and reduced the burden on collective salaries.
This is the end of my samples for of STEM and learning products. These products are copyright Satzuma LTD.
If feel that this post has helped you on how to develop a product for under a £1 or if you are looking how to make a STEM product to sell ( or both) feel free to share on social media or on your blog!
Enjoy creating your STEM product!
If you would like help on creating your STEM product or creating the flat artwork to go onto the packaging, manual or box feel free to get in touch. Freelance product/packaging design.
how to create a product for under a £1 | quick summary answer
In order to create a product for under £1, you need to look at reducing the cost of production, materials and also just as every bit as important, time.
Time can very costly for a business and looking for cost-saving measures is always important such as looking for some existing solutions which can be tailored or ways you can reduce trial and error.
Looking at uses low-cost materials such as cardboard and paper instead of plastics that require tooling will also reduce of making a product and help to keep below the £1 line.
Other tips for creating a STEM or low-cost product
Designs Bytes | how to make a STEM product to sell and How to develop a product for under a £1. All products are Copyright Satzuma LTD ( Cheers all back at Satzuma HQ!)
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