News
The team at Sated Design would like to wish all our past, present and future clients, suppliers and friends a very warm and joyous Christmas. May your festive season be everything you hope for.
We are looking forward to a nice break away from the office, with much eating, drinking and laughing with family and friends over the festive season.
Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
Let’s create something great together
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Britain’s exit from the European Union is affecting how people in the UK have to run their businesses. Some businesses have been greatly affected whilst others remain largely unchanged. Within the sphere of new product design there are some changes required, for now the new requirements are not far reaching and should be easy for most businesses to comply with. Part of these new requirements is UKCA marking.
The UKCA mark applies to most goods that previously required a CE mark. Currently technical requirements for the standards remain the same. For example, products are still subject to GPSR and, as before operate on the understanding that any product must be safe for intended use. If there is legislation specific to the type of product then this should take president. For example, both Toys and Electrical Equipment still have their own standard. These were previously referred to as “harmonised standards” from the EU but are now termed as “designated standards” and are published by the UK government.
UKCA marking came into effect on 1 January 2021. However, to allow businesses time to adjust to the new requirements, businesses will still be able to use the CE marking until 1st January 2022 in most cases. At the start of 2022 the UKCA marking must be present at least as a label affixed to the product or an accompanying document. And then from 1st Jan 2023 UKCA marking must be permanently attached to the product.
This does not apply to existing stock, for example if your goods were fully manufactured, CE marked and ready to place on the market before 1 January 2021. In these cases, your goods can still be sold in Britain with a CE marking.
There are however some cases when businesses need to apply the new UKCA marking to goods being sold in Great Britain immediately from 1 January 2021. When asked for clarification on which goods have this requirement the government Goods Regulation Team advised the following:
“You will need to use the new UKCA marking immediately if all the following apply to your product:
• it is for the market in Great Britain
• it is covered by legislation which requires the UKCA marking
• it requires mandatory third-party conformity assessment
• if conformity assessment has been carried out by a UK conformity assessment body and you haven’t transferred your conformity assessment files from your UK body to an EU recognised body before 1 January 2021”
As well as the marking of products there are some changes to third party test house certification, record keeping and declarations of conformity.
Sated Design’s recommendation during this transition period is that it would be best to exercise an early awareness of CE and UKCA for your project. Consult a third-party test house who are established Notified Bodies in both the UK and EU, and who specialise in the particular area of standards, compliance and certification your project requires. This will help make sure the most efficient route to compliance is adhered to.
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“Back in ‘82 I saw Blade Runner on the big screen and it was awesome, easily coming into my list of the top ten films. One thing in particular that stood out for me were the flying police vehicles known as Spinners – taking off at ground level from seemingly anywhere and going directly to their destination. It seemed like the stuff of dreams to imagine that we could see these in my lifetime but jump forward a few years and we are almost there with the development of the flying taxi”.
Sated Design’s Director Chris Howsam
The Hoversurf air taxi is such an inspiration. Billed as Russia’s ‘flying taxis’ these amazing machines could be ready for flights in 2025 and will offer passengers a quick and easy way to travel. Being electrically powered means they are also environmentally friendly providing the first real potential for convenient, zero-emissions, go anywhere travel for us all.
Once upon a time, flying vehicles seemed unachievable due to safety concerns, logistics and costs. Confined to the dreams of our youth, this kind of travel seemed as though it would never appear outside of fiction; immortalised in films such as Back to the Future and the Fifth Element but never within our grasp.
Yet through the innovation and aspirations of Hoversurf’s inventor Alex Atamanov, the drone taxi will be in production in less than 5 years. And so, fiction gets ever closer towards a reality.
Currently the infrastructure to support flying vehicles is the weak link – there is much work to be done here but excitingly that is being addressed too with start-ups such as the Urban-Air Port receiving a large grant from the government to help fund a temporary installation of a flying car airport in Coventry city centre.
We believe that innovations like the flying car are incredibly exciting and clearly demonstrate that better things are to come. Well researched NPD (New Product Development) that is proven to be both achievable and desirable will usually attract investment and interest and therefore, in most cases, lead to success. What we dream of today can be the reality of tomorrow.
If you have got an idea for a great new product and want to make it a reality, we will assist you through your journey. Even the most accomplished will require assistance which is where our expertise is invaluable. We work closely with all our clients to ensure they have all the support they need.
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Currently you cannot escape the doom and gloom being depicted in our media; and yet in manufacturing we’re seeing a very different picture.
It is true that businesses have challenges but that is not new, business is a challenge all the time and there are always problems. Businesses are used to this and it stimulates their natural response to understand the challenge, innovate solutions and implement strategies that will move them not only past the problem but into success.
If there was ever a good news story, it would be the way our manufacturing industry is rising to the challenge of 2021. If there was ever a time when the nation needed a good new story full of hope for the future now would be the time.
So why doesn’t the news media refocus its attention and give some exposure to those businesses who are doing great things? Surely there is worth in articles featuring the ways in which businesses have managed (and continue to manage) through the pandemic. We feel this could provide not only some great stories but be a way of sharing ideas to support other businesses.
At Sated Design we feel we are a typical example of what’s happening in businesses across the UK. We are supporting those staff who can work from home, we are managing transport to and from home and providing a safe environment for those who remain in the office. We are still here for our clients and our suppliers who rely on us. It’s business as (the new) normal.
Sated’s Director Chris Howsam says “The New Year has brought us new enquiries from established clients and new prospects. It’s clear to us that there’s a desire for many to come out of covid-19 in the starting blocks and ready to go.”
He adds “it is time we celebrated some positive news and where better than a look at our manufacturing industry and the fantastic way they are rising to the challenge of 2021?”
So come on Journalists, Editors, TV Producers… can we see some reporting on the efforts being made by businesses, and in particular our manufacturing industry to secure our economy and make 2021 a better year than it is at the moment”.
If you are about to embark on a new pleasure product development and would like to know more about how we can help you on your journey, contact us today.
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As we draw a close on the year 2020, we reflect on how tough it has been for everyone and we feel we need a rest and to recharge our batteries.
Despite our own challenges, as a business Sated Design has adapted to new ways of working and remained open for business – on hand to support our clients at every step. However, we know many others have not been so fortunate. This has been tough to see and we hope that the worst will soon be behind us all.
Director Chris Howsam says “the world seems to have been occupied with doom and gloom for a long time and it is easy to forget that tomorrow is a new day with new hope and new dreams. We have taken the approach that we can’t change the past, but we can hold our heads high, go forward and make the best of what we have”.
He continues, “we wish all of our clients and colleagues a safe and restful break over the holidays. Our seasonal message going into 2021 is this, ‘New Year + New Energy + New opportunities = New success’ and this is a sentiment we hope many will adopt as their own”.
Do you have an idea for a new adult pleasure product you wish to bring to market in 2021? Would you like a little help to guide you through the journey of making it a desirable reality?
Contact us to start your project.
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Christmas is coming and on most of our ‘wish lists’ there is bound to be an electronic device of some sort – mobiles phones, big TV, games consoles, smart tech products; the list of those products is endless and demonstrates how significant our dependence on electricity is today.
Currently the electricity that makes our lives safe and convenient is mostly derived from fossil fuels and concerningly there are only so much of those to go around. At current usage levels, oil and natural gas are set to run out in the next 40 years but we all know that our global population is increasing at a staggering rate and with more people, comes more demand. We also live in a world that demands convenience where products wait in sleep mode to spring into action at the press of a remote or call of an app. These devices create a huge background demand on electricity because they are never completely ‘off’.
If we don’t have sufficient capacity in our National Grid to cope with energy demand, the result will inevitably be black outs such as those the nation saw in the 1970s. Can we imagine how catastrophic that will be to our industries as well as our workplaces and personal households?
The blame for this lack of generating capacity, in the UK at least, is a refusal by successive governments over decades to face up to the demands of an out of control demand on electricity and to plan for a capable infrastructure. Here in the UK our power plants are outdated and will be decommissioned one by one throughout the next decade with those planned to come online suffering cost over runs and delays. Staggeringly, there does not appear to be any realistic succession plan for when they go offline and yet we creep closer and closer towards this inevitability and resulting possibility of dealing with the reality of energy poverty.
There clearly is a shared concern from energy providers. After the Government’s latest announcement that all new vehicles need to be Electric Vehicles (EV) by 2030, a report by the Distribution Connection and Use of System Agreement (DCUSA) warned that “electricity networks in Great Britain are not designed to accommodate the significant additional demand of certain consumer devices (such as EV chargers) presents”. This has resulted in new powers being sought to allow energy providers to essentially turn off high-drain devices when demand is too high.
Not an ideal solution for a nation used to the convenience of having access to energy sources as and when they need them or being told to switch to EVs. It literally could mean you wake up in the morning and your EV went uncharged overnight.
The real answers regarding energy generation and policies for fair use remain with governments but in the meantime we all need to assist in avoiding the very real threat of energy poverty and get more used to being a part of the solution.
Product Designers can do our bit too by designing products with zero energy in mind. A movement towards smarter products with the ability to learn and then predict when they will be used by their owner will mean they can disconnect at an appropriate time rather than be on standby.
Let’s create something great together.
If you have got an idea for a great new pleasure product and want to consider how it can be designed with energy efficiency in mind, we will assist you through your journey. Even the most accomplished will require assistance which is where our expertise is invaluable. We work closely with all our clients to ensure they have all the support they need.
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The phrase “practice safe sex” is taking on a whole new meaning in our modern, tech-obsessed world. Security flaws in high-tech interactive app-based sex toy products (known in the industry as teledildonics) are gaining increasing media coverage. Many organisations are campaigning for tighter regulations regarding the development and maintenance of these products. According to one source, just because every gadget can now be connected to the internet, it doesn’t mean they should be. Sex toys like every other electronic device are being pulled into the Internet of Things (IoT) platform but not without complications.
Only last week a data breach within the Cellmate – billed the “world’s first app controlled chastity device”- had consequences for users worldwide. The API that communicates between the app and the lock on physical product was left open without a password, meaning that anyone could take complete control of any user’s device at any given time. This story follows on from other high profile scenarios in 2016 and 2017 where data breaches occurred, allowing extremely sensitive data in to the public domain.
Despite this, there is a clear demand for teledildonics, especially during the coronavirus pandemic where couples are unable to physically be together. App-based sex toys now represent a reasonable portion of the SexTech market but frighteningly, it is a heavily under scrutinised part of the market at present.
With consumers keen to purchase the products, time is of the essence in tackling the issue of cyber security. We’re encouraged to see this issue being addressed by organisations like the Internet of Dongs Project set up to not only establish bridges to the developers of teledildonic devices but also to educate consumers about choosing devices responsibly. However, it takes many voices to make a lot of noise so there is still much work to be done.
With any new product development, undertaking a risk assessment will highlight safety issues you may not have thought of and allows you to demonstrate that you have fulfilled your obligation to sell a safe product.
Testing a product concept during all stages of its development is an important part of the design process too. Prototypes, mock-ups and test rigs, or whatever you wish to call them, enable your design team to evaluate every aspect of a product, including how it is used.
Using feedback derived from tests your design team will create great products which delight the user and make healthy profits for the manufacturing and distributing chain.
Here at Sated Design we can help you with any of the above services and more. If you have an idea for a new Sex Toy and would like a little help making your product a desirable reality, get in touch today – we may just be able to help.
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The adult toy industry is notorious for unscrupulously copying great ideas. Both securing effective Intellectual Property Protection (IPP) and taking swift and aggressive action to stomp out copy cats are both crucial to maintaining your competitive edge. IPP legally identifies you as the originator and owner of your idea and gives you exclusive rights to exploit it so it is absolutely critical to your business.
There are a number of ways to protect the intellectual property of your idea. It is recommended that you speak to an IPP expert such as a patent attorney at the right time to select the best forms of protection for your product.
There are many free patent databases that you can use to carry out your own searching, but professional patent searchers and patent attorneys who specialise in such services will almost inevitably find documents that are more relevant than those found by a novice searcher.
A DIY patent is not the best approach and can do more harm than good. It is so important to seek expert legal advice!
Here at Sated Design, many of our clients initially reached out to us because we work so closely with a firm of leading Intellectual Property specialists in our network and are therefore familiar with their methods and requirements. We work with these specialists to protect the IP of your sex toy invention idea by providing descriptions of claims and supporting illustrations of any new IP created. In addition to providing you with reassurance, this may also reduce search and filing fees significantly.
Releasing details of your idea into the public domain without protection may jeopardise the chances of your IPP applications being granted, giving your competitors an opportunity to get the idea to market before you. Our top tip is that if you need to discuss your idea with anyone, such as a supplier, use a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) document to ensure that all parties regard the discussions as confidential.
If you’ve got a new pleasure product idea and require assistance taking it to the point of manufacture, we can provide help at any step of the way.
Contact us today.
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For many the coronavirus pandemic is becoming a catalyst for change, whether it be personal or work related. The phrase “new normal” now resonates on a global scale. For the critics, potentially our “new world” means mass unemployment, recession and a crippled economy. As a result of the lockdown many businesses are facing financial challenges as they head into the final quarter of 2020. New Product Development seems to appear way down on the priority list for a lot of companies, however investing now in the early stages of designing a new product will actually help you be ahead of the game once we regain some global stability.
There are financial lifelines available from the Government to encourage and assist you with this in the forms of kickstart grants and (what we focus on in this article) a new round of Innovate UK Smart Grants.
The latest round of Innovate UK Smart Grants, launched last month, closes at 11am on the 25th November and businesses of any size can apply for a slice of £25 million. This open UK grant funding programme has a specific purpose of supporting game changing ideas to develop new products that have significant global market potential. Applications are welcomed for NPD across all sectors including Sextech, where this industry is reportedly worth over $30 billion and estimated to be growing at an annual rate of 30%.
To be in with a chance of winning a grant, the key to your application is to demonstrate you have clearly considered your new product’s innovation, global market potential and the target customer’s needs. This is where utilising a Product Design Consultancy like Sated Design could be the key to your success.
We can assist with a feasibility study which will demonstrate to the judges that you have determined whether your NPD is do-able. We can undertake a risk assessment which will demonstrate that you have considered the end user of the new product. We can also assist you with completing your application for smart funding and if successful, most excitingly, we can help you make your ideas a reality, taking your product idea to the point of manufacture when it becomes a market ready product!
Our services can be tailored to suit your needs – we are well adapted to itemise our service and can step in and out at any stage. In our online portfolio you will find an extensive list of successful pleasure products we have helped bring to market. We have completed many projects over the last decade – some of which have gone on to win coveted industry awards – and our skills, experience and expertise are invaluable.
Contact us today and let us satisfy your needs for quality, innovation and great product design.
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“Snowing plastic” in the Arctic; Microplastic pollution near to the summit of Wales’s highest mountain. Plastic Pollution may have been a topic of discussion for some time but the full extent of its impact on the environment needs urgent action to understand and mitigate.
According to a recent article, in Europe alone, approximately 42,000 tonnes of intentionally added microplastics are released into the environment annually. Finding this material in remote locations such as the ones mentioned above is deeply concerning.
The European Commission believed they had the answer in preparing to introduce a ban on the use of microplastics in cosmetics, detergents and paint products produced and sold in the EU. However, there is now a fear that the result of this ban will be a swap for even smaller nano plastic material that could potentially be more toxic and more harmful.
This news is incredibly frustrating. Micro plastics have been found in almost all environments that have been investigated worldwide so this problem is very real and isn’t going to go away. It appears that currently, finding a true solution is hampered by a documented “significant knowledge gap”. If this is the case, how can a way forward be found?
For those of us in an industry which works with plastic every day, it is imperative that we try to act positively to improve the use and reduce the burden of unwanted plastic. We need a clear plan of action from our government, which is based on a collective, well informed opinion that spans the globe. It is irresponsible to make recommendations that have not been fully risk assessed by agencies who have the knowledge to successfully carry these out.
The fact that plastic material is being found in the remotest parts of our world means that time is of the essence and we need that solution now.
We are a full service agency who are very conscious of the part we play in tackling the environmental costs of launching new products. If you are likeminded and would like a little help through the journey of making your pleasure product a desirable reality, get in touch today – we may just be able to help you.
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