Design 1st, the Ottawa-based product development firm behind more than 1,200 commercialized physical electronic hardware products, enters its 30th year, while marking its most successful year in the company’s history. In 2025, Design 1st worked on 103 projects across 16 industries, added 41 new clients, and grew its team to keep pace with surging demand from a global client base spanning North America, Europe, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, and Australia.
Kevin Bailey founded Design 1st in September 1996 as a design engineering consultancy serving companies in need of a reliable and innovative development partner. Three decades later, Design 1st has evolved into a full-service product development firm offering industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, embedded firmware, prototyping, and manufacturing setup under one roof.
Design 1st’s 2025 Project Breakdown by Industry Sector (CNW Group/Design 1st)
Each capability was added in response to client-driven requirements. When products got smarter, Design 1st acquired an electronics firm. When regulatory requirements tightened around medical devices, Design 1st built that expertise and process. When clients struggled to move from prototype to factory floor, manufacturing set-up and support became part of the offering. The throughline has always been the same: getting well-designed products ready for market.
The 2025 project mix reflected the breadth of Design 1st’s capabilities across 16 market segments, including consumer products, industrial equipment, health and wellness, and medical devices. Notable projects included SwabBot, a cobot for pharmaceutical tank cleaning that moved into production. Groove Thing, a consumer music player, went from garage concept and Kickstarter success to beginning volume manufacturing. BlueKit, an IoT education platform, shipped after two years of development. Joylux, one of the firm’s longest-standing client relationships, launched new products and continued to win medical industry awards. And in the lab, a medical device using wireless power to charge an implant inside the human body remains in active R&D.
Taking clients from a napkin sketch to factory floor
“Many people have great ideas but struggle to find development partners who can properly design, prototype, and manufacture their first-generation products,” said Kevin Bailey, founding CEO of Design 1st. “Our integrated development team specializes in taking clients from a napkin sketch to the factory floor.”
Product complexity has changed dramatically since 1996, and Design 1st built the expertise and team to match.
“Thirty years ago, I left a global telecom design team as an engineer who loved to build physical electronic gadgets,” Bailey said. “We’ve expanded our technical capabilities as cloud networks, IoT, sensors, and now AI have pushed the complexity of physical product designs. The next thirty years will look nothing like the last thirty, and that’s exactly why this work stays interesting.”
link
