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Make your product

What should I actually put in a product brief or spec sheet before I approach a manufacturer?

One page, not ten: exact dimensions, materials, colour codes (Pantone if you have them), quantity you want to start with, target landed cost, and any certifications you need (FSSAI/BIS/GOTS). The single biggest beginner mistake is describing the product in adjectives, 'premium', 'sleek', instead of numbers; factories quote what you specify, so vague specs get vague, incomparable quotes back.

Go deeper

3 resources, 3 link-checked.

📋 Template
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

A free, fill-in-the-blanks brief format you can strip down to the essentials a factory actually needs: dimensions, materials, quantity, cost target.

Product Brief Template

From asana.com by Asana

  • Keep the brief under a page so it's actually used
  • Include problem statement, audience and success metrics
  • A shared brief prevents scope creep with your factory
Open asana.com
📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

The clearest plain-English walk-through of the design-to-CAD-to-prototype pipeline, useful as a checklist even if you outsource every step to a factory.

How to Develop a Product

From design2market.co.uk by Design2Market

  • Start every brief with the target market, not the feature list
  • Research materials and existing patents before styling
  • Move to CAD before physical prototyping to save cost
  • Expect multiple prototype iterations, not one
Open design2market.co.uk

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The same ground, over in Build the product, our Starting Up track.

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