Tangent recently partnered with Duo Form Plastics, an industry leading thermoform manufacturer, to design, develop and model the Duo Form Go Pet B&B (Bed & Breakfast), a first of its kind portable pet bed, with built-in storage compartments and removable food & water dishes. Seeing a market opportunity for its RV and Travel Trailer based clientele and their pets, Duo Form utilized Tangent’s two decades of product design and thermoforming expertise to help develop their Pet B&B from the ground up.
Starting with extensive benchmarking, which included taking size and weight measurements of various pets and pet sizes (dogs, cats, turtles, rabbits, snails…ok maybe not snails), Tangent began sketching 2D concepts that would incorporate the client’s desired features (food & water bowls, built in netted storage, and a mid-size pet bed), within the compact packaging required for such a durable, and travel friendly item.
After settling on several 2D directions that fulfilled the clients’ initial design and packaging requirements, Tangent began modeling each concept in Autodesk Alias, making sure to carefully consider the production constraints and advantages provided Duo Form’s in house thermoforming capabilities. By moving quickly into the 3D stage of the design process, Tangent was able to gather critical insights into the proportions and scale of each B&B concept, allowing the client to make decisions about which concept to pursue, based on scale, material volume and ease of use. Tangent was careful to source additional parts for fastening and hinging that would meet the clients budgetary & material constraints, while maximizing the Pet B&B’s overall value.
With a mold ready CAD model in hand, Tangent was able to create high level, photo real, marketing images in VRED, Tangent’s in-house 3D rendering software. These photo real marketing images allowed the client to market test the product’s viability with-out the need of expensive prototypes, giving focus groups the opportunity to fine tune the product before launch.
The Duo Form Go Pet B&B is on sale now. You can learn more about it at Duo Form’s website.