The objective of First Principle Design is first and foremost to work with its clients to help them realise their ideas…

…this is achieved through a range of skills encompassing design, engineering and project management. The company is highly adaptable and has successfully completed a variety of projects in the automotive, marine and product industries.

First Principle Design is built around the skills of its founder Simon Keys and his philosophy is very much to work hand in hand with his client to understand their objectives for the product they are aiming to create. Beyond which Simon works, as the company name suggests, from “first principles” to ensure that the design problem is fully understood and that great designs are the result.

The company believes in matching the right approach and tools to the job in hand, irrespective of scale, so whilst the latest CAD tools such as CATIA V5 or Rhino are available, together with CNC shaped tooling; Simon also has the required skills to present ideas using the traditional methods such as the sketch pad and markers, together with the manual modelling skills.

Simon established First Principle Design in 2003 after spending ten years at leading engineering and design consultancy MIRA servicing the mainstream automotive industry in areas as diverse as safety engineering, vehicle cost optimisation and electric vehicle engineering. His design skills were originally developed studying Industrial Design and Transport Design at the renowned Coventry University.

Whilst Simon’s background is working within the automotive mainstream he has also has the experience of working within the specialist vehicle and kit car industries delivering imaginative and innovative design solutions. To support his own skills Simon has also built up a network of engineers and designers with specific specialised skills that he can call on, meaning if required a project team can be assembled to meet specific project requirements.

So whether you need a few styling sketches to help crystallise your own ideas, help to turn those ideas into a scale or full size model, or a complete, engineered 3D CAD modelled chassis and detailed 2D production drawings, First Principle Design can help you realise your ideas… please contact Simon for a discussion about your requirements.

Telephone: +44 (0)1481 259813  E-mail: simon.keys@firstprincipledesign.com

Case Study -SDR Sportscars Ltd  www.sdrsportscars.co.uk

Complete design of a three seat exo-skeleton car for a start up kit car company. Initial variant used a bike engine, but an innovative modular chassis design enables maximum flexibility for other engine variants. A Subaru turbo motored variant is currently under development.

Design proceeded from initial sketches, through comprehensive packaging, to detailed CAD modelling of chassis and body panels. 2D drawings produced for chassis manufacture and 3D data used to directly cut body panel patterns. Time from project start to delivery of the first customer chassis was approximately 24 months.