Hello All! Hope all is well with you guys.

I had a question for a while. We all talk about building electronic devices etc that can do things.
But whose job is it to build / design the outer case so that it looks nice and cool so that it will fetch a lot of $$ ?
Does the electrical engineering team have someone who does it?

Look at the TI89 picture below. I would like to know who decides/ designs the shape of the case, the colors of the buttons, the shape of the buttons, location of the buttons etc?
Is it a mechanical engineering related field ( designing the case etc)?

Thank you for your replies!

 

I don't know if this goes for every place, but in the places I've worked for a case as fancy as the one you are showing, the mechanical design guys will handle the buttons and case and the electrical guys handle the PCB's. Everyone has to work together to be sure the parts all line up.

For projects I do completely on my own, I try to pick an off the shelf box that can be easily modified, make my PCB's to fit and have a place like Polycase handle the enclosure. I'm sure there are other places that do a nice job, but I personally have used Polycase and they do a really nice job. Here are some examples of how you can have off-the-shelf enclosures customized:

https://www.polycase.com/customized-enclosures

 

In some cases, there is a third party, called an industrial designer. Neither electrical nor mechanical in training, they are more artist.

 

But whose job is it to build / design the outer case so that it looks nice and cool so that it will fetch a lot of $$ ?
Does the electrical engineering team have someone who does it?

Yeah.. I hand it over to the design dept.
Me!
For small enclosures I tend to go with off the shelf such as Hammond etc.
Or in some cases, especially larger ones, a local Tin Snappers.
For 'pretty' panels, I go with reverse engraved lamacoid, again a local engraver.
I draw everything up for him in Autocad.
Max.

 

It depends on the depth and scope of the company and it's management.
Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple would have had a say in the design.

 

These days with additive manufacturing it’s possible to do some of this in house. I often spend time in 3D cad to start off this process.

Traditionally the flow is circuit design based on requirements. Designs are explored and PCB designs are based on requirements for final design. It would go back to the design and mechanical team for a “final design”... this is then sent to tooling for molds And machining process.. There are a lot of exceptions, I’m involved in prototyping and we often take short cuts and although I follow the initial placement for components such as tall items, switches and indicators, I’m given freedom to change layouts so everything fits.

Having worked with integrated design teams it’s often incredible what the industrial design teams come up with.

Are you asking generally or do you have something that requires this?