Who we are || Experienced industrial design team || The Fuel

Design that fuels business growth

Founded by Matt Plested and Jim Blyth, The Fuel industrial design studio specialises in consumer and professional products for both manufacturers and brands.

We design the visual appearance, interactions and all aspects of the product experience to create devices that are easy to use and easy to sell, balancing the needs of human behaviour, technology, and marketing.

Fuelled by great experience

The Fuel team has been working with a broad range of clients for over 20 years, ranging from established global brands to newly funded start-ups, many of which have become repeat long term relationships.

Fuel for results

Our team has won many prestigious awards for industrial design excellence and innovation, as well as securing numerous patents.

However, our clients judge us more on our ability to add value to their business. We use design to create understandable user benefits that can drive sales and boost profitability. We know how to return value on design investment.

“I met Matt whilst I was leading Innovation at Samsung. Matt ran several very successful projects for my team many of which were commercialized into successful products. Naturally when I needed design and engineering help at PepsiCo Matt was the first person I called.”

“Jim is an exceptional Design Director, highly creative and confident in navigating the complexities of large challenging projects. He has a relentless passion for delivering successful projects, finding innovative solutions that balance user needs, commercial objectives and technical capabilities.”

“Over the years I have worked with Matt one thing I love is that when you embark on a project together it feels like you are not just heading in the same direction, but going somewhere, rapidly and with immense force; you just know it will deliver fantastic results. He is fantastic at taking consumer insight and turning it into concepts with serious consumer appeal that will impact the bottom line of any business.”

“Jim provided valuable creative insight into what were a series of challenging new product designs. He has always provided excellent design direction and creative input to what were both creatively and technically challenging design problems.”

Social Inspiration

Using Instagram we regularly share consumer electronics imagery from our peers in the wider industrial design community that we find inspirational.