Window Covering Startup Blind Screen Accelerates Product Design Process from Sketch to Prototype

An installed window blind may look simple, but the design and engineering behind it is more complex than most people realize. A modern blind must be aesthetically pleasing while managing light, heat, and motion. It must also be manufacturable and easy to install, accommodating countless architectural spaces. 

Blind Screen^® offers a multi-function blind system focused on 100% blackout performance and thermal efficiency. The UK-based company was founded in 2022 by Lenny Reynolds and Paul Cheetham, who have 20+ years in the blinds industry. As the company expanded in its early days, it needed a more direct and faster way to move from concept to delivery. “We were essentially contracting the design work out to different people. We were sending ideas and, for want of a better phrase, scribbles to different 3D designers,” recalls Co-founder and Managing Director Larry Reynolds.

Affordable Access to Product Design Optimization Tools

The SOLIDWORKS® for Startups program offers extremely affordable access to high-end CAD modeling software tools for product development. Co-founder and Marketing Director Paul Cheetham notes that “SOLIDWORKS, without the startup program, would have meant that we would have been in a tricky [financial] situation, especially in the first year.” Like most startups, Blind Screen was on a very tight budget. Cheetham continues, “Having low-cost design tools in that first year was extremely important for us. We would have delayed our innovations quite significantly if not for the SOLIDWORKS startup program. And we probably would have had to use tools that weren’t quite fit for our purposes.”

By bringing SOLIDWORKS in-house, the team could create and revise 3D models internally, then move those designs quickly into 3D-printed prototypes. “We have gone from having one or two projects on our schedule to 16 projects now ongoing,” Reynolds emphasizes. “We are able to rapid prototype in a day or two, test an idea for a product, and move forward very, very quickly.”

Rather than waiting for an outside contractor to create a model or delaying decisions until a physical prototype arrives, Blind Screen can model concepts, 3D print them and evaluate the results often in the same day. “I use SOLIDWORKS to develop our new products,” says Head of Product Jack Wright. “I can get an idea, put it into [SOLIDWORKS], and then 3D print it. That same day or the next morning I know whether it’s okay or if any changes need to be made.”

For Blind Screen, SOLIDWORKS is not limited to mechanical design. The team also uses it to validate product aesthetics by quickly creating multiple design options, printing them, and reviewing the physical prototypes as a team. This improves team collaboration and streamlines the decision-making process. 

AI, Visualization, and Emerging SOLIDWORKS Simulation

SOLIDWORKS AI Virtual Companions are embedded in SOLIDWORKS to guide ideas, create geometry, fix issues, and support decisions across design, simulation, and manufacturing. Blind Screen has begun using SOLIDWORKS AI Companions in its design workflow. 

Wright notes, “I've been using the AI tools LEO and AURA in SOLIDWORKS, and I find them very useful. LEO AI is good at the mechanical side of things, whereas AURA is more like your generic AI chatbot. Instead of having to speak to my manager or wait for them to call me, I can just ask the AI tool for guidance straightaway.”

Wright has been using SOLIDWORKS on a new product to determine which spring is needed for the slip clutch. The spring helps control how much force the clutch can hold before it slips or releases the blind; it also must be strong enough to keep the blind system secure, but not so strong that it prevents the clutch from releasing the blind when needed. 

Spring behavior can be difficult to calculate because small changes in size, stiffness, compression, and load can affect how a mechanism performs. SOLIDWORKS can evaluate those factors and help the Blind Screen team choose the right spring for a design based on its requirements.

From Product Idea to Proven Performance

According to Reynolds, SOLIDWORKS has played a major role in Blind Screen’s growth: “Using SOLIDWORKS has genuinely transformed the company. One of the big things with Blind Screen was to make a 100% blackout blind. A very close number two is the thermal aspect. Blind Screen retains 49% of a room’s heat and can save between 10% and 15% on heating bills per year.” That performance, he adds, was independently tested through the University of Salford in Manchester, England.

The results speak volumes. 

Blind Screen expanded well beyond its initial UK offering in just two years. “We launched our first three Blind Screens products approximately three years ago in the UK, and it has been excellent,” enthuses Reynolds. “We have around two and a half thousand trade partners across the UK. We have also launched in Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland, and we are about to go into Latin America and North America.”

Disciplined Innovation for a Physical Product

Reynolds concludes, “Having SOLIDWORKS has been fantastic because we are an innovative company. We feel we are one of the most innovative companies, certainly in the UK and further afield. SOLIDWORKS has really helped people take a closer look at us because they can see how innovative we can be. We are able to bring our innovations to market so quickly, and that is making people across the globe stand up and take a look at Blind Screen.”

Cheetham adds, “With SOLIDWORKS, you're able to set the nuances of color and materials, which can produce a very realistic representation of what that end product will look like, which then enables us not just to sell this product to a manufacturer from the concept, but also importantly, [provide a visual] for the website.” 

Blind Screen will also soon begin leveraging SOLIDWORKS Simulation for testing and refining designs digitally before physical prototyping. “We are especially interested in simulation, notes Cheetham. “We want to understand the load-bearing limits of our no-drill blind system. Specifically, we want to determine how many newtons [of force] the system can withstand before it fails.”