Mission
ID Projects tests real ideas in the real world to build products that actually work. Whether you have a smarter fix for an everyday annoyance or want real input on what gets made, we take it from idea to reality — testing and refining it with you at every step, right in front of you.
Documentation, not drops.
Software has had version control, open contribution, and public work-in-progress for years. Physical products still mostly get made behind a curtain, opened only for the reveal — we do the opposite.
This means we:
- Publish the process, not just the outcome
- Ask for scrutiny before a decision, not applause after one
- Keep design, manufacturing, and execution — sourcing, QC, logistics — with people who do it for a living; the community shapes and vets what gets made, it doesn’t build the product itself
No surprises, by design.
Every product moves through the same eight-phase framework — Problem, Proof of Conviction, Concept, Prototype, Test, Refine, Commitment, Production — tracked with a live “Phase X of 8” marker from day one. Delays and changed votes become part of the record, not something smoothed over later. Each run is sized to what actually got committed; we can’t promise a second run of the same product, but the platform doesn’t stop there — there’s always a next problem in the queue.
Different by design.
Using low-MOQ manufacturing and modern sourcing, we take on practical, close-to-home problems that don’t need years of R&D to solve well — and document the engineering decisions as we go: materials tested, specs changed, ideas we said no to and why.
Shaped and vetted with community.
A lot of us have had an idea like this — something that doesn’t exist yet, or doesn’t exist done well — and shelved it, because turning a problem into a product isn’t something one person knows how to do alone. That’s the gap this closes: bring the problem, and it goes through a real process. Not every problem becomes a product, but every one gets taken seriously.
Design and manufacturing decisions stay with the ID Projects team. The community’s role is to shape and vet.
Right now: Product 1 — Can’t do anything outside during summer — is live. Read the problem page, join the open call, or apply to test.