MAKO’s Favorite Movies for Product Design Inspiration

If You Build It

‘If You Build It’ surrounds the life of one of America’s high school design programs that shows how the students of one innovative classroom plan to design and build for their hometown community. The class learns all about the fundamentals of design, construction, and architecture from Emily Pilloton and Matt Miller.

Our California invention design studio loves how the film is a great way to inspire designers through how the film exemplifies both the excitement and challenges the young students face within their creative process in design. Both Emily Pilloton and Matt Miller make great insightful commentary and helpful tips about design and design practices, perfect for designers, and design students to enjoy.

Burt’s Buzz

Our California invention design studio understands how becoming a household name is a dream for a lot of small business owners and new inventors, which is why we recommend the movie ‘Burt’s Buzz,’ a movie all about the iconic figure of the world-famous brand ‘Burt’s Bees.’

The movie follows and gives an in-depth look at the life of Burt Shavitz – the face behind the infamous Burt’s Bees brand. The documentary-style film looks at how Burt became one of the most well-known brands in America and how his small business turned into an iconic brand.

The story is a great lesson and example of how businesses and brands build their way to the top and shows a great in-depth look into how businesses think about marketing, branding, and strategy – all essential pieces in starting a new company, business, or product debut. Overall, the film is insightful, eye-opening, and inspiring for any new inventors – especially small business owners.

Print the Legend

One of the biggest innovations that we use at our California invention design studio to help progress and push product design inspiration and technology forward is 3D printers and 3D printing technology! Filmed in 2014, the Netflix documentary, ‘Print the Legend,’ focuses entirely on the 3D printing revolution and its place in our current society, with a focus on its progression within the design and tech field.

Not only does the documentary highlight and educate the audience on the origin of the 3D printer, but also places its achievements and shows how it’s grown in popularity, highlighting some major 3D printing companies along the way, such as, Makerbot, 3D Systems, etc.

In addition to showing how much 3D printing has given us more to our world – moving from a niche design and tech interest to a common office to household staple – this documentary also explores more controversial subjects such as the lengths and limits being given the accessibility of being able to print ‘anything.’ Looking at how 3D printing works in our modern-day world reminds us that product design inspiration can be garnered and made through using our most convenient and emerging technologies.

They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead

A great way our California invention design studio likes to gain inspiration, especially when you find yourself in a motivational or creative block, is to watch films and documentaries that not only re-inspire you but teach you something.

‘They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead’ is a film that follows Orson Welles – known as one to Hollywood as a cinematic visionary at his time. While struggling to keep up with his notorious reputation, the director was working on a new film to help his career – however, Welles died before completing the film.

‘They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead’ shows an exciting side to Orson Welles’s creative process and filmmaking genius as he attempts to make a new and revolutionary film. The film is a great way to help re-inspire your creativity and help you appreciate and learn how to work through creative processes – important for all designers and inventors whiling inventing.

Looking for more to watch? Check out our Netflix recommendations for design inspiration here!

If you have a great new invention and you’d like to learn more about this process, get in touch with MAKO today and visit our website to find out more. Or feel free to give us a call at +1 (888) 806-MAKO, and we can set you up on a call with our product strategist!

About: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Also, our founder Kevin Mako hosts The Product Startup Podcast, the industry's leading hardware podcast. Check it out for tips, interviews, and best practices for hardware startups, inventors, and product developers. Click HERE to learn more about MAKO Design + Invent!