We’ve lost track of the inventions and products we’ve designed in our heads, or drawn, or even rigged a rough version of for our own use. We are, at heart, secret inventors, plotting ways to make the things we’ve looked for and can’t seem to find in stores or online. We love stories of ordinary souls, untrained designers, who actually brought their brilliant imaginings to fruition – making a prototype, figuring out the steps to having something fabricated, and then selling it – and wondered what the process is…the steps along the way.

Today, we found a free online guide for inventors – modeled on a FAC – from International Design Consultancy, a UK design consultancy, that runs through each step of the process from Assessing and Protecting Your Idea to patenting it to funding it. Even though it’s meant to be a subtle promotion for IDC, we found that the little guide has an amazing amount of good information, and helped to clarify our thinking.

via Core 77