In the last decade axiomatic design has been proved to be a valuable methodology for designing complex products and systems. However, axiomatic design methodology may be of great worth even for simple products. This paper demonstrates as a case study its effectiveness in the design of an innovative product – an industrial hinge of four degrees of freedom. By setting the independence axiom as guideline throughout the analysis, we present step by step the design matrices, which represent the mapping relationships between functional requirements and design parameters.