Definition:

Every product must be designed before it is manufactured or created digitally. The process of design is intended to create a product that meets customer needs and has enough differentiation to delight the customer.

• What it is: Product design is the process of considering customer needs and aligning them with technical capabilities to design a product that will not only meet the customers' needs but delight them.

• What it does: Every product was designed before it was sold. Every toothbrush, can opener, website, and app had to go through the design process. The process of product design is used to create products that meet commodity standards or differentiated products that can be sold for more than competitors’ products because they meet customer desires that competitor designed products do not meet.

Uses:

• How it is used: A product design creates the specifications and pattern that will be used to manufacture products and develop code. The product design process is a combination of determining customer needs, differentiation, and cost management.

• Where: Company design engineers and artists can design products, or the company may hire design or engineering firms. 

• Why: Without a product design, there would be no product.

Limitations:

• Where it shouldn't be used: Where a product is an absolute duplicate of an existing product, there may not need to be a design element.

• Any restrictions: None

• Warnings: Be careful of patent infringement and copyright protections.

Demonstrations:

• The Product Development Process

• Product Development | 5 min Overview of the Product Design Process.mp4

• ABC Nightline - IDEO Shopping Cart

• How to design breakthrough inventions

• Stanford Webinar - Design Thinking = Method, Not Magic

Step-by-Step Process:

• Gather data: Define the needs of the company and the competitive products that already exist.

• Understand existing opportunities: Work with customers, engineers, experts, and others from adjacent industries and products.

• How do they use existing products? This includes the process the product is used in as well as the product itself.

• What does it cost to use the current product? What is the total cost of the process?

• What is wrong with the current product and processes?

• What would it be worth to the customer if these problems could be resolved?

• Empathize

• Define

• Ideate

• Prototype

• Test

• Ask the four questions about customer needs.

• Imagine a new product and process that would meet current needs and solve current problems. As you consider new opportunities, you can know what the customer needs in the finished product and process, as well as how much they will pay for this new product and process (current cost plus what they would pay to resolve problems). You can consider using design thinking, which follows the steps below:

• Develop a prototype and test it with customers to see if you are on the right track, then make a second- and third-generation prototype as you work through customer feedback.

• Determine a manufacturing process and the cost of producing the product or service. See if you can meet the customer's needs and still make a profit.

Template for Capturing data:

There are many different approaches and you should consider using processes found in some of the other tools described in this library, such as the following:

• Expert Interviews

• Focus group

• Survey Development

• Market Analysis

• Customer Analysis

• Estimating Returns For a Recommendation

• Financial Modeling

Output Representation and Recommendations:

The presentation or projected product design can be done in a combination of PowerPoint and prototype. The presentation should resemble the outline below:

• Presentation of the idea and the prototype

• Explanation of what needs the product meets and how customers will use it

• Evidence of why we believe customers will see this product as meeting their needs, including market research testing of the prototype

• Price point analysis: Why you believe customers will pay your price point

• Cost analysis of making, shipping, distributing the product, and getting payment

• Forecasts of the financial pro forma income statement and balance sheet, as well as break-even points, IRR, cash flow analysis, and NPV projections

Examples:

• 25 inspiring examples of industrial design

• Cool And Innovative Product Design Examples

• What are some examples of GREAT product design? 

Additional resources:

• The Complete Guide to the UX Product Design Process