Product Design

Product design is the driving force behind all businesses, regardless of what their product actually is. Whether it's a new gadget for the kitchen, a new app for the iPhone or a new style of massage, the concept has to be vetted, tested and marketed, which means you have to go through the product design process.

Fortunately, designing a product is a very interesting process, and understanding it can help you out regardless of your own field of work. We've compiled this product and design mini-course to introduce you to the basic concepts, and help you find more information on a wide range of related topics, from inspiration to development to marketing, as well as a number of helpful resources for further research.

What You'll Learn

• Revolutionary products and how they changed their markets
• Resources for modern inspiration
• How to tell a great idea from an okay one
• The basics of market research
• Guidelines for product development
• What a product manager does
• How to make a solid product launch plan
• Extra tips for aspiring designers
• A number of useful, related resources

Industrial/product design is one of the most fundamental aspects of any business, because the product is what the consumers spend money on, and without spenders there can be no profit. It comes as no surprise, then, that in 2008 Canadian companies invested $38.6 billion dollars in product development, 26% of which was outsourced to private product development companies. There are about 48,000 industrial design jobs in the United States, which is expect to increase by 7% by 2016. This makes industrial design one of the most competitive job markets, so anyone aspiring to be a designer should consider wisely and be prepared to submit a lot of applications, or even work freelance.

A good product can make or break a company-especially a start up. In fact, single products have been responsible for the success of many major American corporations, most notably Apple, Inc., which was saved with the invention of the iMac, with its focus on usability and customer experience. Up until the development of the iMac, Apple was floundering, and many predicted its imminent demise. The incorporation of a sense of "fun" into the iMac sent it flying off retail shelves-a technique that also worked for WV’s Beetle. In The Beetle, the iMac, and How They Changed Product Design, Dave Vogler of Fuel Your Product Design explains how these revolutionary products used fresh, simple and yet familiar designs to win customer love and widen their profit margins-a technique later copied by Ford and Kodak, among others.

Over the decades, there have been many revolutionary products that changed the game in their market, and made the big bucks for their companies. PC World’s written a collection of the 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years, which takes a comprehensive look at how dozens of revolutionary gadgets changed the way society functions. The list ranges from early innovations like the Sony walk man, Texas Instruments’ Speak & Spell, and Kodak’s instamatic, to indispensable modern amenities like Apple’s iPod, the Roomba floorvac, TiVo, and even Sony’s Playstation.

Modern Innovations

Nowadays, that next big product is all about finding ways to make life easier and more interesting. Products tend to focus on things like connecting people, making a style statement or responding to needs that customers didn’t even know they had. For example, check out the mobile tail from Yanko Design-an obvious improvement for large-screen mobile devices executed in an interesting and stylish way, and at an affordable price. These are the sorts of ideas that go viral in today’s Internet-based market, and they’re the sort of product you should be looking to create.

The Internet is full of great sites that chronicle sleek, modern product designs that exemplify "out of the box" thinking. Bizarre and Unusual Product Designs can help inspire your next big idea, and get the creative juices flowing. And when all else fails, look to the experts for fun and groundbreaking ideas: the Red Dot Award is an award ceremony specifically for product design. Think of it like the Oscars for ideas, and maybe set it as a new personal product design goal.

But getting to the "next big thing" isn’t as simple and straight-forward as many designers make it look. Just coming up with the idea is hard enough, but once you have the inspiration, you have to know how to separate the winners from the duds. First of all, you should make sure that you put your idea through the right process. That means you need to:

1. Define the problem. What is the need that your product answers? How great is the need? Is that need broad enough to build a large customer base? Remember that even the best idea won’t make money if nobody wants it.
2. Research the problem. Are there any products like yours already out there? What are their flaws? How about safety or environmental regulations-are there laws you have to consider? Try to find every possible piece of information related to your product, even if it’s only related peripherally. The more you know, the more likely you are to have all your bases covered.
3. Brainstorm. Write your idea in the center of a piece of paper, then build out with every possible hair-brained scheme or design you and your coworkers can think of. Include improvements on existing products, features to target new market niches, possible future directions for later models-everything. You can narrow it all down later, but for now the most important thing is to think of everything.
4. Do an engineering analysis. Once you’ve come up with the most brilliant, comprehensive version of your product, check it over for viability. Break it down into its most basic components, figure out how everything would have to work, and whether or not the idea is even practical. This step is also important for determining cost. If a special feature would take years to develop, or the technology for it simply isn’t available yet, you might have to ditch it for a cheaper, more practical option.

Once an idea has made it all the way through these steps, you know it’s a solid product and it’s safe to move on to the development and building stages. For a more detailed version of this process, check out What makes a great product design? From thoughts to reality.
Following this process will help you avoid the biggest pit-falls in product development, especially if you work for a bigger company and your job is on the line. If you don’t thoroughly vet your idea before it goes to production, you could end up like the poor schmuck at the McDonald’s Corporation who suggested the Arch Deluxe-because the Big Idea can Get You Fired.

For entrepreneurs and small businesses, take a look at Daniel McKenzie’s Tips for Startups, which focuses on product development in fledgling companies. It includes advice like to take risks in the beginning stages (rather than at the end, when it’s harder to recover), hiring a designer rather than just an engineer, and how to figure out if your product is even possible.

There are, of course, more scientific methods for getting an idea approved. Market researchers make a living asking consumers what they want and figuring out what the overall market trends are. If you’re looking to launch a new product, you’d be crazy to do it without taking this vital step. But the specifics of market research can be a bit confusing, especially in a world where the Internet has made every customer into a well-educated, well-connected consumer with easy access to all the information he or she could ever want-including your competitors. In his article The Research Methods of Social Buyerology, Tony Zambito explains the major methods of market research currently in use, and the pros and cons of each in this age of social media technology, as outlined here:

• Field Buyer Research: Direct interviews with potential customers.
• Ethnographic Immersion: "A day in the life" of a single consumer.
• Contextual Buyer Interviews: Interviews conducted with customers in specific target populations, to determine how individual thinking works within a group setting.
• Grounded Theory Interviews: This sort of interview is conducted with a specific hypothesis in mind. It’s like field buyer research, except more directed and controlled.

Once you have your goal firmly in mind, it’s time to start implementing it. Taking a product from the drawing board to the cutting room floor can be a long and complicated process, and though modern technology has certainly make it easier, nothing beats a little experimentation. In Rethinking the Hairdryer, Design Sojourn.com follows the creative process of designer Ariane Prin as she works on an improved design for the hairdryer. While this article is specific to hairdryers, many of the steps Ariane goes through are applicable to all product development, particularly her use of physical models rather than computer renderings to explore the different design possibilities, and her close contact with hairdressers on the project.

But the aforementioned computer renderings are incredibly helpful, because they allow you to visualize a number of different versions of your product without having to commit the materials necessary for a physical model. Of course, there are drawbacks to computer modeling: you cannot get a literal feel for the product, it takes quite a bit of time and practice to get handy with the software, and it’s easy to overlook flaws when the computer glosses over them for you. However, if you know what you’re doing, imagine software can really help in your development process, as exemplified in CAD junkie’s Software Tools I Use (and why), where he gives detailed explanation of the various software available and how to use it.

And for those who like computer renderings but miss the advantages of a physical model, consider 3D Printer prototypes. 3D printers are a fairly new technology so they still have a lot of room for improvement (and are still quite expensive), but they can also build prototypes faster and cheaper than you could with a ball of clay and a sculpting knife.

Staying Organized

Product managers get a bad rap in the business world, especially from programmers working on new computer and internet applications, but they perform a vital role in the development of a product. It’s easy for a product to lose direction during the development process. Since product managers are essentially the "voice of the customer," it’s their responsibility to make sure that the product doesn’t get off topic and won’t miss its market, which saves the company huge amounts of time and money, and prevents disastrous launches.
A good product manager is deft at controlling your product data, and knows how to keep everyone’s nose to the grindstone, even if it makes them cranky. No one knows this better than the Cranky Product Manager, whose blog is one of the biggest in the business, and contains sarcastic jewels like So You Think Agile Methodologies Exempt You From Product Management-a hilarious explanation of why product managers are so valuable to their companies, despite what programmers might think.

It’s also worth your time to take a look at the Top 12 Product Management Mistakes and How to Avoid Them, which details a number of key points to keep track of during the product management process. Some of these include:

1. Don’t confuse customer requirements with product requirements. The customers may be the end-all, be-all of the marketing world, but that doesn’t mean they know what they want. If you’re trying to innovate, asking the customers to built your product isn’t the answer. Instead, find experts in the field-people who understand what’s possible, and can recognize a wide range of needs beyond that of a single consumer.
2. Remember that innovation is not automatically valuable. Just because a product is new and different doesn’t mean people are going to jump for it, especially if the older model is still just as good. Your vision has to be grounded in reality, and you need to make strategic choices about which products you develop. "New and exciting" doesn’t always translate to "a good idea."
3. Features are not automatic benefits. Don’t get caught up adding a million and one side-features to your product, especially if those features are taking up too much space and confusing the original design. Generally speaking, less is more when it comes to add-ons.

3, 2, 1…Liftoff

No matter how good your product is, it will flop if you don’t market it right, which means you have to have a killer launch team. These people need to be able to identify and target your market, and build up buzz about your product over time so that when the release day comes, everyone is already vying for it instead of ignoring it. This can’t be done as a side project-your team needs to be dedicated to the project full time. Having a set team that you re-use for each product launch will help make every one go even more smoothly than the last, as the team members figure out what jobs they’re best at and gain experience about how to contact various markets. For a more detailed overview of the process of launching a product, see Rick Sklarin’s Art & Science of a Successful Product Launch-a handy guide to managing a launch team, including these three plan essentials:

1. Identify the most trying task. This is the "long pole task"-the one that will be the most challenging and take the most time. This could be anything from training customer service personnel to filming and running a TV commercial campaign.
2. Plan backward. If you want the launch completed on time, you have to really plan ahead-backward. Start at the launch date and estimate how long everything will take, working your way backward, and then give yourself even more extra time. You don’t want anything to turn out sloppy because you rushed the launch. Organize weekly meetings to keep everything running smoothly and on task.
3. Communicate. Make sure that everyone knows what’s going on at all times. Nobody likes to be kept in the dark, whether they’re an employee, an analyst or a customer. Keeping the lines of communication open, regardless of what there is to report, will ensure that you maintain trust and a good reputation, which will have everyone pulling for the success of your product.

Like any creative endeavor, designing is a tough gig. You have to be constantly on the search for inspiration, even through the daily grind of hunting down clients and turning out work to someone else’s specifications. With the increasing availability of design and printing technologies, the competition for designer jobs is tougher than ever, and you have to know how to sell yourself above all else. Jump on every opportunity for an internship while you’re still in school, avoid personalities that distract you from your studying, and make sure your social media profiles say as many positive things about you as your resume does-and no negatives. Remember: your First Product is You.

Once you’ve landed a position, you need to stay ahead of the curve. Watch for what the greats in your field are doing, and take their advice whenever possible. Follow things like AGIdeas, which this year produced 7 insights to make you a great designer, including the reassurance that it’s okay to suck at first, to change directions within the design arena, and to ask for help or a find collaborative partner when you get stuck. Acquire and use as much expertise as you can early in the game. In this rapidly changing technological world, if you don’t keep up you could very quickly find yourself replaced by Personal Fabrication technology, which is essentially Democratizing Product Design by allowing amateurs to design and print products with relatively little hassle through the use of 3D printers. The technology is still too young to be commercially viable, but as it improves, the prices will drop and you will find yourself in competition with everyone's latent "Creative Genius."

• Core77 - One of the premier online design magazines, Core77 features every imaginable sort of information related to product design, including management advice, inspirational examples, interviews, and reviews of design schools.
• Product Design Forums - The biggest online forum dedicated exclusively to discussions about product designs, including sponsored competitions, and an area where you can submit your ideas for peer review and feedback on possible improvements.
• Monkee Design: Interviews - A site dedicated to producing quality interviews with innovative product designers, so you can learn from the masters in your craft.

• Core77 - One of the premier online design magazines, Core77 features every imaginable sort of information related to product design, including management advice, inspirational examples, interviews, and reviews of design schools.
• Product Design Forums - The biggest online forum dedicated exclusively to discussions about product designs, including sponsored competitions, and an area where you can submit your ideas for peer review and feedback on possible improvements.
• Monkee Design: Interviews - A site dedicated to producing quality interviews with innovative product designers, so you can learn from the masters in your craft.

• The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman – This book is a go-to resource for anyone who's ever made or used a thing, period. It explains the principles of good design versus the pitfalls of bad design, and how to spot the difference.
• The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life) by John Maeda – This guide does just what it sets out to do: simplify the process of product design. By boiling it all down to ten basic laws, Maeda makes it easier to sort out your business-and your life.
• Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell, Kristina Holden and Jill Butler – This manuals is a must-have resource for designers, as it consolidates all the numerous and complex ideas related to design and lays them out in an easy-to-use format. It covers concepts like the 80/20 rule, baby-face bias and Ockham's razor.
• Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart – This environmentalist's manifesto explores the ways we're failing to protect our environment, and how product design innovation can help solve the problem. By encouraging cooperation between manufacturers and environmentalists, this forward-thinking guide seeks to solve some of the biggest problems facing humanity today.
• Designers are Wankers by Lee McCormack – This tongue-in-cheek manual is written specifically with design students in mind, and guides you through the rocky world of industrial design for beginners. It also contains interviews with working product designers.
• A Fine Line: How Design Strategies Are Shaping the Future of Business by Hartmut Esslinger – Written by one of the biggest powerhouses in the industrial design industry, this book covers the process of innovation in startling detail, with much attention paid to the importance of connecting with consumers on a human level.

Should I focus on a product or a service?

The difference between a product company and a service company is, obviously, in the tangibility of the item you are selling. This means that they have to be marketed entirely differently. While product marketing is relatively straightforward-posting a picture of your product will sometimes suffice-when it come to service marketing, things get a lot more complicated. Essentially, you have to sell yourself along with the service you are offering, because that's what the customer is really paying for: you.

Service companies tend to have a more reliable income than product companies, because customers have to keep coming back or keep buying monthly subscriptions while product companies just make the one sale. However, that income is also much slower and takes longer to build up, so many service companies are heavily reliant on out-of-pocket funding at the beginning. Some people try to compensate for this by mixing products and services into one company, aiming for the best of both worlds, as described by Julian Stone of ProWorkflow in Service Business vs. Product Business. However, this can be a mistake for service companies, because it interrupts their profit margins by adding in new overhead. Mark Suster argues passionately against this approach in What Should You Do With Your Crappy Little Services Business?, pointing out that the venture capital required would take control completely out of the hands of the founders and put all the money into business growth rather than splitting it up as dividends.

Where should I market my product?

Most companies go the more traditional route, with television, print, radio, or internet ads. And it's true that these mediums have proved themselves quite effective in the past, so they're a worthy investment. But if you're on a tight budget, you may want to consider taking a less traditional route. Take a look at the 15 weirdly effective places to advertise you've never thought of from Business Insider. What do these advertisements have in common? They're all unique and interesting, sure, but most of all they have that X factor. People will talk about them, take pictures of them, and show those pictures to their friends, which means free advertising for you. Additionally, advertising on youtube with a funny or weird video can catch a lot of eyes, especially if you find the right person to publicize it on Twitter. Do some research into "YouTube celebrities" and see if you can find someone to help you out. There's nothing better than an advertisement going viral.

Why isn't my product selling?

There are two reasons your product might not sell; either your product sucks and there's no demand for it, in which case you clearly didn't follow the guidelines in the Right Idea section, or your advertising skills need work. Everyone knows that even the best product won't catch on if no one knows about it, but bad advertising is almost worse than no advertising. Here are a few key points to avoid in your advertisements:

• Don't lose the message in your ads. If your company sells toothpaste, don't advertise it with puppies. Advertise it with teeth. Complicating it with unrelated "hooks" just makes it hard for the customer to remember what you were selling in the first place.
• Stick to your campaign. Changing tactics might work in warfare, but not in advertising. If your advertisements are constantly changing, no one will be able to keep track of them, and eventually people will start ignoring you. Develop one great campaign and stick to it.
• Don't capitalize on holidays. A little bit of festivities is nice around the holidays, but having a sale every time they let school out early gets old quickly, and it's uncreative. Why have a Labor Day sale when everyone else is having one, too? The idea is to stand out, not to blend in.
• Most importantly, don't annoy your customer. People are smart, and they don't like to have their intelligence insulted. Create your ad campaigns accordingly. For more tips on bad advertising, check out Entrepreneur.com's article Dumb Advertising Moves to Avoid.

Help! My product bombed!

Okay, don't panic. There are still a few steps you can take to move the excess product and make a profit, or at least break even. While they may say that "any publicity is good publicity," as explained in this New York Observer article, sometimes too much advertising or the wrong kind of advertising can kill a product. When this happens, the best thing you can do is unbrand-remove your company name from the product, get rid of it at the lowest possible discounted prices and move on. After all, there is quite a bit of evidence that consumers are actually more likely to buy an unbranded product than they are to buy from a brand they either don't like or don't know, as explained in Stephen Denny's Note to CMO: the Power of Unbranding. If the product failed badly enough, you might even consider changing your brand altogether, and starting from scratch. Escaping a bad brand might be just the thing your company needs.