Guide to how the product design process works

People who have an idea for a product they wish to take to market will at some stage need to hire a a product designer. Richard Habergham, Head of Design at specialist design agency 4D Creations, looks at the key considerations you need to be aware of in the product design process.

Product design is often considered a wide process, which involves many aspects of conceptual and technical disciplines. The process covers a number of precise and important phases, which must be truly understood and explored to ensure you get the most out of your product.

The designer is very much the vehicle, which good design is achieved, and the relationship forged between the client and the designer is vital to ensure that journey is successful.

Designers thrive on new challenges and see each new project as a way of using these disciplines to take an idea and make it reality. However, any number of features, performances, specifications or price incentives will not persuade potential buyers if they do not fundamentally like the product to begin with.

A product will only get on the buyer's shortlist if it has that special 'I like it' factor, and this needs to be considered and set out in the original brief.

Commonly, not enough time is spent developing the brief to its fullest capacity, and if the brief is not complete then the entire concept and design will be flawed.

Individuals can choose between two very different types of brief, and whichever you provide, clarity and vision are key requirements:

The detailed brief – this should state your exact requirements, and will cover the entire design process, from product form and ergonomic usability, to functional constraints such as design for dis-assembly.

The loose brief - a basic set of guidelines to help the design focus in on key target areas, yet maintain an innovative and fresh approach to the product.

By using the knowledge and experience of the design team to make the brief bespoke to your product, you can rest assure that through previous trial and error and through seeing many different types of product, they usually know what will work best in the market place.

Finally, the brief must address three key views:

• Marketing: how the product relates to current market research.
• Technical: what limitations the product will have in terms of design and manufacturing capabilities.
• Commercial: this will consider the product in terms of what the ROI will be and how will it be merchandised and distributed.

Now the brief is complete the next stage is to ensure that all research is completed. As the designer will analyse the research with you to establish market relevance, you need to acquire as much knowledge as possible about your audience, current perceptions, the existing marketplace, competitors and the product.

This research will provide a clear insight into what direction your product design needs to take and will provide you with important knowledge about your customer, their trends and the context in which the product will function.

Typically, an average product takes at least 12 months to go from the initial brief to completion. A stop-start approach to product development is considered costly in terms of original investment and generally unproductive in the long run.

Pauses in a project can also cause the designers to lose momentum; a consistent rolling product design programme is one of the best ways of protecting your design investment and this can maintained by good research.

New ideas are a direct result of good research and a well laid out brief, so consumer and manufacturing processing should always be firmly in mind throughout and this can be further helped by the presentation output. Once the brief and specifications are created and issued, the product designer will begin to prepare the presentation of the concepts, which best meet, the requirements of your brief.

The presentation output depends entirely on the project and the desired product. Typical outputs to help visualise and understand design concepts are usually computer generated or hand sketches, however remember to push for the form of presentation that best suits you and your product.

These ideas and concepts should be constantly judged by the designer and the client, with regards to their consumer and manufacturing credentials. This questioning will then slowly filter the concept process into a more credible, functional form of design, which can be transformed into physical entities, such as foam models or 3D CAD.

As product designers, we begin to focus in on factors such as ergonomics, technical and aesthetics, and it is now that all parties should feel confident and happy to commit to CAD, allowing the client to see the product take form. The client and the designer will be focused on one design proposal; however a prototype may be required.

It is important to remember that product design should never be considered as a precise science. If we are to be innovative and create something new then we need to push the boundaries and cover all areas of creativity and development.

For every 1000 ideas, only 100 are likely to be good ones, 10 of these will get to prototype stage and 1 will be a success. If an experienced design team is being truly innovative, most of what they propose will consist of widely educated guesses based on previous trials.

The main goal here is to establish a production ready design, which can be signed off by all parties. It is critical that the product meets the consumer, client and marketing requirements as well as cost effective production. Preparing a ‘trial run’ is advised, as it will test the physical properties and be the last opportunity that alterations can be made without a costly impact.

Finally, it is imperative that the designer follows the product through every stage of the production. Quality control is even more critical now and nobody knows the product better than the designer.

About the Author

4D Creations is part of retail services group TMC which offers specialist product design services.

For more information log on to www.4d-creations.co.uk or call: 01422 231 500.

• Free Accounts Software for small businesses - Download TAS Basics Now!
• Starting Up? Get 18 months free banking, and much more from Lloyds TSB!
• Home Business Insurance - Save money with Direct Line for Business. We guarantee to beat any quote for the same cover. Immediate quote available.