Welcome back to our blog series, which strives to give you, the client, as much information as possible to help give you an insight into the product design process.
Whether or not you choose to use Team Conficio to build your vision, we want to pass on our knowledge and expertise, to ensure a smooth, hassle free and no-nonsense approach to product design. We’ve learned a thing or two over the years and we want to share that! 😉
Reading About The Product Design Process
In this series we’ve already looked at selecting a design consultancy, creating a brief, how to budget and manage expectations, and even jargon busting. This month we are visiting the product design journey itself. This is a subject we are super passionate about, because it is truly the crux of product design success.
There are a number of steps in the product design process, which if followed, can make for a solid experience, hopefully getting you to product design nirvana faster, within (or at least near) budget and featuring the quality and specification that you’d set out to achieve.
Our team created this infographic to help visualise the product design journey, so how does this work?
Planning in Product Design
Planning your project is the first step, kicking off with concept generation and ideation. This is where your concept will be explored in design terms, to determine how the product should look, feel and work. This early stage of exploration will require an iterative feedback loop between you and your design team, in order to understand what the ultimate outcome should be.
Concept Development in Product Design
Concept Development is the next step, taking a closer look at the design – at this point the stakeholders are usually leaning toward a particular option. The design team will focus on the preferred version and start to bring that to life in a visualisation. This is a great time to look at prototyping your idea. Prototyping basically means bringing the concept to life in a real and three-dimensional format, in order that the first phase testing can be done, to ensure the concept can really work, and to check you are on the right path.
Getting Design Ready
Once the product is approved it’s time for the final leg of design development. This is where the designers will focus on the finer details, including the types of materials used, safety testing and getting the product assembly or manufacture ready. A final wave of user trials and testing need to take place before the final item can be released to market.
There is a lot to consider, so if you would like to explore each stage of the design journey in more detail, pop over to our previous blog, The Design Process – A Masterclass, for a more thorough step-by-step explanation.
We hope you found this blog helpful – if so, please click and share! Our trusty team of designers and engineers are always on hand for your product design queries, so please do give us a buzz if you have a question following this article. You can drop us an email us here or give us a call on 01962 454474.
