The 4 Vital Stages of Product Design
Product design is like a mix of art, science, and skill. It involves creating a practical product that satisfies customer needs by identifying user problems and coming up with inventive solutions for them. It also refers to the qualities of the design in an already existing product. This process is rooted in design thinking, which is a method for creatively solving problems.
That's why product design involves lots of different steps from the beginning to the end. To help you understand better, let's go through the 4 essential phases of product design. This way, you can be better prepared when you're creating your own products.
What is the Product Design Process?
Designing and developing a new product is always a journey, and having a clear idea of what to expect from it is important for anyone who wants to bring their idea to market.
The Product design process involves meeting user needs from initial ideas to manufacturing, ensuring function and appeal. Steps include understanding users, translating needs into expectations, and mastering design, manufacturing, and packaging. Each stage also has challenges that must be addressed to create a successful product. In our industrial design studio, we break down such projects into four main stages when collaborating with our clients. Each stage produces its unique outcome and follows its specific process.
What Are the Stages of Product Design?
Conceptualisation
Conceptualisation is the process of creating ideas for designing a product based on a customer’s brief. This stage starts with analyzing the customer requirements from different angles and results in developing a final design for the product. It lowers the risks associated with the feasibility of the product idea. Here are some factors to consider when initiating a new product concept:
Target market: Your target market is the consumer profile you’re building your product for. These are your potential customers. This is important to identify in the beginning so you can build your product concept around your target market from the start.
Existing products: When you have a new product concept, it’s a good idea to evaluate your existing product portfolio. Are there existing products that solve a similar problem? Or does a competitor offer a product that doesn’t allow for market share? And if yes, is your new concept different enough to be viable? Answering these questions can ensure the success of your new concept.
Functionality: While you don’t need a detailed report of the product functionality just yet, you should have a general idea of what functions it will serve. Consider the look and feel of your product and why someone would be interested in purchasing it.
SWOT analysis: Analyzing your product strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats early in the process can help you build the best version of your new concept. This will ensure your product is different from competitors and solves a market gap.
Design
In this step, we use the information and drawings we gathered during conceptualization to begin creating the idea. We usually decide on things like the colors, shape, materials, size, and all the important looks and functions of the product. First, we make a 2D engineering sketch, and once it's approved, we create a 3D model that's very close to how the final product will look and work. We also think about how it will be put together, taken apart, if it's good for the environment, and how it will be made. This step gets us a model that's almost ready to become a real working prototype. After that, we move on to the prototype-making and testing phase.
Prototyping
This is the stage where we turn an idea into a physical and tangible invention. It's exciting to see it go from concept to a functioning product. Creating the prototype involves creativity and problem-solving, with multiple attempts using various prototyping methods like 3D printing, CNC machining, vacuum casting or simple paper prototyping.
This phase provides crucial feedback and validates our earlier work. If needed, we go back to previous stages for improvements. Once we have a prototype that meets all requirements, we move to the handover phase, where we provide manufacturers with design and technical details for production.
Handover Phase
In the last step of our product design process, we create project documentation that includes 3D CAD drawings and source files of the final models. These materials help the manufacturer make the parts and understand how to put everything together. Sometimes, the manufacturer provides feedback on certain design aspects, which may lead to iterations.
Once this phase is complete, we hand it over to the manufacturer, and they take over the production process, following our drawings to create the parts or assembly.
This sums up the product design process. To bring your design into a tangible finished product, we identify and engage the most suitable manufacturers for your product amongst our partners and network. Whether your goal is competitive production costs or environment-friendly production, we know the right suppliers. With our packaging design, brand identity design, and product photography partners, we will see you through the final step to get you ready to introduce your product to the market.
