Tips For Beginner Product Designers
The global product design and development industry was worth over $7.9 billion in 2020. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.6% between 2021 and 2028. Those interested in product design and product strategy will find that now is a great time to start a career as a product designer. Since this industry is lucrative, more companies are opening their doors to hire product strategy implementation experts.
In this article, we go through some of the key tips beginner product designers should follow and which will help them ace the art & science of product development strategy.
10 Important Tips for Beginner Product Designers
1. Have a Product Development Strategy for Efficiency
Beginner product designers and strategists need to have a solid product development strategy in place before they begin their work. A product strategy will give product designers the framework and methodologies to efficiently and effectively design their products. A product strategy also encompasses steps that product designers can use when they experience delays, bottlenecks, or unanticipated challenges.
Someone preparing a product design of a product. Imagee source:geodesignengenius.com
The key to creating effective product strategies is approaching them from a cross-functional/departmental perspective. Product designers and product strategists seldom work alone. They work in tandem with marketing professionals, salespersons, technologists, finance professionals, and top management. Consulting with members from various departments and hierarchies can help beginner product designers anticipate all possible needs, steps to be taken, and challenges they may encounter during the product development process.
When we're talking about the product development strategy, let's spend a moment exploring the different types of product strategies designers can consider:
a) Cost leadership product strategy
This product development strategy focuses on developing at the lowest cost, offering customers low prices. This strategy tries to get a larger market share by providing highly-affordable products. Example: Walmart
b) Quality product strategy
This product strategy focuses on offering premium product quality, made using the best materials and following industry-leading standards. Here, the product’s price may be high, but the quality offered is unparalleled. Example: Apple
c) Service Product Strategy
In this product development strategy, beginner product designers focus on supercharging the service element of the product. The personalized service during search, sale, and after-sale highlights this product strategy. Example: Ritz Carlton
d) Differentiation product strategy
This strategy focuses on leveraging the company's or product's uniqueness compared to the competitors in the market. This difference could be in the product’s features, the versatility of usage, the aesthetic elements, product longevity, etc., which isn't available in the products made by the existing competitors. Example: Amazon (cost & delivery speed differentiation)
e) Focus product strategy
In this product development strategy, the product designer builds a highly-specialized product for a niche market. The product is generally priced higher because of its nicheness. Example: Tofutti Brands (vegetarian and vegan products only). The choice of product strategy depends on the type of product the company is developing and the prospects/market being targeted. Beginner designers must focus on the following tip to understand what product must be made for your prospects.
2. Study the target market to see what's lacking
Image showing people studying the market shares. Image source: jcomp on freepik
There is a popular saying in the product design industry. It goes like this – "Not all good ideas make good products." The truth is, while an idea may sound great, it may not be ideal for the moment. Customers will purchase a product they want to help them meet their needs. They won't be as thrilled with products for which they have no practical use. For example, while designer baby clothes seem a fabulous, creative idea, not every mother may want their children in such fancy clothes. Babies tend to get messy quickly, and designer clothes may take too much maintenance, which new parents may not have time for.
In these cases, beginner product strategists should vet every idea they come up with to check if they align with the market’s needs. Implement surveys and opinion polls, ask social media prospects, and conduct secondary market research. This can help product designers get an insight into what's lacking in the market and what type of products they need to design and develop.
So, if companies were to consult with new parents, they would find out exactly what new parents wished was available in the market but wasn't yet.
3. Develop a product development process based on the end goal your product should achieve
Once beginner product designers know what their target market wants, they can develop the right product development process. To do this, we recommend that product designers focus on the end result they want their product to achieve. For example, should it be a product that saves time when performing a task? Or must it protect users' health & wellbeing? Is it a product that can make a service more accessible to people with disabilities? Etc. The end goal should dictate the processes designers use to bring their ideas to life.
4. Focus on usability and functionality over features
Customers will switch over from competitors only when they believe that this product helps them achieve their goals faster, more effortlessly, or lower costs. Additionally, in some instances, a specific feature may be more cumbersome to use or reduce the product’s versatility. For example, some cars have motorized side view mirrors. While the feature seems innovative, it's not highly usable. Such mirrors are very hard to adjust the way drivers want them. More often than not, drivers will manually adjust the mirrors, making the feature redundant.
It is essential for beginner product strategists and product designers not to fix the bells and whistles. It is necessary to focus on the core elements that make the product usable and functional in the various use cases familiar to the target market.
5. Provide advantages that customers will benefit from
Beginners in the product design industry need to understand the difference between features and advantages. Features are product attributes that companies develop and which innovate the product. But these features may not be deemed necessary or proper by the target customers. However, advantages are attributes that improve product functionality and usability and offer distinct benefits that customers will find helpful.
For example, a dual camera in a phone is a feature – impressive but not necessary. Longer battery life is an advantage – an essential today.
6. Pay attention to aesthetics
Aesthetics do matter in product strategy implementation. Humans are visual creatures and often get attracted by products that look good and can match the aesthetics of our living/working space. In addition to focusing on usability, functionality, and advantages, beginner designers must also pay attention to product aesthetics. It helps to know the cultural associations with colors, shapes, designs, and brand fonts. That way, designers can choose aesthetics that will inherently appeal to the buyers in their target market.
7. Build for scalability
Product design professionals must consider the long-term implications of their creation. Can the product be used even 5, 10, 15 years from now? Will it be able to support the needs of its customers? This is, in particular, very important if the company is serving business clients. Additionally, product strategists must also consider how easy scalability can be. Making a product difficult to scale or adapt to customers’ needs can put buyers off the brand.
Here, it helps product designers to evaluate their competitor's existing products to identify their flaws and learn what can be done better.
8. Make Creating Prototypes a Priority
Some designers avoid making prototypes until they have finalized all elements of the product development process. This can be problematic since it may make it difficult for designers to identify any issues with product design early. This can result in a tremendous amount of re-working and waste many company resources.
This is where it benefits to keep making prototypes of the product whenever a design feature is decided upon. That way, the prototype can be a working model that is modified until it reaches a desired form and functionality. Also, implement an active feedback loop to help product strategists get real-world feedback about the product design, quality, and usability.
9. Implement rigorous product development process documentation
One of the most integral steps in the product development strategy is documentation. Rigorous and transparent documentation can help the product design team and other cross-functional partners to be aware of the product development process from start to finish. It is easier to course-correct when the team loses focus on the objective of the product strategy. When new team members join the project, sharing information about the developments and getting them on board is more manageable. Documentation also helps create a record of the company’s challenges and issues when designing the product. This can help make contingency plans for future products. Finally, documentation can help ensure the project stays on track and the deliverables are completed according to the estimated timelines. Any delays can be forecasted, and measures can be taken to ensure that they don't have an adverse impact on the company's goals.
10. Choose CAD software for effortless product strategy and product design
A prototype of a bridge being designed in SelfCAD
Our final tip to beginners in the product design industry is to use Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software to start designing their new products. The CAD software:
· Streamlines design & development.
· Enables easier and faster cross-company collaboration.
· Offers state-of-the-art design tools that support the creation of premium-quality product design.
· Helps designers eliminate unnecessary design elements and save company resources.
· Offers greater visibility into the technical nuances of the product development process.
· Aids teams in creating effective product strategies post-development.
· Save significant amounts of documentation in a safe environment.
There are various 3D modeling software available that you can use to create your designs. A good example is SelfCAD. With SelfCAD, you can get started much easily as it has a simplified interface and you won’t have to struggle to master the tools of the software. You can 3D design both simple and complex product designs of your products with SelfCAD. After you are done with the 3D design process and you would like to 3D print it, you don’t have to switch to an external software like cura in order to slice it. Everything can easily be done in the software as SelfCAD has an in-built slicer. SelfCAD is also affordable and you can design your models without having to break your bank.
Wrapping up
If beginner product designers follow the above tips, they'll find it's not that hard to develop and implement a winning product strategy. So, give these techniques a try.
Enjoy powerful modeling, rendering, and 3D printing tools without the steep learning curve.
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