Essence of Product Design

Product design is a process applied intensively in projects aimed at product development. It includes a set of product properties, consisting of the characteristics of its main product structure, product functions, engineering requirements, production specifics, product identity, marketing strategy, economic parameters, etc., purposefully adapted, emphasizing and highlighting its purpose, value and benefits for the end customer. A process starting with the generation of ideas, their phased creation and development, leading to a potentially new product that a business seeks to offer in a specific market segment and aimed at a specific target group of customers. Product design is a combination of analysis, research, design and development, with the aim of directing and organizing a smooth transition to the product development process. It is also connected to other subsequent processes and phases of the product, of which it is an integral part, and as much as it depends on them, they depend on it – adaptation for production, implementation in production, commercialization, offering, etc. A process that identifies and solves problems, defines and develops ideas, creating potential and opportunities for product validation by the market and the customer. When it comes to creating products, this becomes an unavoidable process that distinguishes companies and brands – it gives them value and real advantages over competitors in the market. In order to understand the essence of product development, it is essential to first understand the process of product design, which will lead to an adequate product creation. There is no generally accepted definition, with full consensus, for product design that sufficiently reflects the breadth of the topic, but there are two dependencies that cover a large part of the basic meaning of this phenomenon. The first definition categorically defines product design as a noun referring to the physical aspects of the product. Following this logic, it is possible that it includes a combination of a set of physical properties and features of the product, consisting of discrete characteristics of function, ergonomics and “styling” (visual characteristics) of the form. The so-called purposeful and adequate aesthetics of the physical product, united with the other characteristics and fully integrated into the product, emphasizing and bringing to the fore its functionality and purpose. Of course, at the foundation of product design are rooted unavoidable rules, the original source of which is industrial design, the main one being: “Form follows function.” The second definition, which is decisive for product design and its relationship with the specific product, refers to a more detailed look at its process and its key role, realizing the meaning of the sequence that is generated by its main stages and their substages. This is a real prerequisite for the project to approach the basic characteristics of development and the potential to reach a possible product that can be offered to the market and customers. Product design gradually grows into product development, successively climbing each next step of the product’s creation and development, grading the processes with the following hierarchical sequence: “industrial design – product design – product development”. Thus, it becomes a cornerstone and starting point of product development, but at the same time a transition between it and industrial design – a process for designing products, with the corresponding skills, methodology and approach in building the main product structure.

“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer – that the designers are handed this box and told, “Make it look good!” That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. 

“Design” is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works. The design of the Mac wasn’t what it looked like, although that was part of it. Primarily, it was how it worked. To design something really well, you have to get it. You have to really grok what it’s all about. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don’t take the time to do that.” – Steve Jobs

Product Design and its Components

The expression of product design is the set of its layers, combined and covering a wide range of engineering, functional, ergonomic, visual, production, economic and marketing characteristics. The initial contact with the product is carried out with the help of perception, because the senses channel the connection between “consumer” and “product”. Primary communication, which reaches the mind extremely quickly, stimulating it to recreate organic sensations and impressions in the user, based on the external product features. In the foreground are visual perceptions and physical interaction, giving rise to a number of mental needs for the product, its functions, the specificity of its shape, types of materials, textures and colors. The clear and concise sequence in the operation of the product, covering a certain algorithm of actions, which is a prerequisite for unburdensome communication with the user. This is expressed through contact with the general shape of the product and its dimensions, the materials from which it is made, as well as the subsequent interaction with the functional zones and the surfaces and volumes characteristic of its ergonomics. The so-called “visual ergonomics” should not be underestimated, which influences consciousness and is the key to actions leading not only to proper operation, but also to consistency in the user’s thoughts and behavior towards the respective product. Visual contact must adequately process the information areas in a specified logical sequence so as not to create a burdensome effect on the psycho-physiological perceptions of the customer. The effects of the product arise from the following: main color or a combination of several colors; fonts, separate word combinations and terms; symbolic designations and pictograms, as well as a number of other accents building the overall interaction with the product. It should be noted that even within the target group of profiled customers, the challenge of taking care of the entire palette of possible personalities that it is composed of is unattainable. This implies a more detailed analysis in the product design process, which should lay a sustainable foundation for the subsequent product development. When the necessary attention is paid to detail and all the specifics of the process are understood, passing each of its stages and substages is relatively seamless, with the help of a sequence of actions and a smooth transition between them; regardless of the emerging issues and obstacles that are an integral part of building the product. In the case of presented product developments, visible with their cycle of phases and creation process, this must be well thought out as an action by those developing and, accordingly, sharing it, for the purpose of presentation – at each stage and substage. Users will begin to perceive the product during its raw design phase, and subsequently during its development process. To a large extent, this will be a prerequisite for collecting impressions and feedback, but it will also affect the user assessment, resulting from initial impressions, which need not so much refutation as a good justification from the product developers. With such visibility and demonstration of the way the overall product design process takes place, a balanced distribution of the burden in user expectations is necessary, reasoned and not burdensome for both parties – developer and customer/viewer. Of course, the choice to share the process is a decision of the product designer, who plays the complex role of designer, developer, communicator and organizer. This approach can lead to both potential success and the beginnings of a predetermined market failure of the product. Therefore, the approach, judgment and accumulated experience are important in making such decisions. In these early stages, only the beneficial effect of this presentation of the phase in which the product development is located must be filtered and distinguished – from the initial impressions of the market environment, the feedback from the target group of customers and potential buyers. The product designer needs to strive for his own methodology, to defend it with relevant arguments, to have his own approach, a sustainable philosophy of thinking and a way of working that generates high added value and potential for market realization. Product design is a labor-intensive process that is validated by the accumulation over the years of skills, experience, flair, focus, and perseverance, but not least by following its unified rules and algorithm of stages and substages.

“Good design is as little design as possible” – Dieter Rams

The Product Designer and Design Thinking

Design thinking is fundamental with its philosophy for a process such as product design. It has a unified concept in the form of a method for solving problems and the resulting creation of products oriented towards people and their needs. This is a mandatory element for businesses that want to build the highest level of added value in their products, create product innovations and subsequently generate intellectual property. Applying design thinking to the product is a sign that the designer is aware of the essence of this process, because he is focused on its overall development, and not just on the design phase. Drawing on the necessary tools for the purpose – pragmatic thinking, point of view, knowledge and skills, through which to integrate the needs of people and the capabilities of technology into a complete solution. With a systematic and purposeful approach, product designers need to analyze, evaluate and conceptualize their ideas appropriately, transforming them step by step through designing and gradually moving to product development. The role of the product designer is to successfully combine science, art, technology, marketing and business to create products that people tend to use, and not just formally own as an object. He must study the past objectively, based on the path traveled and routine, synthesize it, channel it, and transfer it into the present purposefully; without unnecessary lurching into extremes and radicalization, especially when it comes to developing physical products. He must be able to extract certain principles, methods and techniques from the roots of historical accumulations, transform the perceived into essence and apply it through the transfer of knowledge from one sphere to another. He needs creativity, intuition, an innovative approach and combinatorial thinking, because the vision for building product developments does not arise on its own and from nothing. As a result of in-depth analysis and unification of knowledge, skills, consistency, focus, mental toughness and personal qualities, he must pave his way with the help of his own authentic methodology to reach the final product. Taking into account all aspects in the creation of a product, he must study the ways in which people use, exploit and abuse products. In addition to upgrading his qualities as a designer and developer, he should analyze consumer perceptions and marketing aspects in a specific way, being a form of market analyst, psychologist and communicator with customers. It is necessary to observe and emphasize certain aspects of the mental state of consumers, in which their desires, needs and the formation of their tastes and preferences are hidden, through which they wish to acquire and use a given product. This is an indispensable textbook for every product designer, but if he goes deep and enters the behavioral habits of people, and not superficially only passing through the outer layers of marketing strategies and commercialization of the product. The product designer, through his work methodology, approach, skills and knowledge, must form an interaction between market opportunities, customer needs and management levels in the companies developing products – senior management, strategic marketing and sales departments, and last but not least their communication with the owners of the companies and brands in question. He must be familiar with the way the product economy works, the industry, the different types of production and the executive levels in the person of profiled manufacturers, different types of specialists and craftsmen – subcontractors in the relevant fields. His understanding of the architecture and the arrangement of the stages covering the entire development of the product must be properly understood and interpreted, with the help of a process algorithm, leading to a real result – a final product. Often the process of designing and developing a product can be extremely daunting, costly and unprofitable if all aspects, possible scenarios are not analyzed and without sufficiently delving into the processes of product design and product development. Therefore, the stages of product design should be approached in moderation, with adequate expectations and a realistic goal, divided into separate small sub-goals. Many newly created products have the prerequisites to fail, and eventually be forgotten, and many will not even reach the market. Usually, in order to achieve an optimal version of the so-called “correct product design”, between 5 and 10 attempts are made, and methodologies with a sufficiently rich set of tools are often applied in the product process – “redesign” and “reengineering”. Practice shows that a product has the right to fail when presented on the market up to 3 times. Everything after that is understood as a total failure and the product is considered dead, since the market unbiasedly and objectively considers this a failure. It is inappropriate to cause unnecessary consequences that may have a direct impact on the company’s and brand’s reputation in the long term. There is nothing surprising in the fact that most new products do not reach the market en masse, are not implemented or fail, even if there is a great idea, team and financial security behind them. This is an integral part of the natural and logical laws of the market, applicable to businesses engaged in the development or production of products. In the “defective products” and the mistakes made in their designing and development, as well as in their overall planning, organization of the process or their presentation, there are always opportunities hidden, especially when this happens between competing companies and brands. Therefore, the product designer must always be alert, analyze the market and customer needs, look for opportunities, solutions to problems and offer an unusual point of view compared to “mass products”.

“Design is not the narrow application of formal skills, it is a way of thinking”. – Chris Pullman

Product Design and its Role in Innovations

It could be called an unwritten law or a fundamental principle, but it is a fact that innovation comes from people with new ideas, developing new solutions to old problems. Innovations stimulating the invention of new solutions and the development of new products occur when there is progress in the general intelligence of people in a country, and this inevitably has an overall effect on its prosperity. The impetus for the development of product innovations, which is noticeably reflected in the rise of the respective economy, can occur through intensive development activities in companies, as well as in situations where a product designer comes up with a new idea for a product. Product design as a process helps the idea to smoothly transition to designing, and subsequently to product development, with one single goal – technology transfer and implementation. In addition to a process, it is also a real sequence of actions that can establish a connection between the “Idea” phase, with the “Project” phase, and be directed to the “Product Development” process. Product design participates and interacts with the real market and consumers, otherwise everything remains at the level of an idea, or framed and hung on the wall in the form of a certificate of intellectual property, which will simply be observed “with admiration for itself”. It is important to emphasize that the possible directions for upgrading product innovation must necessarily bear the main features of potential market realization. In this context, one must realize the realistic prerequisites in an economy and its market environment, especially in smaller countries, and how to make it more attractive to customers from all over the world, as well as joint activities with other companies. The main possibilities are: product diversification of companies; widespread development of all kinds of products and product innovations; entering previously unsuspected markets; presenting local companies as new opportunities for customers from all over the world, who are constantly looking for alternative and better quality products; stimulating the business environment towards a tangible increase in the quality of products and striving to maintain it; working together with subcontractors outside the local economy when setting up large-scale and mass production; prioritizing development activities over production, in order to attract investments in the local economy; protecting various types of intellectual property and creating prerequisites for granting licensing rights – be it partial or exclusive; equally important, no less significant – forming businesses aimed at developing real physical products with high added value. Most product designs fall into one of two categories of innovation: innovations aimed at key innovations and the search for solutions to problems, their optimal upgrading and improvement, and this definition often includes utility models; or innovations aimed at inventions, seeking completely new conceptual solutions, ingenious combinations of functions (multifunctional and modular structures) and changes in operating principles. For both types of innovations, the principle of knowledge transfer from one field to another fully applies. The role of product design in innovation is an essential part of the creation of the so-called “product innovations”, because they are the factor that provides this healthy business environment related to the development of new and competitive products. All this inevitably leads to a completely new interpretation of product design. Product design and its application as a process is clearly related to the economic health of production sectors in various fields and industries. Therefore, the design approach is important in the following cases: when developing an improved product that is sufficiently competitive to those already on the market; when developing a completely new and unknown product on the market, but oriented towards a strictly profiled market niche and target group of customers; when developing inventions or utility models, so that they have a real chance for technological transfer, and not sink into the abyss of millions of intellectual property without a purposeful designing, development strategy, implementation in production and commercialization. The search for new products occurs when the market has the opportunity to explore the design of products that try to solve a given problem and are ready to be useful to people. One of the alternatives in product innovation is multifunctionality, which is not always successfully achieved, but must be analyzed and exploited intensively as a theme, due to the huge range of market opportunities. It relies on integrating product complexity into the design structure through multifunctional solutions, presented with the help of appropriate transformation of modules, sets and additional accessories to them. These are products with a specific appearance that is adaptable to the peculiarities of everyday life and its surrounding environment, flexible to human needs and the characteristics of the target group to which they belong – gender, age, geographical location, educational qualification, income, marital status, social status, cultural affiliation, aesthetic preferences, etc. This expands not only the innovative approach, but also the social range of product exploitation, stimulating the noticeably changing physical and mental needs of people.

“Everything is invented, but few things are designed well” – author’s interpretation

The Interaction Between Design, Product and People

“Design – Product – People” is a closed system that has nothing to do with the mass feeling of the necessity of owning all kinds of products that are not part of the specific lifestyle, habits, daily routine, free time and hobbies characteristic of each person. Communication between the person and the product must be open and adequate. People in their role as “consumers” or “profiled customers” form their preferences for products, building up their affinity for certain product brands over the years. They identify with the products they own and exploit throughout their entire life cycle. These are experiences related to mental needs, which create a deep emotional attachment to the products that are used, generating memories, telling stories and sharing moments with other people. The product intensely influences the human essence, in addition to satisfying real needs and wants. Products whose impact and side effects of their usefulness have been understood have been thoroughly analyzed during their development, taking into account the surrounding environment with which they interact. This creates an attraction towards it and a strong need to own it, which will logically attract more suitable users. In this direction, it is important to take into account one of the most significant principles that defining the design of a product does not only refer to its appearance and superficial perception, but also to its function and usefulness. They interact in an inseparable whole, which in itself cannot be divided into two or more independent parts, and logically leads to a real product, and not to self-serving arbitrariness on the part of its developers. The analogy that can lead us to the essence of product design, its appearance, function and content, can be related to us, people, and our perceptions of each other. Our appearance and character are often the subject of judgment and perception as separate components that build human authenticity. Usually, the basic impression of a person is formed, resulting from an accelerated process that forms a compressed image in order to be reduced to an acceptable one for the observer. The criteria are always reliable, at least according to the observer’s judgment, but also deeply biased and subjective in their genesis, due to the failure to assume that the appearance and content in a person have an algorithm and interrelationships. The attempt to evaluate our content through our appearance is formed by the biological specifics of our visual features. Our appearance cannot be autonomous without the proper functioning of the organs and the resulting chemical processes, which directly reflect on consciousness, emotions, overall behavior and characteristic movements in the body. The standard structure of the musculoskeletal system and the good condition of the organs are sufficient for our existence and functioning as human beings, but it is also necessary to take into account the processes of thought, psyche, habits, etc. Despite the subjectivity of human criteria, people would not highly rate a rude, impudent and arrogant person, even if his appearance creates pleasant impressions and initially arouses visual preferences. There are many cases of purposefully overexposed visual characteristics of the design, the purpose of which is to conceal the poor-quality idea, incorrectly built functions in the product and its low efficiency and benefits. The product can be balanced through a combination of a meaningful and properly developed idea, appropriately built functions, a structure of well-selected materials and a precisely built appearance. Visual information during the operation of the product is extremely important and is among the main requirements. When looking and touching, there are a number of factors that reflect on our senses – they subconsciously cause various associations, analogies, emotions, memories, longings, etc. “Multi-layeredness” is purposefully created in each product development, investing an extremely large intellectual resource in this concept, analysis, study and construction of the product structure in the development activity. Striving to capture, stimulate and correctly direct the focus on the relevant product, unobtrusively awakening consumer impulses for the need to own it. This rich toolkit of techniques, contained as principles and methods in social psychology, has application in the product design process. This encompasses the study and analysis of psycho-physiological perceptions, interaction with the environment and mental behavior of the customer – how it affects the thinking, behavior, habits, desires and imagination of the person. Human senses are used intensively when examining the product, touching its information and functional zones, handling it and its intensive exploitation, and in some cases perceiving sounds, as well as capturing by the sense of smell certain odors emitted by materials. How it affects physiologically and which layers of the human psyche it affects, is indicative of the decisive and key role of product designers in the process of developing a product. They emphasize a variety of elements in it in order to express and achieve something much more than simply purchasing a product in the development of which they participated. They have a moral obligation not to abuse and not to lightly guide people towards a mass desire to obsess over their lives with products. Their main task is to give meaning, add content, solve problems and correctly guide consumers towards products that correspond to their essence, to their lifestyle, habits and needs. People often like to identify with the objects of their daily life, work and leisure, and this is a great responsibility for product designers. They observe, create, educate and analyze the consequences of using a given product, in which they have a key role in its development.

“Designing a product is designing a relationship.” – Steve Rogers