Best practices to design a new product

In layman’s terms, product design is the process of creating a product from beginning to end.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Well, sort of. Because we live in the digital age where so many of our interactions, conversions and products are online, the concept of a product has transformed from a physical item you purchase in a store to something else.

“At its most basic level, a product is a solution that’s sold to fulfill a need,” says Dave Franchino, President of the leading product design and innovation agency Design Concepts. “To me, product design involves a few key attributes – it involves human interaction, needs to accommodate a range of users, exists in a competitive space where users have options, involves some degree of mass production or distribution, and requires considering tradeoffs between costs, features, and performance.”

So, what types of things can product designers make?

Essentially, a “product” is anything – a mobile app, a new digital feature, a tangible item, etc. – that solves a consumer “problem” and propels a business forward in their market. And, of course, product designers are the people who conceptualize and create those things.

“The options are almost limitless, which is what makes successful product design so difficult to reduce to a formula,” shares Franchino. “Products can be durable, like appliances, or consumable, like ice cream. They can be tangible, physical items or intangible like an app or service. They span consumer and commercial markets.”

Although the items that fall within the spectrum are difficult to define, that also means the possibilities for the products you want to design are practically endless, too.

Read the full article at Design Rush.