Product design is a very encompassing term that is often misunderstood. It refers to the multi-stage process of creating usable products or services, from concept and design through to prototyping, manufacturing and Marketing.

While aesthetics play a huge role in product design, the entire process is much more complex, encompassing user experience, technical design, market analysis, ideation, and Testing, among others.

Great product designers will be able to marry all the elements of creative thinking with analytical and technical skills. By bridging the gaps between engineering, design and marketing, they can come up with aesthetically pleasing products that are innovative and commercially viable.

A Step by Step Guide to Product Design

Products today are not only confined to physical items. The digital age brings with it all other forms of products like websites, software, and apps. Regardless of product form though, all design should be focused on the end user. What are their pains and how do you solve them? How can you make the product easy to use?

You should also take into consideration the goals of the business, the budget and the timeline. Every business is different and will apply their own processes and service level agreements to suit their specific needs and requirements. But the fundamental elements of the product design process are the same across the board.

Let’s look at each in turn.

1. Product Discovery

It’s important to lay the foundations of a good product and this always begins before the actual design phase. You need to get a good understanding of your product’s goals, before getting to know who your target market is.

A. Defining your goals and strategies

A business without a goal will inevitably fail; the same goes for products. Without a vision, you will not have anything to guide you throughout the process.

What is your product’s goal? Your team needs to know what this is, as it gives everyone the answer to “why are we doing this?”. This goal will also help set boundaries, by allowing you to stay focused on the steps that will move you closer to your vision.

If the product goals are the destination, then strategy shows you the way to that destination. Set a meeting with client stakeholders, ask them what they intend to achieve with the product and how you can bring them results. The more information you can get early on, the better.

Finally, set quantifiable and measurable criteria to find out if the product is a success (e.g. sales per month, target downloads, number of users, customer Feedback etc.).

B. Conducting customer research

At the heart of every product is the customer. Spend an ample amount of time researching who they are. You can do this through user interviews, online surveys, or market research.

Social media and email marketing are both very powerful means of conducting market research, so look to leverage your social following and marketing lists, by asking questions and getting genuine feedback. Your existing customers are one of the best assets you have in this respect.

When conducting marketing research, you should be looking to get ask the following:

• What are the problems and challenges they face?
• What are their pain points?
• What tasks take the most time or cost the most money?
• What do they really value?
• What solutions have they previously sought to solve their problems?
• How did these previous solutions work out for them?

You should use the information you get from customer feedback to flesh out a user persona. These are like profiles of the typical customer and will act as a reminder of who you are aiming your product at, anchoring you to reality by presenting a real human face instead of a bunch of abstract ideals. You already have a clear idea of your market, how they think, and what solutions they look for, so you can now design your product around that.

2. Analysis and Brainstorming

Once you get the results of your research, you need to sit down with your team, look at the data, and start brainstorming ideas. You can even print out your user personas and hang them on the wall, so everyone can look at them during the ideation phase.

At the end of this stage, you should have the following information:

• Customer journey

Map out your customer journey before, during, and after product usage.

You can use various techniques like sketching (drawing by hand), wireframing (a visual guide of the page’s structure and hierarchy of key elements which can either be a hand-drawn or digital sketch), or storyboarding (a scenario describing how users interact with the product much like a comic strip).

The idea here is to come up with an interface that your users will find easy to respond to. Is it solving your user’s pain points? Can they find what they are looking for? Is it easy for them to look for what they need?

• Information architecture

Information architecture (IA) is usually associated with websites, apps and digital products with navigable user interfaces. They help users understand where they currently stand while using a product, and where they should go next by creating navigations, hierarchies, and categorisation within your product.

Source:https://medium.com/@kash.vnkt/the-information-architecture-of-airbnb-18f247f3d862

Airbnb, for instance, has a really good IA. A user can look for homes, trim down the options via filters, then request to book the place. It’s simple and efficient. The same goes for a host who wants to rent out their apartment or condo unit.

3. Creating prototypes and iterations

During this phase, you will create prototypes (experimental models of your ideas) that are in line with user needs and the analysis you conducted during the discovery stage.

These prototypes will then be tested, by your team and with potential end users. Start slow and small. Introduce only the basic features of your product, make sure your users understand how to use it, and then gather their feedback.

Prototyping is an iterative process, so each set of feedback will help you modify your prototype (whether it be positive or negative). You’ll see your models grow in breadth and depth the more feedback you get, as well as identifying problems that you hadn’t envisaged in the design phase.

4. Testing and validations

This phase will help your team see that the design that you’ve conceptualised actually works. Testing can take the form of:

• In-house testing, wherein your own team will use the product and give their feedback.
• Usability testing, where you’ll find/hire participants, then gather their feedback. You can even do guerrilla testing like approaching potential users in a coffee shop and asking them to use your prototype.
• Diary study, where you ask participants to keep a diary over X amount of time while they use your prototype.

The number of participants is not set in stone. In fact, aNeilsen study found that it takes just five users to pinpoint 85% of usability problems. But some experts contest this and instead opt togather more participants the more complex a product gets.

You also have the option to use low-fidelity or high-fidelity prototypes.

A low-fidelity prototype is a basic sketch, whether hand-drawn or digital, that you then let your participants use. This will help you validate your design.

High-fidelity prototypes, on the other hand, are almost close to the final product. These are interactive and functional, which will then allow you to dive deep into the flow of the product and its actual usability.

The idea here is to keep testing until you end up with the design that is easy, simple, and efficient for your users. You can even conduct A/B testing if you’re struggling to choose between two prototypes.

5. Launch the product

Once the results are in, you can now work with developers to start building the product itself. The marketing team will also be in touch with you to make sure the product design is consistent with your brand’s value prop and messaging.

Post-launch, product design continues. You will gather more feedback as you grow your user base. Keep conducting A/B tests to respond to customer comments and improve the product.

Placing Users At The Core of the Product

Product design goes way beyond the aesthetics and artistry involved in creating a catchy looking end product. It is an entire system aimed at crafting products that will meet your customers needs, whilst standing out from your competitors.

Make sure that your users’ needs and wants are at the very centre of the product design process. Your product might seem like the best thing since sliced bread to you and your team but if it’s not addressing anyone else’s problems in new and innovative ways, then it isn’t commercially viable.

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