While it is exciting to have a product idea, it can take a lot of time and energy to complete a sellable product. Developing a product that customers want to buy is crucial to the success of your company.
Many businesses have a tight budget and only one chance at developing a successful product that can rake in sales. If you are thinking about contracting an industrial design company to develop your idea and turn it into a complete product, you have come to the right place. In this article, we will explain the process of product development.
What is the Process?
Successful products do not just appear out of nowhere. While design is a creative process, it also requires analysis.
If your goal is to launch a successful product, you will have to follow certain steps to ensure that your product meets your expectations as well as the expectations of potential customers.
There are four stages involved in the product development process:
- Ideation
- Design
- Engineering
- Validation
- Launch
Let’s dive into each of these stages.
Ideation
Ideation is the first stage of product development, meaning that it sets the tone for the rest of the process. You need to make sure that you do not make any critical errors at this stage. Errors in ideation could lead to significant changes in later stages and cause delays in development.
The purpose of ideation is to define your product idea and prepare the industrial design company for the product design process. The preparation involves two important aspects: project briefing and market research.
Project Briefing
If your object is to design and develop a new product, you need to have open communication about the client’s vision. Here is a list of questions you should prepare to answer for the briefing:
- What is the product you want to sell?
- Why is your product necessary to make?
- What sparked your product idea?
- Why do customers need your product? For example, does it solve a problem for them?
- How can the product be used?
- Who is this product designed for?
- How is your product different from other products like it?
- How much do you think customers are willing to pay for your product?
Market Research
You need to understand who your future customers are, and a design team investigates this by developing customer persona profiles. These are fictional representations of your target customers that can help the design team focus on elements such as color or shape of the product. These elements are important because they can have a psychological impact on your potential customers.
Design
The design stage takes the sketches made of the product idea and converts it into a fully fleshed out virtual model of the final product. This stage is important because it determines what the final product will look like and feel like to future customers.
There are a few steps that happen during the design stage:
- Product concept design
- Product design visualization
- Packaging design
Engineering
The engineering stage is when the industrial design services team begins working on the functionality of the product. Once this stage is completed, you will have a fully functioning prototype.
There are a few steps involved in engineering:
- Product design specification
- Prototype development
Validation
Validation is the last stage of product development and its objective is to set the product up for launch. This stage requires extensive testing of the product, and it also needs to prove that the product can be sustainably made.
Looking for an industrial design company that can help develop your product idea? Give us a call today at 714-375-4846 to book a consultation.
This blog is brought to you by one of the most reputable industrial design companies in California, DesignStein Studios.
