Product Design

What is a product? Anything and everything that we are surrounded with is a product. Well.. saying that, reminded me of Amir Khan in 3 idiots, “pen ki nib se pant ki zip tak sab machine hai sir!”. Everything from daily home appliances, consumables, locomotives, computers, mobile phones are products. Earlier, we confined our thoughts to a physical object, when said products, but these days even softwares and programs are coined as products.


Design is a part of our lives from eve’s era, which we have, in recent years, designated to different roles like product designer, design thinker, user experience designer and the list goes on and on. Behind every product you shall find a designer associated and a history to explain every phase it has gone through, a reason for every changes that has been made. Have you ever imagined how was the idea nurtured? Have you tried to learn how did they know what to do and how to do it? These questions always created an unrest but I always passed them.

Today, after years of experience in the field, I have learnt the basics of product design which I shall share. A product design is nothing but when design strategies are applied on a product with an intention of bettering it in terms of usability. You know why a product has phases?There can only be two reasons to this, either to add new features that’ll help the users or to enhance the user centeredness of a feature. Let’s take a look at the journey of nurturing a product idea to catering it to the end users. These are a few steps which shall act as milestones for us :

1. IDEA : Document the idea, the main motive or purpose that it accomplishes.
2. MARKET SURVEY : Do a quick market survey on similar existing products and their features.
3. ECOSYSTEM : Identify the stakeholders
4. BENEFITS : Document the benefits in terms of who shall benefit and to what extent, better if can be quantified.
5. REQUIREMENT GATHERING : Create a requirement document, this shall be of more like a feature list and not be in detail.
I always feel more tempted to document every detail with the feature, but later in phase realizing its unfruitfulness. You may jot down points to remember your thoughts, but make sure of the depth you put your time and efforts into. Put a tick mark across every feature you think is mandate to serve the purpose.
6. SCENARIOS : Create a requirement specification now, putting in every detail of what to have well categorized and well formatted. I stress on this as it shall keep your enthusiasm on the document alive, the next time you have to read it.
7. FLOWS : Draw it up. Draw whatever comes to your mind about the whole experience and interaction with the stakeholders. It might not be a formal Use case or data flow diagrams, but can be anything which can be easily interpreted and analysed. Believe ME, this always brings you closer to knowing your product.


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8. MIND MAPPING : Based on the specifications create an information architecture.
You can start by modularizing the list and start naming them. A better idea is to use free online mind mapping tools which also lets you collaborate and share your ideas. If is a website or application, work on the menu titles and fields and if it is an object, modularize based on the type of functions it is to provide.
9. WIRE FRAMING : yeeeeeeeeeeeeee……!! You have the concept and features clear and also have the structure in head. Go ahead, start scratching. At this stage, you shall be able to imagine your product, put on a white surface, whatever comes to your mind. Let that be a sketch, a paper prototype, a wire frame or in whatever mode you shall be able to communicate your idea through.
10. PROTOTYPING : Enhance, rework, analyse and test. Design has to have varied phases to bring the best out. This iterative activity shall unknowingly have converted your wire frame to a mock up or a prototype by now.

In the whole journey, you will have 3 best friends to travel with you,

PATIENCE : to keep you motivated towards success

ATTITUDE : to keep you open to changes and opinions

TIME : this friend never comes back once you lose it. Try and keep track of every hour, shall definitely make you more productive. Maintain a Expected date of closure and Earned value percentage log for every requirement you have in place.

Reaching a destination of anything and everything we design, these have to be the mediating stoppages and break of journeys. Ofcourse, at times you may have to be a little flexible with flows with respect to the product but these shall be the mantras to designing a product. Saying that, I would also like to add to the practicalities from here on. The journey of the idea from a thought to a concept to an ideated product is always beautiful as it gives you joy. Each day you see your brainchild grow at every stage. These days of product adolescence decides how it has to go live or if it has to be parked. You may need investors, partners, workshops and many other parameters to take this product onboard. So, from this stage, we shall have a new friend in our gang DETERMINATION. The journey doesn’t end here. This is a beginning…






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