In an era, evolution is constantly changing. Every day new technology and products keep launching in the market. In our day-to-day lives, these products, whether virtual or physical, have become reliant on our life. Whether it be a brand-new smartphone to shopping online, we are all surrounded by a myriad of products and services. Interestingly, the measure of societal advancement is associated with progress in the field of products. But it also highlights the question of how these products develop and reach us.
Below we will be discussing the difference between product design and product development.
What is Product Designing?
Product design is the process of identifying an opportunity in a given market, a definite problem that requires a proper solution, and validating the solution with real users.
This process focuses on the end-user for whom the product is created. A product designer not just requires designing skills but should also have empathy and knowledge of their prospective customer’s habits, behaviours, frustrations, needs, and wants.
A successful product design practice functions throughout the entire product lifecycle. The scope of product design starts from initial user experience and product offering, pre-ideation user research to concept development to prototyping and usability testing. But the cycle doesn’t stop there, the work of a product designer continues to assess the customer experience and upgrade the functionality and capability of the product. It is their goal to create a seamless, discoverable, and non-disruptive user experience.
Product design is aimed toward a field like-
- Tableware
- Furniture
- Electronics
- Kitchen Appliances
- Jewelry
Origin of Product Design
Product design is the result of a very similar field known as industrial design. Starting in the era of mass-producing manufacturing, industrial design came into existence. This meant affordable products and an unrestricted amount of product availability. Over time, industrial design evolved into a subset: Product design.
Process of Product Designing
The design thinking process involves several steps, it may vary from company to company, but the basic philosophy is:
- Empathize with people
- Define the Problem
- Ideate a solution
- Build a prototype
- Test the solution
The product design process never comes to a halt, even after a product is launched. That’s because of the evolving technological advancements and the user’s interaction with the product.
What are the Product Design job profiles?
A product design company focuses on different aspects of designing and thus needs professionals for several roles:
UX Designer
A UX designer aims to refine the experience and interaction of the user based on research into user behaviour. They target giving users the most satisfaction and happiness.
Graphic Designer
Graphic design is the artistic job for product design, like creating logos, icons, and other visual elements.
Motion/Animation Designer
To bring life “movement” to the product experience, transitions, or a user-controlled avatar.
User Research
In order to understand the end-user behavior, this job profile reviews and examines demographics and personas.
Data Analyst
Data Analyst focuses on user research and other data to improve product layout and features.
What is Product Development?
Product development is a procedure of steps that involve the ideation, designing, development, and marketing of newly created or rebranded products or services.
Although product development is a creative procedure, it helps in setting up a guide to introducing a new product to the market. It helps the company to create appeal amongst prospective clients. Quantitative market analysis is conducted at all the phases of the design process, including the time of designing and after its launch.
Origin of Product Development
By the end of the 1950s, along with the commercialization of inventions, the focus on the development process began. In the 21st century, the emphasis on inventions shifted to research and data-based development. At present many products are tested out in the market according to algorithms to analyze the success of a product.
Process of Product Development
The procedure of product development can easily be defined in six elements:
- Design Criteria setup
- Idea Analysis
- Concept development
- Marketing and Business Analysis
- Prototyping and Testing
- Product development
- Commercialization
What are the Product Development job profiles?
A wide range of job profiles are involved to bring products to the market, some of them are:
- Product management
- Product marketing
- Project management
- Architecture
- Design
- UI/UX
- Development/Engineering
- Manufacturing
- Testing or QA
- Shipping/Distribution
Each of these roles plays an essential role in the procedure of product development, from conceptual genesis to customer delivery.
Before a company finally launches its product to the market, it goes through a lot of procedures. The complete procedure of any product is called the Product Development Cycle. In all, Product design is one of the best parts of the Product Development Cycle. The companies generate design prototypes to test out the ideas. Like this, they can gather customer reviews and feedback for improvement.
Reference List-
- ProductPlan (2018). What is Product Design? | Definition and Overview. [online] Productplan.com. Available at: https://www.productplan.com/glossary/product-design/.
- The Interaction Design Foundation. (n.d.). What is Product Design? [online] Available at: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/product-design.
- www.productplan.com. (n.d.). What Is Product Development? Definition & Examples. [online] Available at: https://www.productplan.com/learn/what-is-product-development/.
- Lisaa Delhi. (2019). Difference between Product Design and Product Development. [online] Available at: https://www.lisaadelhi.com/product-development-vs-product-design/.
