Over the past decade, the discipline of UX and UI design has grown considerably. However, there is a point of contention; UX design and product design are often incorrectly used interchangeably. Product design is an unclear term which does not portray what you do precisely. You happen to be part designer, part researcher, part problem solver, part marketer, as well as part project manager. How will you be able to cover everything within a span of 1 minute?
What is product design? In this post, we will explain this question, the different stages of the product design procedure, and so on.
What is product design?
In case you think of design as a solution for fixing problems, visualize the product designer as a person who is going to find the appropriate solution for the customers. He has got a clear picture of the whole process including defining genuine user problems and tackling success metrics.
A product designer has lots of responsibilities such as identifying and validating issues, working to accumulate existing data of the users, and creating test plans for capturing new insights. After getting the proper data, they will be developing wireframes for exploring prospective solutions and also prototyping the best concepts in front of the users for getting feedback.
Lastly, they will be supporting the developers in launching the product, working with marketing for crafting the proper story, and following the product's success after its launch.
The product design procedure
All companies are going to follow the same process of product design. It might even modify from one project to another. Nevertheless, the key elements are going to remain the same; you will be gathering research at first, brainstorming solutions, receiving feedback on the prototypes of yours, and continuing to monitor performance after the launch.
Now that we have comprehended what is product design, here we have mentioned some typical steps in the process of product design.
1. Define the product vision
Prior to the starting of the design process, it is essential to comprehend why the product has to be pursued in the first place. It becomes feasible for the whole team to have a common understanding of what they are trying to create and why by creating a product strategy.
2. Conduct research on the product
After defining the vision, accumulate user and market research for informing product decisions. It will be possible for you to save time as well as resources in case you conduct the research early on since you need to make fewer changes.
3. Brainstorming and ideation
Depending on the research that you have conducted the time is perfect for brainstorming ideas for addressing your project objectives and solving client pain points. You can stick to lots of different techniques for ideation such as wireframing, storyboarding, or sketching.
4. Prototyping and design
Right now, you should be able to understand what you like to create. At this point, you will start creating the solution and implementing ideas using prototypes. This will allow you to test the product prior to creating it completely, thus providing something for the users to react to the subsequent stage.
5. Test and validate
Right now, you're going to use the prototype for testing and validating the concepts by means of usability testing with the users. A low-fidelity prototype will allow you to authenticate the overall concept of the design while a high-fidelity prototype will enable you to dive deep into workflows and usability.
6. Launch
After you are satisfied with the usability testing outcomes, you will be building the product while working with the developers. Besides this, you're going to work with the marketing team closely as well for supporting the public launch, making sure that the messaging and value propositions are precise and consistent.
7. Activities following the launch
It is a fact that the process of product design is not going to end at launch, and it is actually ongoing. You will be working to comprehend how the user base is going to interact with the product, perform A/B testing, and so on.
Who will be involved in product design?
After comprehending what is product design, we will take a look at who will be involved in the process.
• Business strategists - They will allow you to comprehend why it is important to create this product. They will aid in identifying the value to the business.
• User researchers - They are going to conduct the design research plus accumulate feedback from the customers.
• Data analysts - They're going to accumulate and also analyze large amounts of information.
• Prototypers - They will allow giving life to your ideas prior to the creation of the final product.
• Designers - Designers will be focusing on the product visuals: what users are going to see. Graphic designers will handle the beauty aspect while working with illustrations, photos, graphics, typography, and color. Animation designers will be working on the product's interactive elements.
• Product marketers - They will help you in figuring out how to launch the product on the market.
We like to conclude this article on "what is product design" by mentioning that every business is competing for gathering devoted customers at present. Therefore, product design is imperative to make you stand out. This happens to be the actual value of product design.