Have you ever thought about something and then planned it out completely? I bet you didn’t because an idea is something that comes to our mind surprisingly. You played with your imagination and it suddenly appeared. Firstly it seems rather bizarre to design just a „simple thought”. Because it doesn’t seem like enough to start designing. But if you already have an idea then bringing it to life is called the new product design process. The real fun starts here, and remember – just an idea is actually more than you have ever realized, it is a lot! But let’s divide the process into a few steps to help you understand what happens with your idea along the way and how your designer will make it come alive.
Analyzing the Idea
Firstly, understand your vision. You must know what you want and what you do not want. It is crucial for the people you will work with. The development team won’t build a product they have no clue about. Secondly, strategy. Consider for who are you going to create? Define your target group and identify the needs of the market. Think how your product will influence their lives. Switch on to the „design thinking” which is a human-centered approach. The main purpose is to find solutions for people so try to combine the needs of your target audience with technology and business research. Remember that the initial analysis is something you can (and should) do before you reach out to a software development team. The more information you have the easier for your team will be to understand your needs and expectations.
Product Research
It is more in-depth focusing on the target market. It is based on communication with your potential users. Try to find someone experienced with the topic you will come out to the public. Discuss ideas, share doubts and thoughts. Don’t be afraid! People often don’t decide to speak about their vision because of fear that somebody could steal it. It is a big mistake. You can get so much inspiration and advice. By talking to people you get a chance to improve yourself and the product in the same time. So ask questions, make surveys and interviews. You can find out about other products similar to yours or companies people perceive as leading in your industry sector. Furthermore, even follow their routine, observe! Try to get to know your future users. On the other hand, you also need to get to know your rivals. It is important to stand out from the crowd. Find out what kind of similar products are available on the market. Making a comparison will help you improve your idea. This may seem like a lot to do and think about, but if you have found a software development team to help you put your idea into action, they will help you do that!
First Visuals – Wireframing and Sketching
This is one of the most exciting parts of a project when you really start to see progress. This is now that your software development team will try to make the most out of your idea. Many brainstorms are coming. During this time you will try to put your product into an everyday life of the end user. You will imagine how it would benefit their routine. Sketches will help you visualize what you mean. Storyboards are also great idea when it comes to defining what are the users’ priorities. Make sure that the culmination point or the story outcome makes your product a crucial point of solving a problem in the story. Pay attention to the persona in the story, create someone that users can equate with. Helping with putting your vision to life is wireframing as well. The UX designer on your team will prepare them to help visualize the user flow and how the product is going to work. Wireframes are also an important part of the development later on.
Designing the Interface (UI Design)
After sketching and wireframing is done it’s time to “make it beautiful”. Together with your development team you will start to create the aesthetic side of the product. To begin with: colors, artwork, through size up to logo. Together with your UI designer you will take care of layouts and even typography. All this will be easier to do if you have wireframes. Because you do not need to worry about how your product works anymore – just focus on how it looks. Is it pleasant? Does it represent your vision well? All this jazz. Your UI designer will make sure the product suits you perfectly!
Testing
Eventually it is time for the testing. You will notice that the testing begins at the wireframing stage. Because then you can already test the usability of the product. After the whole product is done, both UI and UX, you and your team can move on to testing it even more. It is really important to test your product carefully. Your development team will test it themselves and take care of user tests. In addition to that, validate it by yourself. Moreover, include your product in your daily responsibilities. This type of testing is called dogfooding. Don’t forget to check how your target audience uses the product. Usability testing is crucial. You will be able to identify the problems you didn’t pay attention to earlier. It is vital because people are demanding and sometimes even a small detail make a product unattractive and impractical for them. Your team will help you do that all and take care of processing the data gathered during this stage to improve the product later on.
New Product Design Summary
As you can see the new product design is not an easy process. You are gonna go through some ups and downs. Everything to achieve the main goal – to satisfy people. However, I guarantee you that all the effort put into the process benefits both you and your target audience. Just keep in mind that sometimes a product needs constant improvement. The new product design is a process that will demand from you as well as your team. But it’s all a must so that the product satisfies your need and expectations as well as your target audience’s. So trust the process! It will pay off.
