Elements and Steps of the Product Design Process Explained

Elements and Steps of the Product Design Process Explained
Article by Ivana Ivanova
Last Updated: November 18, 2024

The product design process comprises essential steps that every business must follow to create a high-quality and effective product. But what steps does this process entail?

Before we delve into them, let’s take a closer look at the elements of product design. Then, with the help of our experts, we’ll divulge how taking the right course of action can transform your product into one of the hottest-selling items on the market.

Key Product Design Elements

Like anything complex, product design involves many components. The most successful businesses dedicate teams of various specialists to work solely on product design to appeal to their target audience and reach new clientele. These teams include UX designers, marketing experts, animators, graphic designers, business analysts, etc.

Each of these teams focusses on different elements of product design, which can be grouped into three fundamental components:

  • Appearance
  • Quality
  • Functionality

To create a successful, competitive product, designers must work on an attractive and functional product that promises high functionality, performance, maximum availability, and security.

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10 Steps of the Product Design Process

The design process can be segmented into the following 10 steps:

  1. Brainstorming
  2. Defining the product
  3. User research
  4. Sketching
  5. Prototyping
  6. Specifications compilation
  7. Getting the factory samples ready
  8. Testing the samples
  9. Starting the development/production process
  10. Assuring quality

1. Brainstorming

The product design process begins with brainstorming. In most organizations, this involves forming two groups: one generates ideas to solve a problem, while the other evaluates and refines the proposed solutions.

Brainstorming
[Source: Unsplash]

The brainstorming stage is further divided into three key phases:

  1. Defining the problem and selecting participants for both teams.
  2. The next phase is idea generation. Here, participants take a creative approach, sharing every idea they can think of. Quantity is prioritized over quality, and even unconventional or absurd ideas are encouraged for later evaluation.
  3. Selecting the most viable idea is the final stage of the brainstorming process. Many online tools can help with the decision-making process. At this stage, the second team will review and evaluate ideas, offering both appreciation and constructive criticism.

2. Defining the Product

Once the best idea’s been selected, the next step is to outline key features and establish overall expectations for implementation.

David Stellini, Co-Founder of All Front, advises against incorporating too many features: "A common mistake we see is product owners laying out impressive roadmaps with loads of features. They usually do it to impress stakeholders, outdo the competition, or secure more funding. But making your design too complex can have its negative effects.”

To elaborate further on the potential resulting challenges, Stellini voices concerns about rushing many features without proper testing.

“What you should do instead is identify one critical problem and determine how you're going to solve it. This way, you can prioritize core features and leave out non-critical ones for future iterations," he says.

This step is more about determining the directions in which the teams can work further rather than providing exact guidelines on the product development process.

3. User Research

The third step in product design is all about research. The product design team conducts detailed market research to determine key competitors. It's also important to assess the prospective longevity of the product, define trends, and consider other relevant factors.

Cristian Virciu, Head of UX/UI Design at Wolfpack Digital, states that brands’ most common blunders are neglecting user research: “It's like trying to drive a car blindfolded — you might get somewhere, but it won't be pretty! Without user input, you're essentially guessing what works.”

“[Our compass] is user research, steering us towards a truly-click design. It's where we see real people interact with our creation, finding out if it's intuitive or a head-scratcher. Brands need to remember that great design hinges on user satisfaction. It's not about our preferences but what makes the users tick," he concludes.

Research provides the foundation for creating customer profiles, which helps your team gain a deeper understanding of the final product. In this phase, business analysts and marketers take the lead.

4. Sketching

Preparing sketches is an efficient way of managing large projects with substantial budgets. Sketching helps define the direction of the search before committing resources to finding a solution.

Sketch
[Source: Unsplash]

A sketch can help you focus on a specific direction while choosing the central concept. This process paves the way for developing layouts, composition, edits, and further refining the idea.

5. Prototyping

Creating a prototype is sometimes as important as designing the product itself — all top product prototype companies know this — as prototyping provides you with a skeleton of the final product’s look.

However, even with this skeleton, you can outline the product's functionality, user interaction, and basic appearance. Prototyping is essential as it helps prevent many errors and corrections later on, ultimately saving time and money while promising peace of mind.

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6. Specifications Compilation

In this step, product designers create a list of specifications, such as the traits of a package design. Compiling the specifications allows for a detailed review of the requirements for the finished product and the possible solutions.

These specifications should also contain the final delimitation of deadlines, costs, and responsibilities. These documents will be invaluable at the final product development stage.

7. Getting the Factory Samples Ready

This step involves manufacturing the pre-production samples. These samples will allow you to understand whether the core idea of the product will attract real users, especially if a rebranding process is in progress.

At this stage, you’ll also determine if it’s necessary to redirect efforts towards other critical areas. At the physical level, you can estimate how ready the manufacturing sector is to produce the goods with the desired quality and speed.

For software, such samples are called MVPs. It is a type of wireframe application containing essential functionality.

8. Testing the Samples

Sample testing allows you to identify the product’s flaws promptly. It’s needless to say that discovering inconsistencies before progressing to implementation yields benefits in the long run. Testing can be conducted in multiple stages, ensuring that that user feedback is collected at each phase.

9. Starting the Development/Production Process

By now, you must have an entire technical specification with correctly defined tasks, responsibilities, requirements, deadlines, and budget. The goal is to break these significant tasks into smaller ones and assign priorities. Agile methodologies such as Kanban or Scrum are commonly used at this juncture, particularly in the software industry.

10. Assuring Quality

While quality assurance is necessary throughout all stages, it often serves as the final step after the product has been released and maintained.

For instance, in app development, the QA team conducts pre-release testing to assess the quality of the final solution. During this phase, it’s crucial to verify that the product meets its requirements specifications.

What Is the Need for Product Design?

The importance of excellent product design keeps increasing with technology's constant and rapid evolution. Organizations on a mission to create impressive digital products must prioritize a comprehensive process that goes beyond aesthetics. This calls for knowledge and expertise in user research, psychology, business analysis, and software development.

Such understanding enables designers to promise a successful digital experience that meets user expectations and helps achieve business goals.

Consequently, when users have a positive product experience, they are more likely to recommend it and become advocates for it. In today’s digital-driven world, users seek products that simplify their lives.

For instance, an app might have a great idea behind it, but if the overall experience is confusing, it becomes ineffective. Similarly, product design encompasses more than just an idea; it must also align with the end-user's needs and expectations.

What Are the Objectives of the Product Design Process?

Undoubtedly, for many customers, design is a key factor in their purchasing decisions. Thus, from a company’s perspective, the main objective of the product design process is creating something that will sell and ultimately boost profits.

However, this is not the only goal companies have when designing a product. Additional objectives include:

  • Achieve the desired product quality
  • Come up with ways to reduce design costs
  • Make the design as quickly as possible
  • Improve the overall manufacturing process
  • Find ways to reduce the cost of the product while still making a solid profit

Mistakes To Avoid in the Product Design Process

The most common mistakes businesses make when they design a product include:

  • Ignoring feedback: During the product design process, use your customer feedback to improve the design. If some customers are not satisfied with a certain part of your product, try to find a way to improve it during the creation phase.
  • Focusing on the product’s look: Don’t just focus on aesthetics. A product should look good, but it should also be functional. Sacrificing its quality funds just so it looks better will inevitably divert customers from your offerings.
  • Inconsistency: If you have a certain design that you’re not redesigning, remember that the second edition should still convey the same value and message as the original product. Inconsistency in branding and design can confuse customers and unwillingly send them to your competition.
  • Lack of research: Researching your target audience and how your product would fare against the competition is key to conducting a good product design process. It’s the basis of your further actions — without it, you risk creating a design that doesn’t align with your product.

Evaluating the Product Design Process: 4 Questions To Ask

Once you’ve initiated the product design process, it’s time to evaluate it by asking the following questions:

  1. What are the advantages of my product?
  2. What are the disadvantages of my product?
  3. What are the promotional possibilities of my product?
  4. Are there any possible threats to a successful promotion?

1. What Are the Advantages of My Product?

The answer involves assessing the implemented functions within the product and their value to the target audience. Also, you should convey this value proposition to consumers, highlighting, for example, the problems the product solves, or the metrics used to measure the idea's success.

2. What Are the Disadvantages of My Product?

Looking at the disadvantages means determining if there are ways to improve the idea behind the product. It also accompanies studying what can be an obstacle to its successful promotion and what might be missing in the product from the target audience's perspective.

3. What Are the Promotional Possibilities of My Product?

It’s essential to determine how to promote the new product, including its competitive advantages and the most effective channels for promotion. The product’s success in the long run should also be considered.

4. Are There Any Possible Threats to a Successful Promotion?

Evaluating potential risks to the product's promotion is also vital. You should aim to identify any financial challenges you may encounter, especially if competing products prove difficult to surpass, among other factors.

How To Improve Your Product Design Process

Regardless of how effective a product design process may be, there is always potential for improvement. Here are three ways to enhance your next design:

  • Take your time: Don’t rush the process. Creating a product design takes time, especially if you focus on quality and customers’ pain points.
  • Eliminate all possible guesswork: If you find yourself stuck on a matter, it’s best to consult other team members, as opposed to guessing. Providing an estimate for a quality check or the development timeline of a product component can lead to additional problems and consume more time.
  • Test early: If possible, test every stage of the process (where applicable). Tests like A/B testing can help you find the version of the design that is best suited for your product and eliminate doubts and possible issues.

Product Design Process Takeaways

A comprehensive product design process is indispensable for business development, even if it seems daunting at first. A professional approach combined with in-depth industry knowledge is crucial, from the initial analysis through to ongoing updates.

As product design represents the product itself, it must achieve a high standard to resonate with customers. Engaging the services of some of the best product design agencies and digital design companies can be highly beneficial.

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Ivana Ivanova
Content Specialist
Ivana Ivanova has a background in various industries with writing always front and center in her work. Starting with creating project proposals for Center for Knowledge Management, she then fully immersed herself into content creation and started to approach it from a marketing perspective. She furthered her career in the field working for Ridarec Content & Media. Now, Ivana uses her knowledge to produce valuable content for DesignRush.
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