Industrial design : what you need before starting your project

Industrial design is one of the essential steps in the process of creating products from both a functional and an aesthetic standpoint; it benefits the people who use these products as well as those who produce them. Industrial designers gather and analyze data to develop products and systems in accordance with client requirements. They use drawings, descriptions, and models to create and improve products and use multidisciplinary approaches. Finally, they work together with different teams to look after the creation of the final products. An industrial designer will meet with a client several times to assess their needs; they’ll develop industrial designs and models according to the client’s specifications, and they’ll discuss their different designs with the client while taking the material and budgetary requirements into account. But before starting any project, here are the key points that must be clearly addressed – and resolved!

Identify the problem

This involves understanding the client’s needs – in other words, helping them solve their problem by offering them real solutions. In return, this will give designers something concrete to work towards, not in an abstract way based on vague speculations.

Accessible, point-by-point goals

Dynamic product design requires setting goals that will be successively addressed. These goals must be quantified and clearly defined: they’ll help the industrial designer figure out the best approach to take and the necessary materials for the project while taking the budgetary requirements into account for the success of the design process.

The research phase

Before implementing a project, whatever its nature, an industrial designer should research all the viable options available in order to ensure a smooth transition toward the next step in the design process. By comparing the current project with previous similar projects, they’ll be able to develop strategies that will help them deal with any situations that could cause issues. This research phase will also let them become familiar with all the other competing products on the market, so they can develop a unique product that responds to the client’s specific requirements rather than a copy of another existing product.

Manage costs

Managing costs is an essential element of product design. Making sure that products are designed in the most profitable way ensures that an industrial designer can find the most functional product possible… and at an acceptable cost.

Technology: a means, not an end

The rise of new technologies means that a wide variety of resources is now available for creating a usable, functional product. The product architecture should be developed using these new technologies… while keeping in mind, of course, that the goal should be the product, not the technology.

The aesthetic value of the product

In addition to creating useful products, a good design must ensure that the final product is attractive. Visually appealing products have a positive effect on the user. A product can be deemed a success if it enters the daily lives of its users and occupies an important – even vital – place in their lives. Finally, bear in mind that the design is at the service of the product: good industrial design should ultimately result in the creation of a product that’s useful and that solves the problem for which it was designed. A product that doesn’t meet this basic criterion cannot be considered successful.