Important Factors That Influence Product Design
To remain competitive in the market, businesses must introduce new products on a regular basis. Even the highest-performing products become obsolete over time and are replaced by more modern alternatives. The systematic, step-by-step process of New Product Development is utilized by businesses to increase the likelihood of their products’ success in the face of market competition, as a result of their ongoing efforts to develop and introduce new products to the market. Furthermore, it is essential to investigate the factors that influence product design. These factors increase the marketability and desirability of the product while also making it simpler to manufacture and assemble.
Factors That Influence Product Design
Key factors that influence product design are listed and described as follows.
Design For User
User-centered design entails involving consumers in the early stages of any new product development (NPD) process and retaining their participation throughout. This provides research, engineering, and marketing teams with a clear understanding of how their expertise will contribute to the success of the project. This unified strategy will reduce the likelihood of competing initiatives that waste time and resources.
Ideally, one should engage with potential end-users early on in the product development process, regardless of whether the product is a good or a service. First, determine who the ‘user’ is. Are they consumers who might find your product on a supermarket shelf and use it in their homes, or are they business customers with whom you wish to establish a service contract?
You may identify multiple types of people or customers as potential users of your product or service, posing the challenge of managing a design project that comprehends them all.
Engaging With Customers – Understanding the specifics of individual experiences can provide greater insight than market research’s aggregated reports. User-centered design and market research should be kept separate. Market research focuses primarily on gaining a broad understanding of the market.
This can be achieved by,
- Identifying triggers to buy or use a product or service
- Finding acceptable price points
- The individual and observational focus of user research makes it possible to:
- Identifying unexpressed user needs
- Actively engage users in shaping how a product
Observing and Analyzing Users – It is essential to immerse yourself in your users’ context – the circumstances and ways in which people are likely to utilize your product. This immersion reveals unstated needs that may have been overlooked without the full context. For instance, observe users as they complete relevant tasks at home or at work.
Observe them as they use your product and make note of where they have difficulty and where they do not. Take note of what they say; however, it is frequently the things they don’t say that provide the most insightful information.
Inclusive Designing
When you are designing products or environments so that they are accessible and usable by as many people as possible it is inclusive designing. User-centered design techniques are a crucial component of inclusive design because they make it possible to:
- Understand the reality of people’s lives
- Evaluate products as they are developed
- Ensure products are genuinely inclusive
Among the examples of inclusive design is writing product instructions in the languages most commonly used by your potential users. Thus, you attempt to accommodate the greatest number of users possible.
Design Against Exclusion
When designing a product for user, it is crucial to comprehend and quantify the number of potential users who would be eliminated by certain design decisions. This design restriction can take various forms. For instance, your design choice may inadvertently exclude:
- Less mobile or dexterous users, such as the elderly and the disabled, require a larger button size.
- Less affluent users
- Users with less technological expertise
- Users from various cultures
For instance, if you are designing biometric-based access to a product and using fingerprint as an identifier, the elderly may be excluded from using such a product due to the fact that many elderly individuals’ fingerprints appear to fade with age. Therefore, design against exclusion suggests using an alternative biometric identification method that does not exclude anyone, such as offering both retina scan and fingerprint scan options, allowing customers to choose based on their ability and convenience.
Ergonomics
Ergonomics entails ensuring compatibility between people and the objects with which they interact. This could include the objects they use or their living conditions. Each and every product, system, and environment should be designed with ergonomics in mind.
Due to commercial or time constraints, ergonomics is frequently not given sufficient priority early in the design process. This, however, is a false economy. Ignoring ergonomics can result in commercially unsuccessful designs because they do not meet the needs of the user.
Related – Introduction to Operations Management
Ergonomists are trained in analytical methods to determine which user characteristics should be incorporated into the design process. This is crucial when you consider how much individuals differ in terms of body size, shape, strength, mobility, sensory sensitivity, and cognitive capacity. When applied at the earliest stages of the design process, ergonomic methods frequently reveal innovative opportunities.
Ergonomists should be an integral part of your design development team to ensure that the needs of the end-users are always prioritized. Increasing the likelihood that your company’s product or service will be successful by continuously evaluating its ergonomics during its development.
Ergonomically designed products include chairs with lumbar support, keyboard palm rests, height-adjustable workstations, anti-slip mats, etc. Ergonomic designs have a substantial market advantage.
Design For Manufacturing
Design for manufacturing (DFM) refers to the method of designing a product’s collection of parts to facilitate their manufacture. It recommends the following design options.
- Product design must support manufacturability
- The design must focus on cost, process, and component quality.
- Reduce and simplify the number of manufacturing processes
- Utilize common materials and components.
- Avoid specialized equipment and frequent tool replacements
- Choose materials with optimal manufacturability.
Design For Assembly
Design for assembly (DFA) refers to the process of designing a product to facilitate assembly. DFA is a tool used to assist design teams in the creation of low-cost, production-ready products, with an emphasis on the number of parts, handling, and ease of assembly. Designing for assembly requires the following strategies.
- Minimize part count
- Create components with self-locating features.
- Create parts with self-fastening characteristics
- Reduce component reorientation during assembly
- Standardize parts
- Encourage modular design
Also Read – Operations Strategy: Definition and Purpose
Additional Factors That Influence Service Design
It is essential to note that the aforementioned factors are applicable to both goods and service designs. However, because services are somewhat more complex than goods, there are some additional factors to consider when designing services, which are outlined below.
Due to the fact that production and consumption of services occur simultaneously, the following factors are also significant and must be considered from the outset of service design. Detailed below are the in-question factors.
People
Since the service provider and consumer interact frequently, it is essential to identify and clearly describe the characteristics of the service providers. These may include physical characteristics, skills, training, and attitudes, as well as any other attributes that may be essential for the type of service being delivered.
For instance, individuals who provide security services must be well-trained to handle a variety of situations, must have a law enforcement background, and be physically fit to inspire confidence in their clients.
Process
In addition to designing the service itself, it is essential to design the process through which the service will be delivered to customers. By process, we refer to the steps customers must take to acquire and utilize the service. Process can significantly affect how customers perceive the quality of your service.
For instance, if you are designing a drive-through food delivery service, you must define the process in detail, including how the customers will drive through the passage, where they will order, how they will pay, and where they will collect their orders, etc. Also specify the timelines for each process step. This entire procedure can then be turned into a service manual for all personnel to follow. This also contributes significantly to standardizing the output quality of the service.
Physical Evidence
Since services are intangible, the customers’ perception of the quality of the service depends on a variety of factors, such as the skills of the service provider and the service delivery process, as previously discussed. The location where the service will be delivered is also an important element to consider, as it provides the necessary physical evidence of service quality and helps to influence the perception of service quality in your favor.
The location must be designed appropriately for the type of service provided. In order for patients to feel safe and healthy, a hospital, for example, must be kept immaculately clean, sanitized, and well-organized. Likewise, a hotel must have a pleasant atmosphere with soothing music, decorative lighting, sufficient security, and cleanliness.
Conclusion
All of the aforementioned factors increase the product’s value and marketability. These must be considered alongside the other New Product Development process steps from an early stage and be accorded the appropriate weight to increase the likelihood of success for the new product.
