In this and future
columns, I hope to educate and entertain you
with war stories about industrial design gone bad
and lessons learned. I also hope to provide useful
ideas about design methods and approaches, as
well as tips on implementing facets of industrial design.
Many companies develop innovative and technically
correct product concepts. But, unfortunately, their products
often fail from a lack of up-front homework. For example,
years ago, a military contractor purchased a major
player in the North American appliance-manufacturing
industry. The company then developed a product called
the Radar Range. It was a great application of advanced
microwave technology. However, the product bombed
because the company didn’t find and research a target
market. Simply launching an excellent product doesn’t
mean it will sell.
Doing things right from the start would have made the
microwave’s success more likely. Instead, it ended up as
just another number in a parts catalog. Lessons learned:
find the target market, then identify what the product really
does. Discover who makes the purchasing decisions,
whether in a corporation, medical facility, or household.
An initial investment in industrial design can also
raise the bottom line. That’s because designers ask countless
probing questions to find out user needs and desires.
A design firm can sometimes even suggest an innovation
or another new market.
Though it may seem obvious, make sure marketing,
engineering, design, and manufacturing meet together
at project start. Each of these parties represent an ideal
based on their profession, so it’s helpful for everyone
to brainstorm without prejudice and express different
ideas. The organic nature of this process often leads to
innovation at its best, while helping eliminate expensive
mistakes early on.
Next month, we’ll talk more about research and
whether qualitative or quantitative research better specifies
products.
Tim Nugent is the Design Director at Pulse Global LLC in
Santa Ana, Calif. (pulse-global.com). The firm focuses on
industrial design for medical devices, industrial equipment,
consumer electronics, and other products and has worked
for everything including startups to Fortune 100 companies.
Got a question about industrial design? You can reach Tim
at tim.nugent@pulse-global.com.