What's your approach to industrial design product innovation?

Understand the PEOPLE. Gather observations and create insights that inform why people act certain ways and what emotions cause or result from those actions. Empathizing and relieving someone of a negative emotion is stronger than solving a surface level problem.

I would like to add more point here. That when we try to understand the problem of the end user, it is not necessary that we start completely from zero. We can also start by understanding the problem of the existing product. Because in most of the cases we always find that some product or solution already exists. Which not only helps us understand the problem, but also gives us an overview for a new innovation.

Find out what people want… and, build it!

It depends on the situation. In our experience we try to understand first, with the stakeholders, why. Why do we need to invest incredible (or not) effort, resources and capital into the product and what is the ROI? Once the project goes forward, we continue to look at markets, trends of that sector, the company Brand. Depending on the physicality of the product, user feedback is crucial. We work closely with the company and users to explore and discover the experiences that people have, or not with the object / interactions. This is where the beauty of the product begins to emerge, and is the platform that allows us to Design and achieve further details and solidification of direction.

Here's an insight from the cricket helmet we designed: We were fortunate that our customers were former cricketers. They knew how sweat affected their performance having experienced it first hand. They also knew the problems faced when wearing helmets designed overseas. So, its good to have people on the team who have experienced the problem first hand and can look at it objectively.

Always found the End-to-End Experience Map to be a great foundational tool to explore areas of opportunity (beyond the widget). Sharing with a broader team yields the best discussion, as everyone can help fill-in-the-blanks!

In the end, its all about understanding PEOPLE and making meaningful, compelling experiences that help drive an emotionally engaging connection. …Hopefully enough of an emotionally engaging connection that the brand, good, or service: - Evokes positive emotion and interest - Encourages engagement and interaction - Drives a purchase or investment with a Brand or company through a product or service experience. The Goal: To create meaningful product experiences that are positive enough to turn customers and end users into believers and evangelists that continue to support and help grow the brand by telling others.

A good way to get lots of ideas is to have people working independently on the problem and then come together for a review session. This eliminates the fluff brainstorming generates and creates a pool of Mutually Exclusive, Cumulatively Exhaustive ideas. I am recently reading up on Sheena Iyengar's Think Bigger and working to apply it in my company. It follows on the line of thinking I have put above and in a systematic way.

The best ideas are a waste of time if you don't even have the means to create a prototype I disagree with the notion that -"the goal of this step is to diverge and expand your options, not to judge or filter them"- because I consider construction (and the possible constraints) an essential part of idea generation.

Yes, brainstorming and mood map is very important. But it should be constructive and every participant should go through product brief first and should spend some time on it before participating in the discussion. Different design languages should be focused and discussed during this interaction.

I think the one criteria that is missing here is Scalability. Today, companies are in such a rush to market with an MVO (Minimum Viable Offering) that you need to consider how an offering can scale over time. In 6 months to a year, how do you stay ahead of the competition and bring in new functions and capabilities? With software it can be quite easy but I think we all know how challenging hardware changes can be. Companies don't like to retool... Does the Design allow for upgrades or additional features and functions in the mid to long term? Does that affordance help or hinder the design? How do you allow for scaling without adding cost burdens? Those are questions I've found the most challenging.

I have consistently devoted my efforts to developing sustainable concepts that prioritize affordability and ease of construction, all while maintaining their uniqueness. It is crucial to assess the ideas/concepts using a criteria-based matrix, which is fundamentally based on addressing user pain points. Sustainable and uncomplicated ideas are more likely to gain acceptance from end users.

I think selecting an idea is like a pronunciation combination mathematic. we should think from every aspect First of all, 1. how effectively is the main goal being solved? 2. manufacturing cost 3. energy consumption 4. how robost is it 5. is change over possible 6. what will be the electrical control? also industrial experience matters, that you can easily decides which mechanism works and which will be problematic.

In the helmet design exercise, we got a group of players ranging from experienced pros to beginners to rate our ideas. Since we wanted to get honest feedback, the review was held at an open cafe with all the concepts laid out on a table. The design team was kept away to ensure that the concepts spoke for themselves.

When we agree to the development and manufacture of a product, our clients know that we will be relying on their honest feedback and anything they don't point out when the first prototype is tested, will only cost THEM more time and money for additional prototypes that could have been avoidable

Before refining ideas you would want to make sure you are refining the right ideas. Early prototyping and testing helps to test assumptions and acquire valuable feedback. It allows you to elaborate on promising ideas and discard ideas that do not work, before putting in a lot of effort. Fail fast, fail cheap.

In our company, we put the selected concept in a software like Illustrator. Then we copy it into a 5 x 5 table. In each cell, we create variants of only one design element e.g. a corner round or an offset. That way we now have 25 different options and 3125 unique combinations to select from. This allows us to polish the idea in the shortest time possible.

Imagination serves as the cornerstone, and in the event that your concept proves highly intricate, employ 3D printing to bring it to life visually. The act of visualizing your concept aids in the process of fine-tuning and optimizing the idea. To gauge its reception accurately, put your concept to the test with the appropriate stakeholders and seek their feedback on how they perceive the narrative behind the product concept.

Drawing from my years of experience in the Additive Manufacturing field -aka 3d printing-, I've witnessed firsthand the transformative impact of 3D printing on industrial design, specifically in the prototyping phase. It's not just about speed and cost efficiency; it's about providing a level of flexibility that allows both product owners and end-users to have a visual and materialistic experience of testing the final product. 3D printing offers the freedom to experiment with intricate geometries and materials, continually raising the bar for the value it can bring to both product owners and the final product itself.

We render our Ideas for two scenarios: A mood shot in the context to help our customers identify with it in their daily use. A white background shot to show how it can be sold on e-commerce. This helps them understand how they can showcase their products features and benefits to their audience. At times, we help build high quality visual models. This allows them to convince their board or investors to commit more resources as they get a feel of the product in their hands.

This is the first step of our design process, not the final one... How would you get to a prototype first without communicating concepts from the very beginning?

Communicating ideas with customer is most important and idea validation can only come post communicating initial mind mapping and brainstorming session. Understanding customer behaviour and implementing their feedback before going for prototyping is very important to address the solution.

I've consistently employed the "what," "why," and "how" analogy as my guiding principle. Begin with a compelling story to captivate your audience's interest. Following this initial step, shift your attention to crafting an elevator pitch, as it will help you pinpoint the most critical aspects of your idea. It's natural to develop a deep attachment to every facet of your concept, but it's essential not to overwhelm stakeholders with excessive information, which can lead to confusion. Utilizing illustrations and animations is crucial because visual elements often convey meaning more effectively than words alone.

A method I find helpful If I run up against a creative wall while generating ideas is to step away from the project and focus on something non related. Amazingly, I find that when my mind is occupied with other tasks even simple things like cleaning the office or taking a walk new ideas pop into my awareness. You can't always force ideas to spring up even with all the creative tools we have at our disposal.

This is my approach to developing a sewn product concept: 1?? Understand purpose & performance expectations of the product 2?? Create strategy to meet performance, price & timeline goals 3?? Create technical design & review with client 4?? We select suitable materials to test proposed construction of approved concepts 5?? CAD Pattern draft is created 6?? We create a list of machines required, test different settings to finalize construction 7?? CAD Pattern is finalized and sample is ready to cut and sew 8?? Technical specification is finalized 9?? Sample is tested for performance by client ?? Bill of materials is finalized when client approves sample *?? For clothing, sizing standards will be finalized while first sample is being created

Get inspired in your job title. Acquire desktop publishing skills Get good at keyboarding, mousing and computers. I prefer Windows and Microsoft OLE. Become a power user in a CAD program of your choice. I use ArtiosCAD in my career. Go to museums, places where people congregate. Retail stores. Enjoy life and read.

After working 10+ years in industrial designing, here are some deep insights to follow for newcomers:- 1. A good design must be practical in real life. If there is some sort of hurdle that is preventing frequent and stree-free use of the product or service, only a strong marketing that influences sub-conscious mind is keeping the product alive in the market. The day this strong marketing dims, the product may be dead in no time. 2. A product must have potential to benefit at least 3 stakeholders:- a. Owner of the product who has full rights to manufacture/get it manufactured and then sell it to the market. b. Wholesaler/Distributor who procures the item in bulk c. Consumer who uses it in real life. Pretty straightforward but often ignored