How should Design teams strengthen portfolio management? Part 2 of 2

In Part 1 of this article, I covered Design’s role in the product definition stage of portfolio management, which entails determining the right products are initiated in the first place. In this piece, I focus on the second part - ensuring that products are designed correctly across a range, or portfolio.

A guardian of strategic intent

Design’s role at this stage of product development includes being a guardian of strategic intent. In other words, making sure products are designed according to plan. Twists and turns always occur throughout the development process, often leading to product drift. Sometimes this is for good reason and should be managed as context changes, but the fundamental aim of a product should be preserved.

The challenge is to simultaneously monitor development at two levels. On a product-by-product basis, taking care that each is well executed. Additionally, at a higher altitude, ensuring that the portfolio works at a collective level.

Different, but the same

Often referred to as design DNA, most brands have a set of principles that determines their product experience. These range from a high-level philosophy, down to executional traits. These principles determine how a brand ‘shows up’ and they become valuable assets over time.

Ivy Ross, Vice President of Design for Hardware Products, has created a language for the products that has become recognisable as Google.

She told journalists: “We really want to think about, when you hold Google in your head, what are the characteristics that really represent the brand.”

For the purpose of this article, I’ll assume that design DNA is in place. Design’s portfolio management challenge is to deploy these assets across the portfolio effectively.

The aim should be to develop a coherent portfolio, not a rigidly consistent one. A degree of consistency is an important component of coherence. But too much consistency can be inappropriate, or make a portfolio feel repetitive and dull.

Thomas Ingenlath, Volvo’s then Design Chief, now CEO of Polestar explained “The Volvo family contains many different characters – the strong and refined types, the elegant and sophisticated, the dynamic and the youthful.” He went on to say “Each car we design is unmistakably a Volvo, but it also has a unique personality.”

Five portfolio dimensions to consider:

1. Product types

Different products in a portfolio should be meaningfully separated, yet somehow connected, clearly feeling as though they come from the same brand.

Separation helps people understand product differences and choose which is right for them. Similarities reassure them that all the products within a family have common core attributes. This builds and strengthens brand equity.

Pro tip: To continue the DNA theme, familial relationships are a useful analogy. Decide whether different products should feel like twins, siblings, offspring, parents, or distant cousins. The trick is deciding which of the common genes are shared.

2. Product lines

Larger portfolios are often separated into product lines to aid navigation. Good portfolio management should enable these product lines to be clearly identifiable, each communicating its strong points.

Pro tip: Often obvious differences between product lines like size, features, or price are not enough. Identify factors that particularly resonate with the sub-segment of users each product line is targeting, and prioritise or highlight them.

3. Product tiers

Most portfolios include products at various price points. This might be due to different features, functions, or benefits. Naming can play a role in communicating hierarchy, but there should also be clear intrinsic signals of where each product sits within the range.

Considered use of design elements can promote higher-priced offerings, encouraging people to trade-up.

Pro tip: Look for codes that communicate ‘premium’ or ‘value’ within your category and interpret them in a way that is appropriate to your brand. This could be the use of colour, material and finish, alternatively through the addition or reduction of aesthetic or functional features.

4. User touch points and journey

Usually, a brand is present in multiple formats, beyond its core product. Similarly, a user encounters several elements of an overall experience over time. Effective portfolio management maintains the brand essence, or ‘red thread’ throughout these different touch points and journeys.

Pro tip: This is often where a portfolio is at its most diverse. Visually identifiable signals across touchpoints or user journeys really help. But less tangible elements such as an approach or attitude that represents the brand, and the experience it seeks to deliver, can be more flexible and powerful.

5. Product generations

No matter how successful a product is, it’s usually updated or replaced - particularly when it’s been successful. This often leads to different generations of a single product being present in the market at the same time. Likewise, previous generations of some products might need to coexist with a new generation of others.

Pro tip: Carefully consider what people liked about a previous product and build on it. As times change, simply replicating what came before is unlikely to work. Sometimes reinterpretation is more appropriate than revolution, particularly when new products need to coexist with older ones.

Portfolio management is an exercise in focus on both individual players and the collective team. Each product should have a clear purpose and offer greater value than its competitors. Together, products should work in concert to cover a broader space than a single product can alone, without leaving gaps for competitors, and building brand value.

Design should play a key role in both stages of portfolio management. At the planning stage - making the right things. Then throughout the development process - making the things right.

If you have any questions, or need support with how Design contributes to portfolio management, please get in touch.

Image credits: Google, Polestar, GoAnimate