Industrial design – product design makes a significant contribution to the success of your product and the company image. Successful products bring more profit and the company image is an important criterion for the purchase decision. That's why product design is so important for your success!
We will show you how IDpartners can make your product even better!
Call us (0031-534301701) or send an email: info@idepartners.nl.
We are happy to help! Jacques Stevens
Why is one product successful and the other not?
Many people have probably asked themselves this question. A prerequisite for the success of a product is …. Yes, what actually? This question is not that easy to answer. Otherwise there would be successful products in series.
However, in order to get a little closer to the answer, one should first divide the products into at least two groups.
• Consumer products and
• Investment Products.
In our affluent society (almost) only the image counts when it comes to consumer products.
The products are becoming more and more similar, the technical performance of the product hardly differs in a price segment. That's why you buy with "gut feeling". A real technical comparison is rarely possible, since the average consumer simply has too little specialist knowledge.
The purchase decision is mainly made emotionally!
So here the product design is “necessary for survival”. And I don't know of any company that doesn't do that.
The product design is only part of the overall company image. The overall corporate image is important.
If this is high, every product will be successful. At least over a long period of time.
A good example of this is Apple. No matter what the ladies and gentlemen from Cupertino bring to the market, it is cheered. Technical mistakes are also accepted and cause only a small loss of image. And the price doesn't matter. The products are much more expensive than those of the competition and are still bought. It's wonderful - at least for the manufacturer and seller of such products.
While product design cannot build the complete image of a company, it has a significant impact on it.
Consumer goods design, the image of a product, a company is important.
The situation is similar for capital goods. The biggest difference is that the purchase decision is usually accompanied by a specialist, a technician. The latter can (usually) evaluate the technical differences of the product better and thus make a purchase decision that is at least partially rational.
In the capital goods sector, industrial design - product design does not therefore play the dominant role in the purchase decision as it does in the consumer goods sector.
But don't underestimate the image and the emotional impact of a product! Here, too, the wish "I want to have exactly this product" applies, often more, or at least as much as the technical values.
Product design is a technically immeasurable purchase factor
What about factors that cannot be technically measured?
I am thinking here, for example, of the reliability of a machine. How can this be measured? Or quite simply to the "value", to the impression of a product. Here, too, the feeling, the image of a company will make a very decisive contribution for or against the purchase. And the product design makes a significant contribution to the impression and image of the company.
Emotion and image – how do you measure them?
And this is where the enormous problem of choosing the right product designer begins. How are you supposed to make a decision if the factors are not measurable?
Actually not measurable at all!
How do you see what you are getting for your money?
The simple and somewhat unsatisfactory answer is that you have to decide based on your gut feeling. Or not?
I would like to say not quite. There are a few points that are important when choosing a designer that you should keep in mind!
Four points that are important for slecting the right product designer:
1. Look how long the designer has been working.
With a few years of experience, you are much more likely to get a positive result than a newcomer.
2. What manufacturing experience does the designer have?
It goes without saying that a product designer can design products. From my experience I can say that it is not so self-evident that the product will also be cheap to manufacture. Whether it will reach the planned cost of production. Unfortunately, that's where the biggest weaknesses lie. At many training centers, this is hardly valued.
Of course, if you're in the consumer goods business and you're going to be making a few 100,000 units, this point doesn't matter that much. But do you have these requirements?
3. How sure are you that your designer will still exist in 6 months or a year?
This is also a very important point. Would you like to revise the design again after 10 months? Technically, something may have changed. And now? The designer has thrown in the towel and is no longer available.
4. From our point of view and experience the most important point. Can the designer also do the construction?
By which I mean the production documents. If the product designer says, "No, we're just doing the product design," you should be careful. From our experience there will be problems in the realization of the design. This can quickly become much more expensive than the actual design order.
Of course, you don't have to give the designer the construction order. But in an "emergency" the possibility of outsourcing would be very good. Ask the designer "how should I make this?".
Is it possible to improve the corporate image with industrial design?
The clear answer here is – yes! With that alone, industrial design would already be an important tool for marketing your product. Not to forget, for a higher profit!
But of course there are many other factors that play a role, especially when it comes to image! In the case of Apple, it was certainly Steve Jobs' charisma. But not only that! Jobs also made the right decisions. Ever since the company was founded, he has focused on innovation and product design.
Apple products were always different from the start, especially the product design was always different than IBM PCs. As a result of this and of course the innovations, an enormous image was built up. The real capital of Apple! Take a look at the list of the most valuable brands in the world! Pretty much says it all, don't you think?
Of course, other factors also play an important role in the company's image. The complete communication, service, quality or sponsoring are also important here. We specialize in industrial design – product design. And this area is certainly very important for the company image.
Product design - industrial design is not just a visual improvement of the product!
Industrial design, as we understand it, has many points to consider. It has to be emotionally convincing, functional and, last but not least, the manufacturing costs have to be optimized. It is the combination of all points that make a product successful! All these properties must be optimally solved in the design draft, only then can a product become a top product.
Industrial design alone does not make a product successful! Product design is just one point (an important point, but not the only one) that has to fit in a successful product.
Purposeful design for consumer and capital goods
IDpartners works purposefully. Should go without saying, you say. Unfortunately, this is not the case with many designers. Very often a point is shamefully neglected.
The cost factor – the manufacturing costs of a product!
Depending on whether we are designing a consumer product or an investment good, we will set different priorities for your product. This creates a product design that is optimally tailored to your circumstances. Product design must appeal to emotions, also in the capital goods sector.
But of course one must not forget the functionality and the cost factor of production.
You're welcome to sell your product at a high price, but that doesn't mean it has to be expensive to produce. Don't you agree?
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Are you looking for a product designer? Are you currently developing a new product or revising your existing product?
Call us (0031-534301701) or send an email: info@idepartners.nl.
We are happy to help! Jacques Stevens
