You have an idea. You want to change the whole world and you have everything settled. Then you come across two weird and rather scary terms. Product design and product development!
If you really want to bring your digital product to life and monetize it; well, you have to understand these two concepts. We’ll show you how to create and launch a successful product that resonates with your target audience.
Let’s break down product design into “product” and “design”. Product could be something that you buy in store or it could be something digital like an app or a website. A digital product solves a problem that somebody has and therefore, creates value for them.
Design is all about finding a solution to a problem that you’re trying to solve. Who is this a problem for? Where and how does this problem occur? Or maybe why does this problem even exist? Product design is the combination of these two things.
To ensure the problem is solved well, there comes in the designer. Designers might choose to test their ideas with real people or they may even choose to include people in the design process to really understand how they would like this problem to be solved.
Product designers also think about the look and feel of the app as well. They might want to make sure the app is user-friendly, the design is consistent with the brand of the company, and that the app is accessible.
Think about architects or songwriters. Architects usually design a building, but they don’t necessarily build it. Just like how songwriters write songs, and they may not play it. The same is true of digital products, too.
Product designers often work with software engineers to bring the products to life. This might mean doing things like preparing visual designs to show to the software engineers to help them build the product accurately. It could even mean sitting side by side as the product is being built and helping engineers to understand exactly how things should look to make sure the polish is just right.
Unlike product design that focuses on the imaginative and conceptual parts, product development is typically the process of bringing a new product into the market, to your customers or your users.
It includes everything from the moment you are discovering what is the problem that you're going to solve with your product, all the way to the planning and execution of the product, including things like delivery, potential marketing and maintenance and evolution or modifications that you are going to do to that product later on.
If we see product development as an engine, we can say the development team is the gear that transforms the design into a working product.
They code, test, and refine the product until it matches the required standards. They word hand in hand with product designers to guarantee the product performs and serves the end-user's needs.
Although some people tend to see these terms as being the same, there are different stages in how a product comes to be. Let’s have a look:
You may think product design is just about making it look good. But that’s just a surface. Product designers make sure users can easily navigate the product, that it feels right, and that it meets their needs at the same time. Here are some other reasons why product design is important:
You know your design. You also know what your customers want and, more importantly, what they need and don’t know about. And now, all you need to do is bring that product to life. Here’s where product development comes in.
You need to know how much resource and what technology you require. You also need to test and refine your product to make sure it is ready to launch. Above all, you need to manage the product’s lifecycle, from its infancy to expiration. That’s what makes product development important.
The product development process can be broken down into 6 steps:
The first step is coming up with the idea. Building something totally new can be fulfilling, but keep in mind that many of the best ideas are the result of iterating upon an existing product. So don’t get hung up on making something totally new! You can use the SCAMPER model to come up with new ideas.
Now, your next task is to do research in order to validate your idea. The overall goal is to make sure that you’re creating a product that people will actually pay for. This protects you from wasting your time, money, and effort on an idea that just won’t sell. To validate your new idea, you can use methods like starting a crowdfunding campaign or asking for feedback on forums like Reddit.
You should have a concrete idea of what your product’s design is and how it will work. So, it’s important to take the time to plan before you jump into prototyping. You should have a list of different features. The list doesn’t need to include every single detail, just the important ones, so you can start planning what you need in order to create the product.
The goal of this phase is to create a finished product as a benchmark sample. It is unlikely you’re going to get your finished product in a single attempt. You’ll have to experiment with several versions. You’ll have to slowly eliminate options and make improvements until you feel satisfied with your final sample.
However you decide to go about validating your idea, it is important to get feedback from a substantial and unbiased user as to whether they would actually buy your product. Be wary of overvaluing feedback from people who would actually buy if you were to create your theoretical product. Because until money changes hands, you cannot count someone as a customer.
Now that you’ve done your research and gone through several rounds of prototyping and user testing, you’ll arrive at the final design. This is the version of the product that the development team can work on.
Picking a solid team for product design and development matters a lot if you want to succeed in your project. Here are some important tips:
By paying attention to both the imaginative and technical sides of making a product, you can turn your idea into reality and deliver something that clicks with the people you want to reach.
If you’re hungry for more knowledge and you want to know how to advance your product idea or team up with industry experts, Realistack focuses on product design and no-code development for new businesses.
We are Realistack, a product design and low-code development studio that exclusively works with tech startups. If you want to launch your startup and need help with the development of your MVP or product design, don’t hesitate to reach out and book a 30-minute discovery call.
