As product designers, we …
1. Make things
Things that are physical, digital or both. Increasingly, we make smart, connected things that people use on an ongoing basis, and are continuously updated and evolved over time. These “things” are not static, standalone objects. They are living systems of hardware devices, mobile apps, cloud services, data analytics, and services that people engage and use over time.
When we make these things we focus on …
Look and feel
This is about aesthetics, human perception, culture, and the concepts of beauty and meaning throughout time.
Structure and organization
This is about architecting physical and information spaces, and how people find their way and move through them.
Ease of use and delightfulness
This is how easily people can understand and use something; and the realities of usability, cognitive science, ergonomics and human perception.
Value and benefits
This is about human needs, utility, and technology, social and cultural innovation. (aka - why anyone would care)
A lot of people think “Design” is only about looks and making things “pretty”. This is a shallow and surface-level understanding of design. Visual appearance is the first thing people see, and it often sets the tone for how people engage with a product. But looking through surface appearance, and taking a moment to consider, you can appreciate the underlying structure, thought and hard work behind
But, as designers, we don’t just make things for the thing’s sake.
2. We make things for people
Focusing on people means working to understand …
Who they are and how they live
The high value problems they’re trying to solve
The outcomes they want to achieve
How they currently solve these problems and achieve these outcomes
The types of products and workarounds they currently use
What works well and is worth keeping
What could be better and should change
Why they care and why society cares
It also means understanding the different people who …
Use it on regular basis (aka the “end user”)
Buy it (sometimes one person buys something for another person to use)
Install, maintain and service it
Enhance and add-on to it (e.g. third-party developers)
Manufacture, build and ship it
Warehouse, ship and deliver it
Resell and reuse it
Repair, recycle or dispose it
That’s a lot of questions! Why? Because understanding who’s using these things helps inspire better solutions and reduce the risk of getting it wrong the first time.
Understanding is hard work. Sometimes designers can get stuck in research and feel unable to move forward before understanding more. While answering these questions is important, it’s not the goal. The goal is to make things. Understanding people, in whatever way it’s done, is part of getting to that goal. Sometimes, it’s faster and better to just start making things, put them in front of people, and learn from there.
We also don’t just make things for people.
3. We make things for a particular context and place
This means understanding, as much as reasonably possible, the circumstances in which a product will exist:
Business goals and financial targets
Competitive products and solutions
Place and time of use
Emerging technologies and trends
Ecosystems and how a product integrates and plays with other products from other companies
Social, cultural trends and values
Resource use and sustainability over time
These are all constraints that guide and measure a good design. As designers we live in a world of constraints. Finding clever ways to solve them is at the core of what we do.
There’s a common misperception that designers hate constraints, that constraints inhibit creativity or dampen the creative spirit. This is not true. Quite the opposite. Constraints are a good thing. They help focus creativity. They give clear criteria for what’s a ‘good’ solution. Understanding the constraints is essential. Just when things seem impossible that’s when the best ideas often come.
That said, it’s not just about fitting a particular context.
4. We make things that embody big ideas
Everything is based on some underlying thought, concept or belief. Call it inspiration, brand, purpose, ‘the why’ or something else. Either way, the real challenge is knowing what it is, being really clear about it, and driving it through the details of a product and user experience.
Why before how or what. Knowing the why behind a product brings focus and clarity to everything. As designers, we bring the why to life through all the interactions people have with a product - from the first thing they hear about it through buying, installing, learning, using and improving it.
In the design world, there’s sometimes a split between brand designers and product designers. Ignore it, it’s dumb. Brand and product are one and the same. It used to be brand was more about advertising and communications - what a company says. That’s changed. Today the experience people have with a product is the brand. What a company makes and does defines the brand, not what they say they do. I wrote a small piece about this a while ago. My friend Marc has brilliant thoughts about this topic.
Lastly, we don’t do it alone.
We work hand-in-hand with engineering and product managers. The ‘three-legged stool’ is a good model for a product team. In short, any product team needs a leader and team members for Design, Engineering and Product. The three together are the foundation for a successful team, and a successful product and outcome.
Thank you Marty Cagan for highlighting how important this is to building great products.
PS – There are many labels for many types of design – Industrial design, Graphic design, Brand design, Innovation design, UX design, Interaction design, User Interface design, Communication design, Content design, Design operations, etc etc etc. As a profession, design has a seemingly endless and growing list of specializations and subgroups. Too many in my view. But it’s also a lot of talk, and not always of the most useful variety. In the end what matters is what you make. My advice is to focus on making great things.