As times are changing, so is the landscape of product design in 2024. Factors like technological advancements, changing consumer behaviors, and sustainability are now shaping product designs more than ever. In this article, we will discuss in detail what it takes to develop a modern product and to be a successful product designer in 2024. We’ll also talk about the processes and practices involved in creating impactful products in today’s competitive world
What is Product Design?
Before we dive deep into the subject matter, let’s begin with first understanding what product design actually is. For the longest time, product designs were mainly focused on aesthetic appeal and function, but now the focus has been shifted to user experience, sustainability, and market viability. Digital and technological innovations are also playing an important role in product design and enhancing customer satisfaction.
Product design is more than just simply deciding what a tangible product will look like or what purpose it will serve. Product design entails much more thoughtful planning. It is all about providing value to its users through user experience and interaction design.
Product design can be referred to as the process of identifying the gap in the current market and filling it with a product that solves some problem while providing value to the customer. How successful the product becomes depends upon how effectively it solves the particular problem.
How to Design a Successful Product?
Product design is a sophisticated process. Being a product designer, there are many variables to be mindful of when making decisions regarding product design. Listed below are all the necessary steps that are required during product design;
Step 1: Empathize with your users
- Understanding Your Users’ Perspectives
Empathizing with the user is the foundation of any successful product design. Empathizing means understanding the needs of users, their emotions, and the challenges that they have to face. It’s not just about following the market trends or analyzing the data; it is all about putting yourself in the users’ shoes.
- Conducting User Research
The next step is to conduct research. This is a very important step as it will give you an initial idea of what kind of product you need to design for your users. You can conduct research through surveys, interviews, and observation. Look for what frustrates them, what they like, their habits, and their lifestyle. This will enable you to design a product based on actionable research.
Step 2: Identify the problem
- Specify the issue
The next step as a product designer is to identify a problem that your product can solve. This is important because if your product cannot offer a solution to a problem, there is little reason for people to choose your products over others.
Therefore, dedicate your resources to understanding what your users are struggling with and how your product can help them. A well-defined problem is half-solved. The more specific you are, the better.
- Validating the issue
Validating the problem ensures you are solving the right problem. You can validate the problem by talking to users, receiving feedback from them as well as conducting surveys to better understand their needs.
Step 3: Ideation
- Brainstorming Potential Solutions
Now you know both the user and the problems they are facing. The next step is to take to the board and generate ideas on how you can solve the problems. During this stage, draw or write down all the ideas that come to your mind regardless of feasibility. Techniques like mind mapping, sketching, or even role-playing can help in this creative process.
- Refining the Ideas
The next step is to refine the ideas you generated during the brainstorming stage. Here, you pick apart logical and feasible solutions from the irrational and unfeasible ones. Focus strictly on ideas that are innovative, sustainable, and aligned with the user’s needs.
Being a product designer, the goal here is to solve your user’s specific problem as effectively as possible in a way no other product currently can. Also, do not consider your resources while finalizing the refined idea.
Step 4: Prototyping
- Turning Ideas Into Reality
Bring the idea to life by developing a prototype. A prototype does not necessarily need to be a full-fledged product. It can be a simple sketch or a scaled-down version of the product. Basically, anything tangible to help you get a gist of what the product will look like.
Step 5: Testing
- User Testing
Testing ensures that your product can do what it is designed to do consistently without falling apart. In this stage, you ensure the product’s quality and consistency in solving the problem.
- Gathering and Interpreting User Feedback
A good product designer always tests the product before launching it. They do it by having real people use your product in a controlled setting. Based on their experience, you can gain valuable feedback and actionable information on the performance, expectations, and consistency of the product.
- Refining based on feedback
Use the feedback to refine your product. This process can be quite repetitive. Based on the actual user feedback, you may need to make slight adjustments or start from square one altogether. Remember, failing during this stage is cheaper and less risky than making changes after the product has been launched.
Best Tips to Follow on Product Design
The success of the product depends greatly on the User Experience (UX). UX plays an important role in determining how the user perceives your product. Whether they love it or hate it, it all depends upon how carefully you have crafted the UX of your product.
Following are some tips and tricks to ensure an interactive UX that stands out:
Never Ignore UX Writing
UX text is the first element that users interact with; therefore, it is important to ensure that the font and the sentences you use are easy to read. Here are ways to improve it:
- Keep it short and to the point
Use clear, straightforward language that users can understand at a glance. Avoid complex sentences or words that are difficult to understand.
- Add Visuals for Clarity
Too much text can also be annoying. Make sure to use visuals where appropriate to retain attention and enhance aesthetic. You can use lists, icons, or images to convey information more effectively.
- Always use an Active Voice
Active voice helps users understand text more efficiently. It is direct, clear, and engaging.
Test Your Final Design
Testing designs with real users is one of the most important tips for creating great product user experiences. Testing reveals how people actually use and understand your product, which is often different from what designers and stakeholders assume.
Testing early versions of designs gives you valuable feedback to improve the experience before development goes too far. Regular testing helps identify usability issues and improve the design based on insights from real people using your product.
Observe User Behavior Consistently
Regularly observing user behavior provides feedback that can be worked upon to offer a seamless experience. Regular observance can help designers understand what features of the product are most used, least used, and require improvements. Insights can then be used to take appropriate action.
Address User Errors
Although user errors are inevitable, their impact can be minimized. Here’s how:
- Clear Error Messaging
Generate clear and concise responses to user errors. Inform users why the error happened and how to solve it.
- Predictive Design
Anticipate common errors that might happen and try to prevent them. This involves creating intuitive interfaces or adding prompts or warnings before taking action.
- Error Logging and Analysis
Maintaining a log of errors can help you understand what the users are most struggling with. This can be resolved in the design.
Introduce Changes Gradually
Change is important. However, introducing changes is not as easy as it seems. If changes are introduced too often, users may find it hard to get accustomed to them. Similarly, if no changes are introduced, users may get tired of the product and find it boring.
Here is how you can tackle this dilemma;
- Introduce changes gradually. In case of big changes like a redesign, do it in phases so users can comfortably adjust to it. Abrupt changes might overwhelm the users.
- Keep users in the loop as to why the change is happening. Share the benefits with the users and relate it to their needs. Users are more likely to accept changes if they understand the benefits.
- Offer support and guidance through tutorials, guides, and customer support to assist users in adapting to new features or layouts.
Tips to Make the Most of Prototyping
Prototyping is an important part of product design. It helps designers understand what their product looks like and how it can be improved before finalizing and developing it.
Here are some tips on prototyping for product design:
Decide what to show with your prototype
- Focus on Key Features
When prototyping, resist the urge to showcase every feature. Instead, focus on highlighting the key features that benefit the user.
- Set Clear Objectives
Set clear objectives on what you wish to learn from the prototype. Is there a specific area you’re focusing on? Or a particular feature you want to test? Setting clear objectives helps build the prototype to test a particular aspect of the product.
Select your fidelity
- Low-Fidelity Prototypes
Low-fidelity prototypes are easy to develop and useful in cases where no one design has been finalized. Although they lack details, these prototypes help designers test ideas quickly without incurring high costs. Examples include sketches.
- High-Fidelity Prototypes
High-fidelity prototypes are very similar in design and functionality to the actual product. They entail all the details and elements that will go into the final product. High-fidelity prototypes help designers understand what the actual product will look like and how it will function. High-fidelity prototypes require more time and resources but can provide deeper insights into user behaviors and expectations.
- Choose Based on Your Needs
Whether you develop a low-fidelity prototype or a high-fidelity prototype depends on your needs and what you wish to test. Low-fidelity prototypes are great for exploring concepts, while high-fidelity prototypes are great for testing the look, feel, and usability of the product.
Test your prototypes with real users
- Get Real Feedback
Recruit people as representatives of your target market and observe them using the prototype. Ask open-ended questions to gain insights. Feedback from real people ensures you are solving the real issues faced by the people as opposed to assumptions. Testing early and often leads to major improvements.
- Be Open to Critique
Negative feedback can be quite beneficial. It can help you address problems before launching the product commercially.
- Iterate Based on Feedback
Positive or negative, use the feedback received from users to improve the overall design of the product. Prototyping is an iterative process that requires learning from mistakes until a refined product is obtained.
Reasons for Bad Product Design with Examples
Product design decides whether the product fails or succeeds. A product can offer value to users, but if the usability and the user experience are bad, it will most likely fail. Understanding the reasons behind bad products can help product designers or UI UX designers avoid common mistakes.
Following are six reasons that contribute to bad product design with examples:
Ignoring User Needs and Feedback
Example: An app with complex features that most users find unnecessary or too complicated.
Reason for Bad Design: Instead of assuming what users want, it is imperative to conduct proper research. Similarly, ignoring user feedback can lead to a product that is out of touch with its target audience.
Overloading with Features (Feature Creep)
Example: An entry-level digital camera crammed with advanced settings and modes.
Reason for Bad Design: Product designers need to understand who their users are and align the purpose of the product with it. Adding features that are misaligned with the spirit of the product just complicates the product.
Aggressive or Intrusive Elements
Example: Websites with aggressive pop-ups that block content and require an action to dismiss.
Reason for Bad Design: The user experience has to be smooth and free of hindrance. If the user is continuously disturbed or interrupted while using the product, they will eventually stop using it.
Neglecting Accessibility
Example: A mobile app with small text and poor contrast that is difficult to read for users with visual impairments.
Reason for Bad Design: A mobile app with small, low-contrast text fails to consider users with visual impairments. Good design is inclusive, ensuring all users can effectively access core functions.
Poor Response to User Errors
Example: An online form that clears all input data when a single-entry error is made, forcing the user to start over.
An online form that erases all user input just because of a single field error frustrates users and wastes their time. Forcing users to re-enter lots of information they already submitted is no different than a punishment.
Compromising Usability for Aesthetic
Example: A beautifully designed website with a non-intuitive navigation menu hidden behind ambiguous icons.
Reason for Bad Design: While aesthetic appeal is important, it should not come at the cost of usability. Products that prioritize looks over function can confuse or alienate users, leading to poor user experience.
Product design is a complex process that requires carefully considering user needs, problems, and feedback at every stage. The product landscape today demands thoughtful planning around new factors like sustainability and technology. While aesthetics are important, designers must prioritize usability and accessibility to create truly user-centric products. For a product design to be successful, it should be free of common design mistakes and should have a well-crafted user experience rigorously tested during the prototype stage.
Whether you are a seasoned product designer or just starting a career in this field, here is a foolproof guide to improve your UI UX in 2024.
