Product Vision & Strategy
Designing a product is about more than simple problem solving. The truly great innovations in business have often occurred to satisfy a need that had never occurred to anyone before. Vision is often overlooked in discussions about product development. Some of the great creators and designers have had a product vision and strategy for realizing it. Having a vision in product development entails looking at the greater overall picture and having an understanding of context.
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Experience
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One strategy to take in developing a product is to identify certain positive consumer experiences and then try to replicate them with a new product. Many consumers look for certain experiences from products such as the experience of novelty and a pleasing aesthetic experience. A new product can replicate these if the designer is very careful. The look of a new product is particularly important in this way conveying many different emotions and meanings.
Tendencies
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Product designers who approach their design from vision perspective often take a strategy of looking at certain basic consumer tendencies. All people have basic tendencies that drive their behavior. Consumers often seek after novelty as well as ways to do things quicker. By taking these sorts of tendencies into account a product designer can identify a need that is not being met. An example of this sort might be a new kind of household cleaner.
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Creative Process
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The process that goes into the design of a product with vision includes a strategy that is quite different from that of simple problem solving. Product design of this sort involves throwing many different ideas up for consideration. The strategy is one that seeks to expand what is possible rather than merely fix or improve what already exists for consumers. New ideas can only come from a process that is open ended this way.
Markets
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One of the benefits of a product vision strategy is that if it is successful it is likely to result in the creation of a new market. Innovative products enter the marketplace without any competition and end up creating new consumers. This sort of situation is ideal for a business and often ends up yielding significant profits. For the period that a product is by itself in the market place it is extremely profitable.
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References
- Bluehaired: Vision in Product Design: David Güiza Caicedo; October 12, 2008
- "Washington Post": Andy Rubin Has Some Steve Jobs In Him; Michael Arrington; January 2010
- "New York Times": GM Shifts Gears on Product Strategy; Danny Hakim; May 2005
- CNN Money: Don't Believe The Hype About Strategy; Jeffrey Pfeffer; May 1, 2003
- "New York Times": Pepsi's Counterintuitive Branding Strategy; Eric Pfanner; February 2007
Resources
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