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Illustrated by:
Bobby Zhao

So You Want to Build a Product

With a brilliant idea, a thoughtful mission and a fervent passion, you are diligently trying to build a product that users would love. At the early stage of your start-up, you recognize that building a great product can be more important than fundraising, business development and even marketing, so you need someone to help you make your product desirable, usable, and manufacturable.

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“Until you build a great product, almost nothing else matters.”

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– Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator

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A design team is able to get your product idea designed, developed, and made – The right design partner can help you no matter what part of the product development process you are in.

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Who you might be:

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1. You need a strategic design direction

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You might be a product developer or a lab-based researcher seeking commercial applications for your technologies. There are different scales of design obstacles in the early stage of product development which would require strategic design solutions. An experienced design team will help you define/refine development direction and address these challenges holistically through extensive research and testing.

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2. You have a product idea/some napkin sketches and you want to refine/visualize the design

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You might have thought of or created a product, but are unsure about its visual aesthetics and branding. Designers are equipped with many creative tool sets to help you develop a product. As visual storytellers, industrial designers generate design iterations through sketches and refine them in 3D renderings. The visual workflow supported by design research creates the optimum design solution for potential products.

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3. You have some renderings, but now you need an initial working prototype to test your idea

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With visual images that illustrate the design, you are moving forward with the product development process. Now you need a functional prototype to test out the interaction between the product and users. Industrial designers are trained to help you fabricate working prototypes with 3d printing. Using these prototypes, they would facilitate user testing sessions to validate working design features and identify design flaws. User feedback is used to improve the product design.

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4. You have an initial prototype but need to make it manufacture ready

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You are considering manufacturing methods for your product and need to make design changes based on manufacturing and financial constraints. Industrial designers ensure the best product features are physically realized while complying with these limitations. The design team will tirelessly coordinate with the engineers and manufacturers to push the project forward.

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5. You have a product on the market, but you want to make the next iteration

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Having one product on the market is a good start to engage your users, but being an ambitious entrepreneur, you want to expand into a larger pool. Designers are here to help you diversify your product line while being consistent with your brand identity and the existing product. Again with strategic planning and contextual research, design professionals will secure the successful expansion of your future product line.

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What you bring to the table:

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- What you hope to achieve

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- Budget

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- Timeline

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- An open mind

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We as industrial designers are always excited to look into your product idea and progress and to provide the optimum design services. Through a methodical yet flexible process that includes User Research, Strategic Planning, Designing (Sketch & CAD), Prototyping, User testing, Design for manufacturing (DFM) and Manufacturing liaison (help communicate with factory if the design is right or not), the design team is prepared to dive into your project at any given phase.

Finding the right designers and suppliers for your product is not an easy task, but a necessary and worthy investment when starting a business or creating a new product. Not only will designers generate creative ideas, they make sure that the products all come together. By constantly testing, iterating, and coordinating, design professionals will undoubtedly save you the headache from worrying about product development, so that you can focus on running your business.

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