The Design Process
The steps taken in designing a new product are usually as follows:
- Analysis of market, target group and their specific requirements on the future product. The application field is thoroughly studied and possible weaknesses of previous product generations examined.
- Idea generation and conceptualization:This is the really creative step of the process, where groundbreaking innovations are created. It involves the usage of well-known creativity techniques like brainstorming and other methods.Thereby:
- new features that elevates the product against the competition,
- innovative solutions for basic functional principles,
- the essential definition of shapes and forms that appeal to the target group
- design variants
are created.
- After the creation phase the worked out concepts are reviewed for their usability and their potential for the market. Usually the client is involved in this phase to incorporate his experience to judge the concepts.
- The selected variant(s) of the design concepts are worked out in detail to finally compile a production-ready design from the client-chosen favorite.
- Visualization of the finalized design using 3D applications and/or a real-life mockup.
- Construction and build of a prototype. Suited to the infrastructure of the clients’ manufacturing circumstances, CAD-data is created that can be directly used for tool-making and production and is handed out to the customer.
