Design Management Group

Guiding principles of good design

Whatever the definition of 'good design', it is acknowledged that well designed products are essential for ongoing business success. The most successful companies recognise the importance of a holistic approach to design; encompassing functionality, performance, production, aesthetics and ergonomics.

It is possible to design a successful product once through good fortune, good timing or indeed sheer hard work. However, to design innovative and winning products time after time requires a more reliable and structured approach. In many companies, 'good design' is often under-exploited or marginalised, with insufficient attention given to aesthetics, ergonomics or design for manufacture. Aesthetic design may be undertaken by untrained engineers, industrial designers may be employed too late to make significant difference or products may be designed which are too costly to produce.

Thus, to take advantage of good design, the following collection of 'guiding principles' have been identified as critical ingredients of success:

An effective New Product Development (NPD) process

The NPD process must provide a balance between providing managerial structure whilst at the same time not constraining creativity. Thus, there must be an appropriate degree of structure and control in order to secure success repeatedly. A good process facilitates effective teamwork, encourages strong communication and provides management control without unnecessary bureaucracy. Good companies also never rest on their laurels and seek to improve the process with each project. MORE INFORMATION

Choosing the right projects for investment of valuable resources

Few companies can afford to waste valuable time, money and skills developing a product which is not demanded by their customers or is to be sold in a shrinking market. An effective product strategy, linked closely to the overall business strategy is crucial to the selection of the right projects.

Early integration of specialist designers into the core team

It is unrealistic to have all of the required skills available in one company. A project may demand a human factors expert, stylistic input or software interface design skills. A team may need input from a specific scientific discipline such as optics or robotics. Strong teams recognise their weaknesses and understand when external support is required.

Strong design partnerships to fill competence and skill gaps

External specialists should be viewed as a central part of the design team. Strong partnerships with external designers is often a critical ingredient of success.

A shared design 'vision' based on clear market understanding

Having a shared vision of the product to be designed, bringing together marketing, industrial design, production and engineering perspectives is essential. This vision should be based on a clear understanding of the market, how it is segmented and where the opportunity is to be targeted. Where possible, this vision should be communicated simply in a single and shared product specification.

Maintaining the integrity of the design vision, from idea through to production

Sharing the vision at the outset of a product is not enough. The team should strive to maintain that vision throughout the project from idea through to production.

User and customer involvement throughout the design process

One of the most significant ingredients of success is the involvement of users and customers throughout the design process. Users can help generate valuable insights into future needs and wants and are the single most valuable source of information during product definition. User involvement during concept selection can help to reduce subjectivity in decision making. Finally, users should be involved in market testing and post launch reviews.

Encouragement of a creative culture and divergent search for ideas

Many companies hope to develop innovative and creative new products without providing an appropriate supporting environment. A key element of strong design teams is the ability to be divergent in the search for solutions to problems and a culture which supports play and creativity.

Early and frequent prototyping

Product design is recognised as having high inherent risks, with a combination of market, business and technical risks. Prototyping, model making, simulation, concept testing and evaluation is often a quick cheap and effective way of exploring and reducing these risks. In many companies, the development of quick and relatively inexpensive prototypes is highly underutilised.

Equal consideration of the 'tangible' and 'intangible' product attributes

In technically driven companies, design teams tend to focus on performance and functionality - the 'tangible' product attributes - those that can be quantified and measured. Such teams often pay little attention to 'intangible' attributes, such as how the product will be used, where it will be used and who will use it, what it will look like and how it will feel. These intangible qualities tend to be subjective, difficult to specify and hard to measure but are critical in designing products which are useful, usable, desirable, producible and profitable. Indeed it is often these intangible qualities that lead to product differentiation.

Up front consideration of the downstream implications of design decisions

Ensuring that design for production principles should be considered as early as possible in the design process. In addition, other 'downstream' issues should be considered early, including distribution, point of sale, transport, usage and ultimately disposal.

Minimising complexity to the company, whilst maximising variety to customers

Products are often designed one at a time. Each product is different and has a different set of parts, assemblies and processes to other similar ones. Strong design teams consider issues of modularity early in the design process and where possible develop core platforms of technology which can be used in many products addressing different markets.

As part of our research work, these principles are embodied in a design audit tool, that enables a firm to assess its current and desired capabilities (link to design audit page).