Impact of Product Design

Impact of Product Design

Goods and Services

Products fall into one of two categories; they are either a good or a service. In some cases a good will come with a service in a package deal, but in several instances they each are separate offerings by the companies that produce them. Goods are consumable items, in most cases these are tangible items that can be touched, however in today’s technological world a good may also be an item that is downloaded from the internet. This means that while we may never touch them, the goods we purchase are still items we can interact with. An example of this would be a song or movie that is downloaded.

On the other side of the spectrum are services, which cover a very broad range of products. One item that would be considered a service would be when you take your car in for an oil change. Once the service is rendered, the previously agreed upon payment is made to the business that completed the work. Another form of service that is offered is the customer service of the company from which products are purchased. This service usually is consumed when a portion of the transaction did not go as expected, either a bad product being received, or a product that arrived damaged or late. Due to the fact that services are intangible, they are more open to subjective judgments about whether the obligation offered has been fulfilled by the business.

Importance of the design process

Whether the company is producing a new good or service, the design process needs to be followed. If the design process is not followed, the quality of what is produced is likely to suffer. Additionally, the company could lose market share on a new product if the design process is drawn out or becomes over complicated. When the design process takes too long, the risk of a competitor offering the product first becomes a risk. At the same time this is being considered, rushing the product through production also poses a serious risk to the quality of the product. All of this information lets us know that the design process is important, but is still a process that needs effective management to be successful.

Steps of the Design Process

The first step of the design process is the generation of the idea. This idea is usually built on the needs of customers, and can come from many different sources both internal and external to the company. The next step once the idea is identified is a feasibility study which includes market analysis, economic analysis, and the technical and or strategic analysis. If the product does not pass the market analysis, the idea is tabled. Once the product makes it past all of the analyses, the design enters rapid prototyping. In this stage, the form, product, and functional designs are all worked on at the same time. In these stages the product