Product design is a complex activity and what many people do not imagine is that there is a lot of work to arrive at an innovative design.
When we design a product, we think not only about its shape, but how it will interact in the real world. Masked by aesthetics, the activity and depth of a product designer’s work often ends up being misunderstood.
The professional designer’s job during product design process is to be a problem solver.
It is necessary to think about the end user, but also about the manufacturer’s needs. It is necessary to know the materials and understand the production processes. Work in three-dimensional modeling and also be able to translate needs into products. It is necessary to have a process, to have depth in research and analysis, to have consistency in the choices and adaptation to the contexts of use, technologies and manufacturing.
Here, our professional product designers at Poetic are sharing some best topics for you to understand more.
Table of Contents
01. Each Material, a Universe
There are materials better suited to certain purposes and formats. This is because each material has its technical restrictions and characteristics. In the pet toy we designed a product; it was produced in vulcanized rubber, due to the elasticity necessary to fulfill its purpose: it needed to be soft for dogs to bite and also to hold the snacks inside.
02. Each Piece, a Project
Each component of a product is an independent project. Often, the pieces can be made of the same material, but produced in different ways. This is the case of our thermal box project. In it, the cover was produced from the blowing process, while the body and other components were produced through plastic injection. In other words, there were two different productive logics, which require different knowledge.
03. Design and Engineering
The product designer navigates between these two worlds. He needs to understand about the production processes (their characteristics, restrictions and possibilities) and also combine this knowledge with the theory of design (functionality, harmonic proportion, colors, textures). In the children’s scissors project, it was a challenge to turn a product full of technical details into something attractive, within the cost of the customer and suitable for children to use.
04. Modeling
The concept design stage, in which we draw by hand, is an important part of the creative process. However, much of the project is solved in three-dimensional modeling. It is through it that we understand the technical restrictions of each process, the dimensions, the fittings. Paper accepts everything, but modeling does not. So we need to make the concepts work in the real world. The parametric work performed in the software is essential to cross design with engineering.
05. Transport and Storage
When designing for series production, we need to take into account the production, transportation and storage of thousands of units of a given product. Therefore, your design should facilitate all steps! In the design of airtight pots that we developed, we designed 3 units in different sizes that stack in a modular way, organizing the gondolas (and the users’ homes), in addition to facilitating the filling of boxes for transportation from the factory.
