How does the product design process work?

brittpart

brittpart·Nov 27, 2020·7 replies

I’m looking for someone to give me a breakdown of the product design process. From my understanding it’s:1. Sketches2. Wireframes 3. Mock-ups 4. Click-through prototype

teresaman·Nov 28, 2020·1 reply

I would say that's broadly correct! There are many nuances of course but two things I may add is:- research at the very beginning, could be user research or competitive analysis- prototype can happen earlier, for example in wireframe stages as well

brittpart

brittpart·Nov 29, 2020

brittpart

brittpart·Nov 29, 2020

Can you make a clickable prototype with a wireframe? That would be better than getting to the actual design stage and seeing a hole.

jlsigadel·Nov 28, 2020·1 reply

It really depends on the company/project but there's fundamental steps like the ones you have listed. Most companies have a "double diamond" approach that feeds into itself, since the design process is an iterative one that doesn't necessarily have a "end". That includes phases of discovery, research, design iteration, implementation.. And then (ideally) ending with some kind of retrospective that kicks off whatever the next phase of that project is.

brittpart

brittpart·Nov 29, 2020·1 reply

brittpart

brittpart·Nov 29, 2020·1 reply

What do you think continually changes about the design vs functionality or is adding functionality the main part of design iteration?

jlsigadel·Nov 29, 2020

It depends on the project - adding functionality is one common example.. But if functionality is continually added without proper evaluation, it just ends up being a product bloated with features. Sometimes the next phase means scrapping what was built entirely to build something else depending on customer feedback, like pivoting. But to me that would be a signal that either discovery or research (or both) weren't thoroughly investigated. In an ideal world it means building on the foundation of that project: learning what worked/what didn't work, gathering feedback through research, fixing bugs, etc. Unfortunately in most cases there's a tendency to go after the new shiny thing and not doing the retrospective at all.. Then eventually revisiting the project at a later time when customer complaints pile up.

tonianni·Nov 30, 2020

What you have stated is only one part of the process or phase (As @jlsigadel has mentioned) which is attempting to communicate the idea visually in iteration. I've been in projects where we sketched and it went straight to an interactive protoype put together by developers, which was used to carry out usability testing. Which tools and methods you use depends on time, available hands, stage & complexity of the project.The entire design process, includes more as others have written but broadly - 1. Discovery & Research2. Design Iteration & Research3. Implementation & Testing, 4. Adoption, Management & Improvement.What's the reason for the question?

evafriday·Dec 01, 2020

In a nutshell, product design encompasses the process of creating a product, from understanding the problem to creating a solution.As a PM, you'll have to work with product designers to create mock-ups. Then, they should meet with customers and get their feedback on what works and what doesn’t, and the mock-ups are tested with customers. This process is repeated until there is a well-defined product that solves key problems for customers.Here's an article from Product School that might help too 👉 https://bit.ly/3lqzu0r