A Guide to Effective Product Design

A guide to effective product design
One of the outputs of the Good Design Practice program is a booklet entitled A Guide to Effective Product Design . This gives background information on a number of topics related to product design and development, describes some essential tools and techniques, and provides suggestions for further reading.
Topics covered include: • What is good design? • How do we take advantage of good design? • How do we choose the right projects? • How important is an effective process? • How do we encourage strong teamwork and effective communication? • How can effective market segmentation and positioning help? • How do we involve users and customers? • How do we write an effective specification? • How do we value early Industrial Design input? • How do we select and manage an industrial designer? • How do we brief an external industrial designer? • How do we offer variety to customers without complexity to the company? • How do we reduce risks through prototyping? • What is design for X ? • Bibliography • Glossary

Tools and techniques

Summary of Tools and Techniques

The tools listed below are organised according to the Key Design Activities of the Design Maturity Model. Some may be familiar under these or similar names. Others, such as 'Process on a page ' have been developed during the GDP project in response to company needs. The key goals of many of these design tools are to: • bring together opinions, experiences and perspectives from around the business and support teamwork • encourage a customer focus and customer involvement • promote creativity and divergence when developing alternatives • encourage decision making based on information rather than prejudice or gut-feel

|Market understanding |Concept design & Prototyping |

Bibliography: • Bidault F., Despres C. and Butler, C. (1998) Leveraged Innovation: Unlocking the innovation potential of strategic supply. Basingstoke: Macmillan • Bralla, Design for manufacturability handbook • Bruce M, Cooper R, (2000), Creative product design: a practical guide to requirements capture management, John Wiley & Sons, UK • Bruce, Margaret and Jevnaker, Birgit H • Cagan J, Vogel C M, (2002), Creating breakthrough products: innovation from product planning to product approval, Prentice Hall, USA • Cooper R, Press M, (1995), The design agenda: a guide to successful design management, John Wiley & Sons, UK • Cooper R G, (1993), Winning at new products: accelerating the process from idea to launch 2nd edition, Perseus Books Publishing, USA • Cutherell D, (1996), Product Architecture, The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development, p217-235 • Doz, Y. and Hamel, G. (1998) Alliance advantage: The art of creating value through partnering. Boston, MA:Harvard Business School Press. • Duarte, D. and Snyder, N. (2001) Mastering Virtual Teams (second edition), San Francisco:Jossey-Bass • Dussauge, P • Galsworth, (1995), Smart Simple Design : Using Variety Effectiveness to Reduce Total Cost and Maximize Customer Selection, John Wiley & Sons • Hague P, (1992), The industrial market research handbook 3rd edition, Kogan Page, UK • Jordan P W, (2000), Designing pleasurable products: an introduction to the new human factors, Taylor & Francis, London • Kelley T, (2001), The art of innovation, Harper Collins Business, London • Lamming, R. (1993) Beyond partnership: strategies for innovation and lean supply, New York; London: Prentice Hall • Macbeth, D • McGrath M E, (1996), Setting the PACE in product development: a guide to product and cycle time excellence, Butterworth-Heinemann, USA • Meyer & Lehnard, (1997), The power of product platforms, Free Press, USA • Norman D A, (1998), The design of everyday things, MIT Press, UK • Otto & Wood, (2000), Product design, Prentice Hall • Pugh S, (1996), Creating innovative products using total design: the living legacy of Stuart Pugh, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, USA • Reinertsen, (1997), Managing the design factory, Simon & Schuster • Thackara J, (1997), Winners: how today 's successful companies innovate by design, Gower Publishing, UK • Ulrich & Eppinger, (2000), Product design and development, McGraw Hill, USA • Urban G L, Hauser J R, (1993), Design and marketing of new products 2nd edition, Prentice Hall, USA • Walsh, Roy, Bruce & Potter, (1992), Winning by design, Blackwell Business, UK • Wheelwright S C, Clark K B, (1992), Revolutionising product development: quantum leaps in speed efficiency and quality, Free Press, New York Glossary