In this article, we focus on the essential steps for concept idea generation.
1. Understand the Problem
Most successful products are heavily demanded because they solve an essential problem for consumers.
You need to be familiar with your target demographic and other competitor products; what can you bring to the market that’s not currently offered and solve a problem for consumers?
This step is foundational for the process. If you’re not sure why you’re creating this product, you won’t be able to complete the rest of the steps in the process.
2. Research and Brainstorm Solutions
Before you can create your own product design concepts, it’s helpful to expose yourself to solutions for problems that relate to the one guiding your project. Once you have kickstarted the development process by doing research, you can start to brainstorm new solutions.
There are countless ways to brainstorm. Get in touch with your creative side and try different methods to see which one works the best for the project. Don’t shoot down any ideas for concept creation without giving them a chance.
3. Draft and Analyze Concepts
By now, you should have a variety of different product design concepts to sort through. You might be able to toss a few ideas out as soon as you begin drafting the selected ideas. Choose a few of the best candidates from the pile and start sketching them out or making pros and cons lists.
Creating a scoring matrix as you search for the best design will help thin the pile. The next step of the concept creation process won’t be as chaotic if you finish with only the best options.
4. Create Detailed Designs
Focus on logic as you create detailed designs of the concepts that have made it to this stage. You might have to make some big changes as you create multiple drafts or toss out an idea you loved for a more practical or affordable option. This step aims to assess crucial points in the product design. You can’t start your prototype without a detailed design.
Turn Your Idea Into Reality
After you have completed every step of generating product design concepts, you should be left with the winning design. From here, the chosen concept goes from being an idea on paper to a product model.
Keep an open mind as you search for the best solution to help you create the best product for your client.
