Look inside your cellphone and you’ll see an intricate network of circuits, transistors, and diodes. You may begin to wonder how it’s possible for that many components to be stuffed inside a small handheld device and still work. Well, such an elaborate construct can only be achieved through the genius of industrial designers, the professionals behind the design of most basic products or devices people use.
To better understand the role industrial designers’ play in product development you should simply take a glimpse at how industrial design leverages the success of manufacturing companies. Without industrial design, none of the following can be done.
Create the Best User Experience
Inventors and manufacturing companies all want one thing—to create products that people will love and purchase for a long time. To achieve that, they invest heavily in industrial design innovation. They design products that are more useful and better looking than those of their competitors. In other words, products that create the best user experience.
In between relevance and user experience, however, lay many other aspects that need to be factored in. The manufacturing process, for instance, must satisfy the needs of all major stock holders across the product lifecycle from the executive management, who will want the lowest unit cost to stay competitive, to the marketing and sales department who will be pushing and ordering the product.
Industrial design provides manufacturers and inventors with many options and flexibility, which enables them to make educated decisions throughout the project’s progression. Not only does this field help debug the process, but it also helps manage costs by eliminating unnecessary steps and using efficient manufacturing techniques and materials.
Establish Corporate Branding and Identity
Efficiency is not the only aspect taken into account when designing a product. Industrial design covers corporate branding as well. Even after all the adjustments manufacturers carry out to get both ends of the process to meet, the final output must still be able to establish a unique identity. There shouldn’t be any risk of infringement charges from a competitor. In addition, that corporate branding and identity must last and generate leads and profits for the manufacturer for a long period of time.
Manage Costs
Quality comes at a price, but it doesn’t mean manufacturers should not be efficient when utilizing resources. With industrial design, the cost of manufacturing can be lowered, as all unnecessary expenses will be eliminated. Manufacturers must be able to come up with the most cost-effective options and alternatives so that they can make the most profit.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, but it will give you enough idea of how big the responsibility industrial designers hold in their hands. They are the minds behind the success of every manufacturer. If you want to manufacture products that will create an identity that can go viral, consider using professional industrial design services from a premier provider, such as DesignStein Studios.
Sources:
Industrial Designers, BLS.gov
The importance of industrial design in product development, TechnologyRecord.com