02 December 2011

How Product Design is Far More than Cosmetics and Making Things Look Good

By Brett Kishkis


Most people think about design merely as to how something looks. But there is much more to it. Design impacts how we interact and use things. It's the most vital and overlooked side of pretty much every product and service. Design should be a serious concern for each business.

An awesome design is also a perfect marketing campaign. Anything that is original will be noticed. If an item is original, it'll offer its owner an opportunity to show it off. Consider Apple's products as an example. Better sales results are a function of the actual items themselves instead of to any marketing results obtained from promoting through mainstream media. When they do promote through traditional media, most of the results come from showing the superb things that the items can do.

In the current environment, original items are pretty tough to find. Most things are still made through mass production. This will add additional value to things that are original. In Meatball Sundae, Seth Godin explained the importance of making products stick out. It has got to be an item designed for a specific group of people, not for everybody.

Functionality is also an integral part of design. In website design, the quantity of clicks from adding an item to a shopping cart through the end of the checkout process is a crucial element of design. Study after study has suggested that reducing the amount of clicks leads to more sales.

Ease of use is another part of design. Steve Jobs constantly persued ease of use. Consider the remote control for the Apple TV. The few buttons on the remote include the wheel like the first iPod with just a couple of others. Now, contrast that with your television's remote control. The average TV control has so many different buttons that you've never used. Steve Jobs would shed buttons which were seldom used. Simplicity is also an important part of planning websites. Each page ought to have just one job. Avoid anything that takes away from your main message.




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