Designing an Intelligent Environment Friendly Product

Posted by HJC Design Ltd on October 30th, 2015

Product design is where a business breathes life into their ideas and intuitions. It is an essential part of a product’s lifecycle, and yet its modern form is not familiar to most people. Product design is shifting its focus to offer real value through intelligent design. This incorporates Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, which refers to devices or objects that are connected to the Internet, like smart watches, fitness trackers, or even refrigerators. The IoT is driving many new start-ups and mature companies to invest in creating IoT solutions, even for standard products. This is generating a new revenue stream and an unprecedented demand for intelligent product and industrial design solutions. While the feasibility of reinventing the wheel is being argued by experts, there is no denying that intelligent industrial design is the way to the future.

Along with the need for a transformation in intelligent design, there is a critical need for environmentally sustainable design. Further, environmental laws and regulations are no longer considered as a hindrance to business. Organisations now believe in creating environmentally safe and sustainable designs. This is not an attempt to appear as socially responsible, rather a genuine shift in focus to eliminate any negative environmental impact right from the beginning of the lifecycle of a product.

Broadly, industrial design implies desirability, viability and feasibility of an idea that merges to create the blueprint for a product. Infused with the idea of intelligent and environmentally sustainable design, it radically transforms the way designers approach a problem. Industrial design is as much a creative process as it is an analytical process, and design methodologies and standards are an important part of the entire process. Modern designers follow and offer their services based on these established standards.

Product Design: This requires an understanding of production engineering, manufacturing processes and delivery mechanisms to create a single product or entire product families. Modern designers adopt a more intuitive approach to the problem instead of the wasteful try and test method.

Prototyping: Apart from ascertaining feasibility, prototyping allows a business to gauge product desirability and determine market viability through testing and product appraisals. With the advent of modern computer aided design and prototyping machines, designers can go from the drawing board to a proof of concept within hours.

Computer Aided Engineering and Design: The advancements in CAD allow modern designers to rapidly generate complicated 3D assemblies with minimal waste of time or resources. This step is important for determining manufacturing feasibility and tool requirements.

Tool Design and Manufacturing: Designers need to create feasible designs that can be manufactured by tools that can be procured easily. Tool design also needs to be adaptive and versatile. This is a challenge that designers are adept at handling.

Incorporating User Observations and Feedback: Even before direct input from users, designers analyse trends to determine consumer response and behaviour. Actionable feedback is vital for designing user-friendly and desirable products.

About the Author:

HJC Design Ltd are Yorkshire’s leading Product Design Consultancy. From initial concept through to manufacture, HJC Design create inspiring products and new brand identities that offer real value and bottom line benefit.