PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TIPS AND TRICKS
WE’VE SPENT THE LAST TWO DECADES HELPING OUR CLIENTS BECOME MORE EFFICIENT, AND SAVE MONEY IN THE PROCESS
And over the years, we’ve learned a few tips and tricks that we’ve compiled to help you do just that. These are meant to jumpstart your thinking and help you take your product development to the next level. Take a look, and when you’re ready to become more efficient we’re ready to help.
Developing a Design Prototype
We are lucky in that we receive a lot of valid leads from our website. I’m not sure why it’s been successful, but people seem very willing to enter their information into our contact form. I’m glad they are, because we want to help if we can. But the thing I find interesting is that in the majority of the cases, I’m guessing 80%+, in the comments section people say something to the effect of, “I would like help in developing a prototype”.
Why Speed is Important in Product Design
How incredible to think that industrial design surrounds our everyday life. It may not have crossed your mind that a person drew up the plans for an escalator that you ride in the mall or edited the plans of the computer from which you work each day. The truth is, industrial design’s influence is profound. Designers have moved and shaped the world we are a part of, from the most complicated design to allow communication with friends, to the simplest design to solve world problems. How amazing that each man-made object that has become a part of the world was planned, edited and created by someone.
We put together a list of some of the world’s most influential industrial designers. From design creators to “hands-on” design doers, we selected five that have shaped the world around us.
Five Industrial Designers That Changed Our World
How incredible to think that industrial design surrounds our everyday life. It may not have crossed your mind that a person drew up the plans for an escalator that you ride in the mall or edited the plans of the computer from which you work each day. The truth is, industrial design’s influence is profound. Designers have moved and shaped the world we are a part of, from the most complicated design to allow communication with friends, to the simplest design to solve world problems. How amazing that each man-made object that has become a part of the world was planned, edited and created by someone.
We put together a list of some of the world’s most influential industrial designers. From design creators to “hands-on” design doers, we selected five that have shaped the world around us.
The Outsourcing Option for Product Design
Your idea for a new product design has the entire company excited. Like most companies, your biggest challenge in developing a new product may be prioritizing the project and the resources available to work on it. You and the entire team are already at capacity developing multiple products. Add to that, your sales and marketing group want the new product ready now.
The question is, how can you get the product designed and developed within the tight time-line? Everyone on your team is already swamped and working long hours. You need more people on the team, but you know hiring a new employee will take too long. Should you consider outsourcing the product design?
Your Product Design Idea Made It to a Napkin, Now What?
Our best ideas often strike at the oddest moments: walking in the parking lot from the store to your car, going on a jog, in the shower, or shooting the breeze with friends over drinks in a bar. During those, “aha,” moments, you normally don’t have a notebook or graph paper handy - you have the backs of receipts, your palm, and napkins. But once you decide to pursue your idea for a product design, what do you do?
Common Product Development Problems: We Need to Generate More Product Ideas
Some companies recognize the need to continually update, evaluate, and challenge their existing product line. And because of that, they have a process in place for generating new product ideas—not just ideas, but valid, marketable, profitable ideas that result in a continual evolution of their product line.
Ten Reasons to Outsource Your Product Development to Impulse
Companies that develop products are sometimes hesitant to outsource parts of their product development. However, here are 10 things to consider when you’re thinking about outsourcing your product development.
Common Product Development Problems: We Struggle with Timelines
Do you struggle to meet timelines? Do you get frustrated when you have to send what you would consider incomplete data to a toolmaker/manufacturer? Is the process of creating CAD data the bottleneck in your product development process? Many of our clients come to us because they’ve struggled with those problems with their internal design and engineering departments or because their existing design/engineering vendor didn’t deliver.
What You Need to Know About Medical Product Development
One of the most challenging industries for product development is the medical industry, because the medical industry is extremely large. While this may seem like a positive thing, the sheer size of the industry and the bureaucracy that comes with something that size make it difficult to work in. Just because something is difficult doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. Medical product development is extremely important, and that is one of the reason Impulse continues to accept the challenge.
Common Product Development Problems: Struggling With Capacity Issues
Many of our clients struggle with capacity issues, whether it’s finding the balance between number of projects and number of engineers/designers or it’s the aftermath of company restructuring. In any case, you don’t want to end up with too many projects and not enough people or too many people and not enough projects.
9 Reasons Outsourcing Makes Sense
Many potential clients discard the possibility of outsourcing some of their product development because they expect it to be too expensive. However, after considering the following items, they realize that outsourcing some or all of the product development to Impulse is a very cost-effective solution:
Employee costs: hiring fees, salary, taxes, benefits, legal, etc..
Overhead expenditures on office space, computers, software, training, etc…
Administrative costs: IT support, management support, human resources, payroll, etc…
Risk costs: downsizing, severance pay, legal support, etc…
Common Product Development Problems: We Could Bring More Products to Market If We Had More Design and Engineering Resources
Wouldn’t it be great to have the ability to develop every product idea that your company comes up with? Unfortunately, that’s not the typical case. More often than not, companies come up with more good ideas than they’re able to develop. They don’t have enough internal resources to develop every good idea, so they’re forced to prioritize or more likely eliminate good, money-making ideas.