Weekends ago, I taught a few other design folks about the “Product Design process.” It was an in-depth class, and I shared my design process with them. This write-up will also refer to the design process that guides my work.

The end goal is a product that solves users’ problems and makes their lives easier.

What is the Product Design Process?

The product design process (or the process of designing a product) is the general framework that product designers follow to create new products or improve existing ones. It is a sequence of steps followed to develop a design solution. It is also a series of design tasks that follow a product from start (an idea) to finish (the final product that is ready to be commercially available to the target user).

We have many design frameworks that have been employed by different designers and companies to take their product from an idea to a market-ready product. Some of the common ones are the Design thinking process, the Double-diamond process, Lean UX process to mention in few.

<aside> 🗣

The design thinking process has 5 stages: Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. The double-diamond process has 4 Stages: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver. While the lean UX Process has 4 stages: Think, Assumption, Hypothesis, and Minimum Viable Product (MVP).

</aside>

All these design frameworks seemingly work the same way. However, to fully understand how these design frameworks work, I have broken my process down into 3 stages:

1. Understand the idea/ assumption that you have (the product you intend to build).
2. Make a solution (the product you are building).
3. Test your solution (the product you have built).

Now let me stop speaking big grammar and explain my process to you.

Be quick to listen while paying attention to every gesture.

1. Understand the idea/ assumption that you have (the product you intend to build).

The first thing that brings about a product design is an idea or assumption. The idea can be for a new product or a new feature in an existing product.

<aside> 🗣

For example, if we create a mobile app where people can save their money and perform transactions seamlessly and remotely, they can reduce their worry about travelling to local banks to get those tasks done.

</aside>

Here, we have already highlighted a potential problem– people having to travel to a physical bank to get their transactions done, a clear solution– an app that can help them perform all those tasks seamlessly and remotely, and what the solution aims to achieve– reduction in their worry and stress of going to a physical bank.

Now that we have an assumption, the next thing is to go through thorough research. This research will help us achieve two things: To validate our idea and/or to gain more understanding about the idea.