How good product design changed the world
A brief look into movers and shakers of the modern world.
I think we owe a great deal to designers. What they have already achieved and will continue to achieve has been pushing the world further than ever before. Apart from being connected to our physical and social environments, we‘re now living in an ever increasing digitally connected world whether we opt in or opt out. There are literally millions of products, apps and web based services of which at one place or another we have come to use, will get to use, or don’t know about its existence yet and there is no end in sight. Yet they achieve one goal: making our lives better.
The Casper Mattress
A little more than a year ago I bought a Casper mattress. Before the purchase, I had enjoyed seeing their monochromatic comic book style illustrations on the L train while riding into Manhattan. I probably saw a handful of them a good 30 times before I checked out their website. The site was clearly well designed, easy to navigate and persuading me further in each step to buy it in a delightful way. Buying it became a no brainer after a while.
Even though I was skeptical when I took it out of the box because it was flat, to my non-surprise it inflated into a great bed I use everyday with pleasure. I never knew buying a mattress could be considered a fun and easy experience. To me, that is successful product design.
Following Caspers success, both traditional brands like Sealy and new web based brands like Nectar, Purple and probably 30 others are now emerging with similar products and services. More and more emphasis is being dedicated to the users experience to compete for an already tight space in the market.
Within each industry we’re now able identify easier ways of accessing services and using products. With our phones, we’re practically able to buy anything in the world with a few taps, and each industry has had its share of the worldwide adoption of these new design systems.
Yellow taxis in New York are struggling financially because of apps like Uber and Lyft, allowing easier access to safe and affordable rides. These products in our lives have shaped the way we see the world and how we interact with it, and this is still just the beginning. From web based services to physical products, we today see a push from literally every company, rebranding themselves and adopting better ways to improve their brand.
Let’s go a just a few years back to see how it all started..
The iPod and how Apple changed everything
When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in 2007, the world became ready to redesign the way it viewed itself, but the groundwork was already being made. Years leading up to it, there had already been a predecessor growing smarter and better each year through an iterative design process, rendering the iPhone possible.
In 2001, Jobs made a push towards adopting digital music and brought the whole world of music down into our pockets with the iPod. The iPod Classic might be the greatest predecessor to the iPhone and all phones ever invented, because it eliminated users pain points without letting them know they needed it in the first place. It ultimately changed people’s views and how they now felt about their existing products. At the time, not only did we carry big bulky portable skipping CD Players around, I remember making playlists on my computer and burning them on CD so I can listen to them outside.
The problem then was, we already had a lot of mp3’s and didnt have a way to listen to them on the go. The iPod addressed those problems and more. It delighted us in its aspects of design, from packaging, to its advertisements, making the design in itself stand out to become a reason to buy the product. It was emotional, and we became believers. Everything about the product was what we wanted it to be, yet no one had seen one before. Observing the market for a bit, I bought my first iPod at the 3rd generation, and it felt special.
...and then we got the iPhone. And then came everything else.
Following the iPhone’s instant success, a new market had emerged. Google, Blackberry and Windows joined in on the fun. The opportunities for innovation grew bigger each year. While the iPad came along in 2010, all prior tablets that came into the market -maybe with exemption of the Palm Pilot were not successful in addressing the need of their users. The iPad was built for fun and it’s ease of use, and people loved it. It sold more than 250 million units since.
The iPhone has sold more than one billion.
It was evident that Apple cared about its users, and the belief its users had in Apple. It makes them the most valuable company in the world, with almost a trillion dollar valuation today.
The iPhone and iPad became so successful as it is today because the design followed a human centered design thinking methodology from its first steps on. The design was cohesive, and as a whole it was fun and easy to use.
There is a thirst in consumers, much of them wanting the next big thing to fall in their laps so they can fall in love with the devices they own one more time. This is why designers are working in agile environments to push out products in front of their users, as fast as possible, gather feedback and reiterate on their learnings.
This advancement would not be possible so clearly and fast, if it wasn’t for the right team of designers, developers and managers working to solve problems. User Experience addresses these problems, and looks to to find new solutions to old problems.
It’s about the user
User Experience (UX) is the entire set of attitudes and emotions a user has from using a product, service or system. How they use them, their beliefs about the product and relationship the users form with their products, the utility in which how easily and efficiently they’re able to perform tasks, inform the design systems and decisions it employs. UX Designers create these systems first with their users in mind to ensure the best experience is given at each step of their process. In the end, user experience is about how the user interacts with and experiences the product.
Don Norman first invented the term User Experience in 1998 with his book the Design of Everyday Things to address a fundamental need that was lacking at the time. Later on in 1990 while working at Apple’s Research Labs at the time he said:
“I invented the term [user experience] because I thought “human interface” and “usability” were too narrow. I wanted to cover all aspects of the person’s experience with the system including industrial design, graphics, the interface, the physical interaction, and the manual.”
-Don Norman
As Norman puts it -in his three levels of processing, users need to have their immediate desires met, with their usability issues solved while making it fun and simple to use.
Visceral processing is at the core of our experience. On the deepest level we process things viscerally, that is to say our subconscious minds are able to understand whether or not we like something immediately, just as we don’t like something very hot to touch, or a sudden loud sound, we know right away when we are to be delighted with a well designed product.
The behavioral level of design determines how effectively and simply we’re able to use a product. This requires guiding the user with clear and easy to follow affordances to make the experience simple and and pleasing to use.
Reflective processing addresses emotional liking in all aspects of the design and how users associate themselves with those products, passing through time, making them deeper and addictive connections in their lives.
Solving real problems
Whether fulfilling social needs associated with style and aesthetics, utilitarian or general purpose, the products we use will have emotional beliefs attached us both viscerally and cognitively, whether good or bad. Designers today have to make sure no matter what, they’re addressing and working effectively to achieve the emotional design outcomes of their users.
From owners, to employees, partners, clients and customers — there must always be a final purpose in addressing the belief systems of each moving sector. This can be done by addressing each problem and empathetically listening to everyone on each side of the design team and user base.
Design teams have a monumental task in addressing these findings in the perfectionist manner they require to achieve and must be able to closely work with product designers and all other stakeholders. Good chemistry between design, engineering and product partners must require empathy in another to build products that are sincere and pleasant to work with.
The details can make or break it so pixel perfect design is ultimately expected hence we are fighters for the very best design.
Pleasant products work better and transform consumers into believers. More kindness goes a long way in addressing each others issues in the simplest sense. I think this is part what makes giants like Apple and Google so successful is the amount of team work and care that goes into building each product so demands can be met.
Minimalistic and fun modern design languages fueled by strong and clean visual language has changed the way companies internally and as result externally attract more believing customers. Designers today have to make sure no matter what, they’re addressing and working effectively to achieve the outcome on the consumer. The details can make or break it
Good Product Design
A well designed product has the ability to disrupt a new space while mature products become more useful and seek to optimize usability. In their core, all products must purposefully articulate their design decisions to inform users that they are useful, pretty and serves the need of the user, making them desirable and worthwhile.
Elon Musk is a disruptor in the field with his innovations with Tesla. No one knew we needed electric, sustainable vehicles and autonomous driving systems to make us safer while being more friendly to the planet. Now we know electric vehicles can be faster than supercars and now companies like Ferrari, Porsche, BMW and Volvo with Polestar are all making their own electric cars, ready to battle with Tesla.
Musk and his teams’ developments in sustainability has been able to disrupt many industries stretching from improving energy, public transport and space travel. Advancements like these foster growth and enlightenment for all.
By using a set of well oiled tactics to achieve maximum growth, industries have adopted intricately connected ways of working closely to integrate maximum profitability. From inception all the way through to its implementation and delivery, teams across companies embrace putting out fast new iterations of their work to go in front of people to capture hearts. The emotional reactions we get out of using products help further steer the design process.
The product design process brings together varied inputs into a cohesive whole.
A great product will let its users realize that their lives are better by using them whether they knew they needed it or not in the first place. As for designers, understanding their audience and their emotional reactions to their products helps them solve their problems.
Design for a better world
If people can be made happier, healthier, safer, and more comfortable by using a product, and if the product fulfills the needs of the users, them the designers will have achieved the problem they were trying to solve. Because when it’s all said and done, all products serve us to fulfill our needs make us happy and in return should bring pleasure. While addressing this human need, if a new product can be further sustainable, better for all living things and this planet, then it becomes even more desirable and useful and in return it makes the world a better place to live in.
