Last Updated on July 13, 2024 by Asfa Rasheed
In the modern era where technology is booming by the day, and new innovations are on the rise, Product managers and research teams have come up with a new concept of product making that is design thinking. The design thinking team comes up with an idea after a lot of brainstorming by the efficient teams of engineers from elite institutes in various fields such as computers, information technology, mechanical to name a few, and in collaboration with specialists in research analysis.
Design thinking is an exercise for building a contemporary, smooth technology for producing brand new products. To create products that take up the market by storm. This design thinking method is now widely used globally across all sectors, including public and private. All the industries related to agriculture, pharmaceuticals, information technology, construction industry, etc. have all adopted the design thinking structure. Companies have recruited specialized teams that work as think tanks to fabricate new ideas and offer novel products that appeal to the masses.
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Why Product Managers Use Design Thinking
The main reason why Product Managers around the world use design thinking is that the design thinking teams have spent days and months carrying out the research about the product to be launched and after reviewing its practicality, quality of the product, availability, demand, user experience, and after-sales services, the product is then introduced in the market for the consumers to purchase.
Design thinking is an activity carried out by professionals in this field to create user-friendly products and have an instant connection with the user. The design teams pay special attention to the product’s aesthetic appearance and usability in day-to-day life, even though the product may be falling in the luxury segment. The product has to be organized as per the common user’s taste and should add a feeling of joy to his monotonous routine. Products such as portable mp3 players.
Or the commonly known i-pods fall into the meticulously designed products and are a wonderful example of the design thinking which have produced products that have the customers going gaga over them and adding a pleasurable experience all over.
What is Design Thinking?
Design thinking may also be defined as the process of finding solutions to grievances by giving precedence to the user’s needs beyond everything else. The sole motive of design thinking is to invent products considering people’s interaction with the environment and providing eco-friendly and recyclable products. The products should be such that they should have their application in the day-to-day life of the people using them. Designing a shoe is one of the many examples of design thinking which elaborates and acquaints us to how basic footwear has come of age; the shoe, which was seen as a basic necessity, has now been even categorized in the luxury segment. We have shoes ranging from a few dollars to shoes that are available in hundreds of dollars a pair. The design team focuses on various aspects such as lightweight, flexibility, durability, ventilation, and great cushioning.
How is Design Thinking Used?
The design team closely monitors people’s needs and introduces products in the market which properly cater to everyone’s needs. The research and analysis team keeps working on the prototype and focuses on eliminating the obstacles and difficulties during the process of designing. The repetitive or the iterative part of design thinking helps develop the master model to become a complete package with respect to a product and may pave the way for the product to be successful in the market when launched. Design thinking involves reparations that are preferred to the traditional hurdle solving process, which is linear in the identification of a problem. Brainstorming by professionals engaged by the design team helps better to cope up with the iterative process and come up to a positive conclusion. Consumer requirements can be better addressed with the help of design thinking.
Many basic problems faced by the users which are confusing or some decisions which are difficult to arrive at are easily solved by the design think team. To understand the topic deeper one can choose design thinking degree programs. Meanwhile, here we can take the example of people who were first confused while buying a smartphone considering the internal storage being 64 GB or 128 GB, now here we had users who had the requirement of less than 64 GB, so the devices having 32 GB were launched and the users who needed more space than 128 GB were offered 512 GB and 1 TB options. These were great alternatives, fitting the various budgets of people and catering to their needs.
Another fine example is the garment industry where the people with a little heavy physique had to compromise regarding the availability of designs and patterns which were readily available in smaller sizes but were restricted in sizes above XXL, so the concept developed by the design team that a store with exclusive patterns and designs in abundance for the people who are obese should be introduced. Now we find that users have a variety to choose from and are not restricted to simpler outfits. The “PLUS SIZED STORE“ – the concept has brought a new lease of life in the plus-size people’s wardrobe, and they have a reason to celebrate, it goes without saying that the credit goes to the design team and is one of the reasons why Product managers globally involve design thinking.
The development in computer technology has encouraged the design teams to create and surpass the thinking capabilities of the human mind, with the aid of modern software and applications which facilitate the creation and invention of new designs with respect to all industries. The best example we come across is in the liquor industry; it is a very interesting and true fact that a particular brand of liquor was doing a good business, the head of sales was given a particular target to achieve within a stipulated time, so he called his team of professionals and urged them to come up with something which could increase sales in the particular season, the design team then was thus entrusted with the job, so they designed a signature edition of the glass bottle which was for a limited time till stocks last and were very aesthetically appealing and very rare in shape which led to the boost in sales, creating havoc in the market.
Conclusion
We can say that design thinking is a process of inventing products that are easily relatable to people providing them with a design thinking degree and adding comfort to their lives. The process of design thinking involves making a prototype and then by the repetitive or the iterative processes eliminating the slightest errors along with brainstorming by the team members having expertise in that particular product formulation, which leads to the product being ready for the market. As soon as the product is ready from the master model, testing of the product has to be done before introducing it in the market, here the testing team has a pivotal role to play with. The after-sales service should be top-notch, which would ensure complete customer satisfaction.
There are numerous more reasons why Product managers use design thinking along with the factors mentioned above. But it must be noted that design thinking has taken the innovation of products to a new high; the benchmark of quality has been raised way above the limits we were used to in the past.
