Requirements for creating a great user-centred product

A successful design project starts by designers understanding their clients’ needs and by having the right information, a product designer can provide better designs. Clear communication of product vision and requirements are vital to a great creative collaboration, and it starts before a designer begins product sketches.

But no need to worry, the requirements  designers need are information you already know or have.. Below are essential information product designers need from you in order to design a great product. These Information helps designers see what you want to achieve so they can provide the best creative solution possible;

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1. The Why 

It helps designers understand why they are needed and how they should begin the project. Setting goals helps in tracking progress and the effectiveness of the products' design, subsequently it helps in determining the areas for improvement. Expectations enable everyone to pay attention to the scope of the project and prevents scope creep as it negatively affects time and resources. Designers would need to know the following: 

• Your inspiration behind the project
• What you are trying to achieve 
• What your expectations are

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2. The What

Knowing the business and brand helps designers tap into a client's mind, the core values of a client's business, and what they stand for. The recurring elements in a client’s industry can be utilised to make a client's product stand out as well as the use of company strengths as a selling point. Knowing the existing brand helps in creating a product that is harmonious with the known image of the company, it is advantageous to highlight the leading brand elements in the product design. Designers would need to know the following: 

• Your Mission
• Your company strengths
• Your competition
• Your branding
• Your existing product’s top and bottom features (if existing)

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3. The Who

Good product design is done with a well defined audience in mind and all available details about a client’s customer such as demographics (age, gender, ethnicity, etc.) and psychographics (personality) informs a designer's work. Knowing a client’s ideal customer from what they do and how they act to what they like helps a designer use elements that appeal to this target audience’s way of thinking. Although some brands may use elements to appeal to a gender specific audience, when a client communicates that they have a broad, mixed audience a designer is informed to bring more gender-neutral elements into their design.

Products appeal to different age groups in different ways. The information on a product's audience enables a designer to consider appropriate and effective choices of colour, shapes, typography and style to appeal to the audience. In the same vein, some design elements may be perceived differently across cultures, information about the culture of the audience ensures design elements in a product are acceptable to the audience’s community. 

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4. The Expectations

To ensure efficient product design, clients need to give specifics about their project. To set clear expectations on the results of the project, designers need to know;

• What aesthetic style you're going for
• Your ‘must-have’ elements a.k.a product requirements

Understanding a client’s aesthetic for their product helps to streamline the choices of a designer's creative elements for a design. The requirements of said product are essential to a designer's themes and elements used in product design. A clean look or a dynamic look are examples of choices a designer could employ in designing a product and knowing what the client’s expectations are ensures appropriate choices are made.

Working backwards is a simple way a client can fine-tune their requirements, it clarifies and defines the vision of a product. As the name suggests, clients can start with what they want to do for their target users and work their way back until it gets to the minimum set of requirements to satisfy what it is trying to achieve. 

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5. Practical use

It is quite common for clients to want the design used for online marketing and advertising, which also affects design to some degree. Having a clear understanding of the client's wishes ensures the designer takes into account different uses such as multiple colour options, adaptability, and responsiveness. 

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6. The Collaboration

Finally, and perhaps most importantly is how designers and clients would like to work together. This helps to establish the mode of collaboration and working boundaries that ensure an efficient working relationship.

Understanding how the team is going to work together during the project will help designers focus more on work, schedule tasks and update sessions and even anticipate hiccups.

Determining how often updates to the designs are presented or even if a hands off approach is taken, choosing the mode of communication between the team ensures time and efforts aren't misdirected. Knowing what formats design assets should be in for the client's use is also important for the designer to establish what files can be used on what occasions. In addition to managing expectations, it also ensures that adequate time is allocated to the design process for optimal creativity.

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Great design starts with a simple conversation

At Curva, we know clients aren't just looking for a pretty product, we are aware that professional advice, patience, and understanding, plus a little care and acknowledgment goes a long way and we offer this by asking the right questions to understand our clients desires. By doing this, we are able to go on an exciting creative journey with our clients that results in a satisfied client who often returns for more.

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References

1. Mia Angela Dagsaan, 2020, “20 questions to ask your client before any design project” [online]
2. Nick Babich, 2018, “A Comprehensive Guide To Product Design” [online]
3. Spencer Lanoue, 2015, “4 Critical Questions to Ask Before You Design Anything” [online]
4. JD Jones, 2019, “The questions you need to ask before starting a product design project” [online]

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