#Product Design

Manufacturing process should be part of design

“A well-designed product isn’t well designed if the process needed to manufacture it is unrealistic or uneconomical.”

Matthew Frederick 

A brilliantly conceived alternative-fuel vehicle will not succeed without the design and implementation of a refuelling infrastructure over a large geographic area. A cleverly resolved construction detail isn’t clever if it doesn’t leave room for a construction worker to manipulate the tools needed to construct it. A bridge pier that’s well engineered won’t be built without also engineering a process to excavate earth and pour concrete in the middle of a river.

Remember, there is often design besides the design and a well-designed product isn’t well designed if the process needed to manufacture it is unrealistic or uneconomical.

📚 Source: 101 Things I Learned® in Engineering School by John Kuprenas & Matthew Frederick

The paradox of good design

“It’s somehow paradoxical that one of the most important characteristics of a good design, its unobtrusiveness, renders it harder to notice or appreciate.”

– Martin

Good design is somehow invisible, which contributes to the common perception of design as a discipline that is somehow unimportant or easy to do. It’s somehow paradoxical that one of the most important characteristics of a good design, its unobtrusiveness, renders it harder to notice or appreciate.

Bad design, on the contrary, because it is more noticeable and easier to spot, gets associated with design as a profession, contributing to the more critical view of design as a useful discipline.

📚 Inspired by The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman 

Are we overly focused on design processes instead of delivering value to customers?

Is it possible that we became so obsessed with our design processes that somehow, we lost sight of our primary mission, which is the creation of useful products for our customers. Any thoughts?