The first stages of product development are where imagination and possibilities cover most ground. Variously known as concept design, front-end or simply ‘design’ this phase of new product development includes understanding, exploring, developing and defining a design solution to the point where it can be further refined or applied (usually in engineering stages).

See below for more insights, but in the meantime here is a step-by-step summary of out concept design process.

Key Tasks

Although every project is slightly different, an overview of the tools & processes that we commonly use during concept development include:

Briefing – We start by having a full understanding of the product/project objectives and requirements both with our client and amongst our wider project team. We document our understanding so that we are all on the same page.

Research & analysis – Includes a number of activities to gain a well-informed understanding of the product requirements: user observation & evaluation; market analysis; and exploring suitable materials & processes

KickStart –CobaltNiche’s own idea generation (brainstorming) format used at the start of a project to rapidly gather known information, generate ideas and set directions. By including a broad range of designers and engineers, KickStart sessions build on and bounce-off the technical and creative power of our expert group.

Themeboards – We collect relevant visual images into panels to determine our client’s preferences for the visual direction of the product in terms of styling, user interface, materials & colours. This process is especially useful for all new products where there are no clear precedents to follow.

Concept sketching – our designers use both traditional & digital sketching to quickly explore and communicate a wide spectrum of ideas. Whilst we are cutting-edge in our tools, we are old-school in valuing the efficiency and creativity of sketching to develop and communicate design ideas.

Mock-ups & form studies – However important, sketching has limitations especially when validating the human factors, form or mechanical movement of concept ideas. That’s when we make form models and mock-ups within our in-house workshop.

CAiD – Computer Aided Industrial Design is where we create 3D computer models of a design and then create photo realistic images of the product concepts using sophisticated rendering software. Images can either be still (like photographs) or animated (like video). This step is especially relevant when a client needs a highly resolved and presentable concept image (i.e. for customer research or attracting investment) before moving to subsequent engineering development.
 

Problem Solving

During the concept development process we apply classic ‘divergence > convergence’ principles attuned to today’s development technology and pace. This means we take a very broad approach at the beginning to ensure that we explore a wide scope of potential ideas. As we progress through the concept development phase we shortlist and refine these broad ranging concepts, narrowing them down to just a single strong, tested and exciting direction at the end of the stage.

The outcome of the concept design phase is a single refined concept ready for the next phase of development: product engineering.

Insights

Design is good for the environment. Around 80% of a product's environmental impacts are locked in at the design stage (Source: Sustainability Victoria, 2009)

Design is just the beginning. Although critical, design tasks as above represent approx. 20-40% of most product development programmes we undertake for our clients (i.e. when providing full service from concept through to production). The remainder of our costs are spent in engineering, prototyping, testing and production liaison.

Its a team game. Our design team usually plays the core role during concept development phases, but we also involve our engineers and external materials/processing suppliers to ensure the concepts have relevance and practicality.

Freedom of choice. We believe our clients should always be offered reasonable choice between design ideas and strategies. This enables them to balance risk and return, as well as influencing and owning the end solution. Therefore we tailor our projects to develop and present multiple ideas until an agreed direction is decided.

Power Assisted Creativity. Prospective clients sometimes ask "how do I know you will develop innovative ideas for my product?". The short answer is we work through a process of observational analysis and are practiced in a number of proven ideation and creativitiy techniques.