By Brice Bunner
Idea people possess intense focus, which enables them to tinker something ex nihilo into existence. Yet that same passion and focus often prevent them from seeing beyond the drawing board.
It’s very rare, if ever, that an invention goes straight from the inventor’s napkin sketch to store shelves. There needs to be a development-and-design stage. That’s where product designers come in.
Lickable products
If nothing else, product designers can make your invention look so appealing that people will want to pick it up, turn it over in their hands, place it on their mantle, buy it dinner.
To be honest, garage-made widgets usually have a face only an inventor could love. The designer’s job is to put some curves on new products that will make consumers weak in the knees. I like to call this “lickable” design – so nice that you want to lick it.
Trained in aesthetics and invested in artistic disciplines, product designers can give your invention the sexiness it needs to appeal to your target market.
Fresh perspectives – added values
One of my clients was skeptical of what I could do for him when we first met. He was convinced that he had covered all the bases for his invention.
As we discussed his idea over coffee, I started exploring alternate markets and product lines that could spin off from his original invention.
He was staring at me like a deer in headlights halfway through my brainstorming. Then he sat up in his chair. “You’ve blown my mind,” he said. He had not expected a new perspective on an idea he had been mulling for months. He did not consider that other people – particularly product designers, who are steeped in manufacturing processes, modern materials, market research and the latest gadgetry – would be able to see possibilities he missed.
Designers can add expandability to products. Sure, your widget is fine and dandy, but wouldn’t it be better to have an additional three widgets to fill the end cap at retail stores? Good designers possess a knack for coming up with other, one-off widgets to enhance and add value to your product.
Models and Branding: Your new best friends
Along with compelling renderings, fantastic ideas and more features that your product designer has given you, add to the list branding and models.
Let’s start with branding. To make an impact in the market and to be instantly recognizable, your product is going to need cool swooshes, nice colors and a catchy name. Branding creates an identity for your product. Branding offers an easily recognizable name, an impressive logo and an appealing color pallet. All of this can make a product instantly recognizable as it whizzes by on the side of a bus at 6:30 in the morning – which, incidentally, is the best time for groggy businesspeople to receive subliminal messages.
The use of models is another tool for your toolkit. Models are show-and-tell props primarily used to seduce investors, friends and neighbors to fork over money and energy to get your invention either on the market or in their living rooms.
Make sure you are using the correct lingo. A sketch model is a quick (usually foam and paper) model designed to give a very basic shape to an idea.
An appearance model looks like the real thing, only doesn’t move, click and beep the way the real thing might.
A prototype is used to make sure the mechanics or electronics work.
A production model is the closest thing to what would show up in a customer’s shopping cart.
And a rapid prototype (also known as an SLA or SLR) can be any version of the above but are more likely to look and feel and, in some cases, even operate like the finished product.
Each model does a specific job and some could be overkill for what you need. Explain to your designer exactly what you are trying to accomplish with the models before spending your kid’s college tuition on what amounts to a really expensive paper weight.
I had a client who didn’t know the differences between models and kept asking for prototypes. Only after two lengthy model-building sessions (and haggling over the bill) did we finally discover that she only needed something to give to her manufacturer for sizing.
In essence, she requested a carefully sculpted work of art, when she just needed a quick foam model to get the idea across. One model took a week to build. The other could have been done before lunch.
Take a cue from the professionals. Every major corporation or manufacturer has either a design department or hires a firm to do their research and development. As with any personal investment, you will be too close to the product to give it the objective perspective it needs to go from good to sellable.
Finally, be selective. Make sure you like the designer or firm. If you choose wisely, they should be with you all the way to the popping of the cork.
Brice Bunner runs caution-studios, a product-design firm in Columbus, Ohio. Visit www.getcaution.com
