Sell or innovate: the usefulness of a new product
This essay is ultimate. Through this object of study, the question is raised an economic performance to create a fundamentally new and innovative product concept?. From this question, it is proposed that designers question a lot if their product to invent will have a good market that adopts it; With this question it can be inferred that these are more concerned with how to sell this product and how moment. Based on this approach, two arguments are proposed. The first argument will be analyzed what are the key variables to reach an innovative product concept. On the other hand, the second argument will talk about how these variables are fundamental to maintaining sales .
For the development of the two arguments the Karl T book will be used. Ulrich and Steven D. EPPINGER DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF PRODUCT which talks about product development methods that can be put into practice. Likewise, the text design of objects such as merchandise by Gabriel Garcia Acosta which deals with several important concepts managed in design, will be key to the development of these ideas.
When you think about innovation it is thought in terms of success. It is important to understand that there are different levels of innovation. According to Gabriel Garcia Acosta’s text, there is disruptive innovation and incremental innovation. Disruption: revolutionary solution that will completely change the market; Incremental: proposes changes or improvements to something already existing. A common mistake made by designers is to seek only disruptive innovations, and to set aside incremental changes, as both are important in the innovation process. “Disruption is difficult to find and achieve, because it implies new knowledge and a high degree of uncertainty."
As proposed in the book design and development of products, the process of identifying opportunities in the form of innovation is related to the product development process, both consist of development and selection steps in the identification of opportunities, the goal is generate a considerable amount of opportunities and efficiently rule out those that do not deserve a greater investment. In the product development process, the goal is to take the articulated opportunity in the mission statement and do everything possible to ensure that it becomes the best product that may be.
To start, the products that an industrial designer develops produce use values that consist of their reason for being, since the concept of these is born from an intrinsic problem, a clear example would be to have the cold as a problem, the product to be created would be a jacket And the use value would be to shelter. A product begins with a perception of the environment (necessity) and based on this approach begins with its production. According to the author of the text design of objects such as merchandise, it states that “if a good analysis work is not done, it can end up with supposed needs, based on unsustized beliefs that are in new products that nobody needs.". Here we can relate what Ulrich and Eppinger propose as the first step for the development of a product which is the research of customer needs “a necessary condition for the success of a product is that it offers benefits perceived by the customer. Products offer benefits when they meet needs."Many times designers seek to launch a product without knowing if there really is a market for this, which is the main cause of failure, because the error of creating the product is made and then looking for the need that this will satisfy.
Now, if you already have a good analysis and the need to be satisfied according to the book Design and Development of Products is well known, the next step is the design phase (conceptualization), however in this jump it is where care must be taken. The designer as a professional has the desire to create, however, by the desire to get products to the market, it tends to propose immediate solutions and this can lead to the designer forgetting many primary details, which leads to the production of a product new but not innovative and is the same customer when using the finished product that emphasizes all product defects and this ends giving feedback on how it should have made a product. This represents a very large loss for the designer, as the customer will want to claim for the money invested in the product and this will take the designer to a redesign process with all their respective costs. The little commercial demand that a product can have is what scares designers, "too much uncertainty opaque successful perspectives". According to the text design of objects as goods normally by innovation is understood to completely change the product, however, a small change can be significant, it is usually distrusted with the effects that these changes in sales can generate; "The design must move between novelty and conserve the line to the basic characteristics of the product". Radical changes in the appearance of a product are not very advisable unless they are to improve the functionality of this.
Relationly of these two points to the economic performance that a product will have, it can be said that sales are directly related to marketing and advertising management, to have a good advertising campaign, the functional characteristics of the product must be used and show the public how The need is satisfied through this, so it is essential that a good analysis of the aforementioned characteristics be done. Just as Ulrich and Eppinger mention it, competition will always force a "better" product, however, the authors emphasize that it is not always the same as the product is "better" to be "more sellable" which is very True, many times the best -selling product does not meet the needs of the user and this is only fashionable and that is why he gets more commercial demand. A designer can have a very innovative idea of a product, which can even work better than the "original" but the fact of thinking that people are already accustomed to the traditional product and that the customer will no longer be interested in buying the same product but improved and therefore the expenses invested in the product are not going to be recovered makes it only want to imitate the successful product. But not everything is the designer’s fault, because the consumer is not educated to demand quality and originality; However, it should be clarified that the imitation of a product also does not guarantee high profits, because the competition must be studied very well and add as more insignificant, a characteristic of the designer, otherwise it would be plagiarism.
In the midst of consumption, wear of sales techniques are perceived, and advertising and marketing strategies are not enough to sell the product, this crisis must be used to innovate in such a way that the competition is not left of another to invest in a design or "simulate" a new product. As Gabriel Garcia states in his text, it is risky to innovate, because the greatest fear is not having a capital that reinforces them if the product does not come out successful, this author states that the greatest “murderer” of innovation is the common sense, because many people judge a product based on what has worked in the past.
Innovating is not easy, but when you do not have the economic resources to do so; It can be concluded that yes, economic performance if it is an obstacle to innovating, because the fear that invades designers in doing something wrong in the new product and that this is more uncomfortable for the customer is what makes them choose to simulate a product and not risk such a large loss. For a designer must think about everything when innovating, then, the concept "function" must also be understood in the aesthetic; This means that if the product is not pleasant, it is not sold, however the product with aesthetics should not be overloaded just by making it more striking to sell, it must be remembered that the shape and function are connected with its appearance.
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