There are instances when even if you’re already working with reputable designers, you still feel unsatisfied with the way they are handling your project. This is common, even in industrial design ventures, especially when the client and the design team fail to understand each other’s visions and processes midway through the project. This situation often leads to disastrous results, as the team may not be able to bring the client’s vision to a material product.
But how do you know that you have hired the best industrial design studio? Below are the things to look for:
- The firm is composed of well-trained personnel.
A reliable industrial design firm should have the complete package in terms of people. It should have not just the industrial designers themselves, but also creative directors, mechanical designers, and researchers. They do not just work together to bring you your product, but more importantly, they must know how to translate your vision into a product that meets your aesthetic, usability, functionality and practicality requirements.
It is not enough that the industrial design team gives you the product you desire; they should also have the initiative of making you understand the capacities and limitations of the product you are making them build based on your requirements.
Most of all, the design team should have a clear understanding of the DFM (design for manufacturing) process and translate this to you as their client.
- The designers make it a point to coordinate with you from planning to design and production.
Developing a consumer product requires client participation at each and every phase of the project. As the client, you may intend to turnover all the tasks to the design team and just check the progress of the project from time to time. However, if you’re working with the best team, they will make it a point to get you involved in each step of your project.
It is because they are building a product in accordance with your specifications. Hence, they will be using your input during the planning, design, production, and even during the branding and launching phases of the project. The design team would ask you to check for flaws, take part in user acceptance testing, and provide recommendations to ensure that the issues identified during product development are addressed prior to finishing.
- They go beyond “design.”
While the core of their work is “design,” the best industrial design studios go beyond it when working on a project. They incorporate values of functionality, practicality, cost-efficiency, manufacturability, marketability, and most importantly usability. They think about how the targeted end-users would see that the product is able to address their needs, and not look at it as a mere fancy toy.
- They go into detail when building prototypes and conducting tests for refining and launch.
In every phase of a consumer product development project, issues and flaws arise. Some are anticipated, while others are not. Hence, reliable design teams go into detail to understand these concerns and find ways to have them resolved during the different phases of the project. By eradicating the identified issues, they come up with a product that is in accordance to their client’s requirements and meets quality standards at the same time.
It is therefore important that you know how to choose the best industrial design studio that can work on your project in accordance to your vision and concept. It may not be easy to find that “dream team” because at first glance, industrial design firms seem to be created equal.
