Product Design Explained: A Look at Its Evolution, Origin, and Steps to Becoming a Professional Product Designer
Product design, a distinct subset of industrial design, has grown in prominence over the years. This dynamic field encompasses roles such as UX designers, researchers, architects, and more, each bringing unique skills to the table. To excel in product design, one needs a keen eye for detail, creativity, analytical skills, artistic ability, and a mastery of usability testing, industrial design principles, and various software used for creating 3D models.
A prime example of successful product design is Amazon's Kindle e-reader. Launched in 2007 by Amazon's Lab126 division, the Kindle marked a breakthrough in digital reading with its 6-inch E Ink display, wireless Whispernet connectivity, and storage for about 200 books. The central design goal, as emphasised by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, was to create a device that "disappears in your hands," allowing readers to focus solely on the content.
The Kindle's design has continually evolved, with key milestones including the Kindle Voyage, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Oasis, Kindle Scribe, and Kindle Color. Each new generation brought improvements in hardware and software, enhancing the reading experience. For instance, the Kindle Voyage featured the thinnest design at just 7.6 millimeters thick, while the Kindle Paperwhite incorporated Amazon's exclusive Bookerly font and a new typography engine designed to reduce eyestrain. The Kindle Oasis pushed the envelope in ergonomics and portability, weighing only 4.6 ounces and measuring 3.4 millimeters thick.
Recent innovations in the Kindle lineup include larger and more versatile models like the Kindle Scribe (10.2-inch, focused on note-taking and drawing) and the Kindle Color featuring Colorsoft technology, catering to comics and children's books. These developments signal Amazon’s intent to broaden Kindle's applications beyond traditional reading, integrating improved input tools and color displays to meet varied content needs.
In addition to hardware and software advancements, the Kindle's design process blends user needs with business objectives to create successful products. This human-centered approach, known as design thinking, involves empathising with users, understanding their problems, ideating solutions, building prototypes, and testing and validating those solutions.
Motion and Animation Designers, Wireframe creators, User Researchers, High-Fidelity Designers, and Prototypers all play crucial roles in this process. Wireframes, often drafted with paper and pencil, are ideal for ideation and allow for quick rejection of poorly conceived ideas. User Researchers focus on understanding customers through various methods, while High-Fidelity Designs serve as the final mockup of the design, acting as a blueprint and guide for the design team. Prototypes, created for testing, help the team develop user-friendly solutions by collecting user feedback.
Product design jobs encompass roles such as graphic designers, UX designers, and product designers. These professionals use evidence, feedback from users, and research to develop products aimed at increasing user happiness and satisfaction. The process of product design is an efficient and effective generation and development of ideas following a design process.
In essence, the Kindle’s product design has evolved to prioritize a seamless, ergonomic, and visually comfortable reading experience, progressively incorporating technical upgrades and new features that expand the device's utility while maintaining the core mission of "disappearing" so readers can immerse themselves in their books. This focus on user needs and business objectives exemplifies the power and potential of product design in creating innovative, user-friendly, and successful products.
- The Kindle's product design, starting from its launch in 2007, has evolved to prioritize technology advancements, focusing on enhancing the reading experience through various hardware and software improvements.
- The success of the Kindle e-reader is a testament to the importance of technology in product design, as it allows for the creation of devices that cater to user needs and integrate diverse features, such as wireless connectivity, 3D models, and advanced display technologies.
