Perspective: New Product Design vs a Product Redesign

by Joe Schappler

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As an industrial designer, you will likely work on all kinds of product design projects. Depending on the particular focus, such as consumer goods, military, medical or another category, you’ll either be designing new products or reworking existing products in order to meet updated demands, accommodate changes in consumer needs, and/or design around new technology or functionality to stay up to date with evolving designs stemming from this development.

And the demand is not slowing down.

According to IBISWorld’s Industrial Designers Industry in the US Market Research Report, the industrial design industry was expected to have “revenue of $3bn in 2018. In the same timeframe, the number of businesses has grown by 1.3% and the number of employees has grown by 2.9%.” So, there are plenty of new products either being designed as well as existing products being redesigned.

But what is the difference between a new design and a redesign, and how do they compare?

New Product Design

Given our role working with clients at Helix, we see a lot of effort going towards new product design, and that’s no surprise really. According to a 2005 study by the Design Council, “the companies that put an emphasis on design did way better than the ones that didn’t – they outperformed the FTSE 100 index by 200%.”

When industrial designers are developing new products that are not based on a previous generation, where do you start? Sometimes there is very little to go on if the market is new, or the client is new to the market. I’ve had clients just wing it because they “believe” the product is wanted. Remember the 1989 movie Field of Dreams famous quote “If you build it, he will come.” Others have initiated a design research effort to better understand the user, the market potential and provide data for the industrial designers to use in concept development. This certainly lowers the risk for failure and has led to some of the most innovative products in recent years. And sometimes our clients marketing departments have researched and collected the data and can provide to us the user, market and service requirements and any other pertinent input or constraints.

The goal in collecting information before starting industrial design concepts is to understand the viability, feasibility and customer desirability for the product. What technology is available to meet the user needs? Is there a business case for profitability, and at what price point? Do we understand how the user will interface and experience the product?

Industrial designers will then develop concepts based on the data to define the aesthetics, size, interface and overall user experience. This process may go through a multitude of ideas that are then funneled down into the most promising solutions that can go through an iterative effort of user testing and design updates.

The fun part here is the there is no history, no defined understanding or perception about what the product should be like. It can be very challenging to design based on the unknown, yet very rewarding. Years ago, we designed a consumer based robot called VGo before robots were common. Research showed it had to be friendly, could not be intimidating and should not be too “human”. It stood about 4 feet tall and moved about like we do, could see, hear and speak. Yet it wasn’t one of us but did assist us in our everyday tasks. We had the challenge of designing this product and the reward of seeing its success in the market.

Redesigning an Existing Product

Redesigning an existing product is different from designing a product that does not have any history or predecessors. It may have a different set of data for industrial design to begin development from, because a user base, sales information, competitor information and other relevant feedback already exists.

At Helix, when a client comes in to update their product, there is usually a discussion as to why. Is the product dated and no longer competitive? Are features missing that competitors may have or that your customers desire? Has there been price pressure on the market, resulting in a need to reduce the cost? Is there a new company brand that needs to be rolled out and implemented? Are components obsolete, necessitating a redesign? Has there been technology gains that can result in a smaller size or improved product?

To succeed, the best designs will have the latest technology married to the latest user information.

The redesign process can be compared to Monday morning quarterbacking. “Why did they do it this way?” The reasons can be many, such as that was what the technology allowed at the time, or “that’s the way it’s always been done here” are common answers. This can be a learning moment for meaningful change.

This information is important as it helps prioritize the design effort. It doesn’t mean the redesign won’t warrant soliciting feedback from the user base, but we now have some information to use as a starting point. The concept development will be a similar exercise as in new product development, with industrial design developing concepts and then funneling them to the most promising. As part of this effort, designers will research what the competitors are doing to look for areas of improvement.

In many of our redesign projects, we have the benefit of working with an existing client on multiple products. This relationship of knowing how to work together, understanding each other, industry knowledge and we may possibly have product knowledge as well. All of this can lead to saving time and monies in development.

We recently had the fun experience of redesigning a product we had originally designed a decade ago. Our client even assembled the exact same team of experts who worked on the original design. The product was used to monitor gas leaks in the environment using laser technology. The original product was a two-part system carried by a user, a handheld laser pointing gun and a separate technology pack that attached to the user’s belt, connected by a cable. With technology improvements over the years, the new design could be a single unit, lighter, smaller and far more convenient for the user. Technology enabled us to develop a new, redesigned, and improved solution.

Common Theme between New Design and Redesign

Whether you’re working on a new product or a redesign, success arises when the needs of the user and the business are understood, and when we get all associated teams on the same page sharing a singular product vision.

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In a redesign, you have user, business and competitive history as data for a starting point for improvements. This legacy information can be helpful or detrimental, so it’s still relevant to stay open-minded to changes to old ways of doing things. With efforts for “first” products it can be essential to gather design data, user input, market understanding and the business goals to improve chances for success. Retesting concepts with users will be beneficial for the most success.

The challenges, starting point and understanding may be different for designing a new product versus redesigning an existing product, but in the end, the users are still people that appreciate thoughtful designs that improve their lives.

About Helix Design

Helix Design is an industrial design firm and product design company that delivers creative design and mechanical engineering solutions to companies who need external perspectives combined with practical experience. For samples of our recent work, please visit our industrial design portfolio.