Design Think

INTRODUCTION

The success of a company depends mainly upon the quality of the products it develops and sells in the market. A successful product needs to be unique and should be according to the requirements of the customers. A good product becomes its own marketer as every time it is used, it delights its users, which makes them the advocates of the product. We can observe this phenomenon in some of the winning products in the market. A winning product has great design, quality and gives satisfactory experiences to its users.

Few companies have mastered the art of product design and they are extremely successful in the market with high profitability and growth. These companies use the product design skills as their competitive advantage and protect it like trade secret. In fact, the process of creating great products is not complex. It is a set of tools and methods which, if used properly and sincerely, can support any design team to develop amazing products. We have tried to expose these methods and devices in this course.

Design as a subject seems to be a complex topic, reserved only for experts with huge budgets and expertise. This course will change everything through its simplicity, value, and strength. The objective of the course is to gift the power of design to every person who is interested in building great products and services. We will discuss a large number of techniques to develop design thinking and to utilize the specified devices to design winning products and services which will delight the customers.

The specified devices can be used by any sincere person looking to design products. The simplicity of the devices is evident from the fact that even a layperson, with no knowledge about product design, can understand and use these devices. A successful product needs to be holistic, equipped with innovative marketing, superior quality and emphatic support. An innovative design of a product with weak support cannot get success in the market. Also, common sense is a necessity to design products and services which the customers in the market will embrace.

The products are differentiated by their value proposition, quality and features. An excellent product has great design, which evolves from the culture of the company where everybody is serious about design and focuses on improving it consistently. A great design evolves mainly from the attitude rather than technical expertise.

It has always been difficult for companies to create great products. Some companies hire highly qualified technical experts to create the magic, while others outsource the product design process. Sometimes, the responsibilities of creating new ideas and products lie on few elite individuals, in other cases R&D department bears the complete responsibility of developing successful products. In most cases these efforts fail. The main reason for this failure is the wrong approach.

The most important aspect for developing new ideas about products and subsequently designing it requires a proper methodology, which is generally simple but effective. Every successful company has their set of method to design the products but the fundamental ideas remain same. This course tries to reveal the effective but simple methodology of designing the great products.

The methodology discussed in the course has four segments and is called READ Technique. READ stands for Research, Experience, Analyze and Discover. ‘Research segment’ focuses on capturing and analyzing the information available in the market, ‘Experience segment’ focuses on checking out the views and ideas generated, ‘Analyze Segment’ focuses on observing the aspects for product and ‘Discover Segment’ focuses on surveys and interviews to understand the market needs. Each of the four segments has several devices and methods specified in this course, which would help the professionals in designing a great and winning product.

To design a great product the designers need to focus on a specific area of the design process. The specified segments and devices in the course would serve the designers by focusing their attention to each area of the design process. Each device described in the course briefly describes it, specifies its importance & value, explain the way to use it and supported by an example to describe it.

The design devices list specified in this course is exhaustive and every device would not be suitable for your projects. Design team needs to identify and list the devices to be used for a specific project. These devices would motivate the design team in various ways by suggesting them relevant methods to solve the design problem. We need to remember that design is fun and it creates value.

It is suggested that this resource should be used as a guide and reference to create better product designs.

OBJECTIVE OF THE COURSE 

Are to

• In this course we will explain and discuss 116 devices or methodologies to dig deeper about your customer segment and the market for the development of the product or service.
• To develop fundamentals of product or service design.
• To develop design thinking by understanding the needs and requirements of the market.
• To reveal the powerful techniques to design winning products and services.

WHO WOULD NEED THIS COURSE

Right Fit for the Course

Let’s talk about the people for whom this course is designed and developed.

• If you feel that you are unable to think about product and service design then this course can make you get ideas about your innovative product or service.
• If you want to develop or enhance your analytical thinking process, then this course will raise the level of your thinking. You can use the power of design to get great ideas.
• If you want to learn about different techniques to analyze the market for developing your winning product or service then this course will provide you powerful tools.

 

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT AFTER COMPLETING THIS COURSE 

your expectations

• You will enhance your thinking abilities in design, even if you have no background in design.
• You will get proficiency in READ model with 116 techniques to design captivating products and services.
• You will enhance your analytical thinking and observation skills.
• You will be equipped to support others in their design endeavors.

WHAT IS EXPECTED FROM THE LEARNERS 

Our Expectations

• The learners have the freedom to take the course as they want, but it would be beneficial that they follow the flow of the course. Once the course is complete, they can choose any topic to reinforce the concepts by listening to specific lectures again.
• It would be important to complete the course, as all the topics and ideas are synergistically connected to each other.
• We expect learners to do all the exercises and follow the instructions as specified in each lecture, which would allow them to strengthen their concepts.
• This course is to start your journey in design thinking. Keep learning and succeeding in your work and projects by defining your personalized performance systems by getting regular feedbacks an introspection. 

QUALIFICATION REQUIRED FOR THE COURSE 

Qualification Required for Course

• There is no minimum qualification required for this course, anyone who wants to understand the concept of personal productivity and is interested in improving their work performance, can take this course.
• The medium of instruction is English, therefore you need to understand English, to get the value out of this course.
• You need to be committed enough to complete the course, and do its exercises with complete sincerity.

HOW TO DO IT

Right Way for the course

• To get the maximum value out of this course, you need to start from the beginning, and move step by step forward. Follow the course with its flow. This is important, as to understand a topic, we need to get clarity about its previous topics.
• It is required that you follow the instructions as specified in each section. In some of the places it is asked to pause the video for an activity, while at other places, you would be asked to refer the documents provided with the course. Following the instructions would help you to become a better learner in the course.
• It is suggested that even if you have some brief understanding about a specific portion, it would be beneficial that you complete those topics in the course. It would act like the good revision for the topic or idea, and act as an opportunity to build a momentum for completing the course.
• You need to keep practicing by making new resolutions and getting success. The more you do it the better you will become at it

INDEX AND FLOW OF THE COURSE 

How the course is structured and its flow:

We will discuss briefly about the concept of product and service design. Then we would jump straight to the READ model of design thinking.

We will start with ‘Research segment’ and its 42 devices focused on capturing and analyzing the information available in the market. Next, we will cover the ‘Experience segment’ and its 26 devices which are focused on checking out the views and ideas generated. Third segment would be ‘Analyze Segment’ with 24 devices focused on observing the aspects for product. Finally, we will discuss ‘Discover Segment’ with 24 devices focused on surveys and interviews to understand the market needs.