How to turn an idea into a good product: what your startupâs digital design process should look like
After inspiration comes implementation, but the first thing is to be sure about what you want to offer and to be empathetic with your future user. From there, success will come if you hook your customer with a design that they can feel passionate about, have a good designer and offer a multi-platform service.
They say that everything has already been invented and that all the good ideas have been taken. It can seem hard to offer something different, even more so when the word that has resonated most in recent years has been entrepreneurship, particularly in the most digitised sectors. The pandemic has been a turning point, putting the brakes on some projects and providing a boost to others. In any case, having a good idea is now more important than ever.
But thatâs not enough to win customers either: it needs to be formed into an attractive, easy-to-use and differential product, especially in the digital arena. If inspiration has already struck or youâve already started your entrepreneurial project, here are some observations to help you fine tune your design.
Whatâs the first thing I have to ask myself?
When you have that light bulb moment and you start creating a product, the first thing is to stop and define the purpose of your business in detail. âYou have to answer the questions, why should my idea exist? and how is it defined? Then you can start thinking about the identity and the representation of that digital productâ, says Brian Farrell, founder and creative director of Far Co, a creative studio specialising in digital branding, digital products and systems. The expert adds that, throughout the design process, itâs essential not to lose sight of the âheart of the ideaâ.
Anxo LĂłpez, Design manager at BBVA, agrees that design is more strategic âthe closer it is to the initial conceptualisation momentâ. Beyond some colours and a visual appearance, it should be understood from the beginning as something inherent to every aspect of the product. âDesign has to interact with other areas, such as technology and marketing. Itâs often the case that companies forget about design and then realise they need it when theyâve already defined everythingâ, suggests LĂłpez.
What steps should I take to design?
The first step can be to simply outline your idea. On a piece of paper, as a presentation or in a recording. LĂłpez recalls the example of Dropbox: âEven before designing or developing anything, they made a video about how they imagined the application would work. They were solving the problem of having to move files using a pen drive. It worked really well and they didnât expend very much effort in developing that first ideaâ.
Once outlined, itâs time to act, and you should keep a number of considerations in mind. Ethan Parry, researcher at UX and a member of the international Adobe XDI team, which took part in the BBVA Open Innovation InnovaHome Festival, details the following five aspects:
- Develop empathy⊠âYouâre not designing something for you, but for customers. If you canât fully identify yourself with their needs and challenges, theyâre not going to see any valueâ, says Parry. To do this we canât just sit behind a screen alone. Although itâs currently tricky to establish direct contact, Parry reminds us that âyou also have to go out into the street and learn from usersâ.
- âŠbut without asking directly. âYou should be the one to design it. Rather than asking questions, exchanging ideas and generating a bias, itâs much better to observe and learn from customers passivelyâ, recommends the expert.
- Donât focus on aesthetics. âIt wonât fix a useless product, however well designed it is â if it doesnât solve a problem, it wonât be of any useâ.
- Re-evaluate again and again. Agile methodology also prevails in design. âYou should constantly reassess your situation and readjust it as it changesâ, says Parry.
- Document everything. Ideas, drafts, rejects, processes. âThis is of particular importance if youâre an entrepreneur, to have a foundation for the futureâ, he adds.
But has everything really been invented already?
Although it may seem like everythingâs been invented, design offers us the opportunity to turn things on their head, to showcase new ideas and to present them in a new and attractive way. Anxo LĂłpez from BBVA gives us the clear example of the video call applications that experienced a serious boom during the pandemic: âSkype, Google, Teams and Webex are some examples of popular applications. But suddenly, a new company â Zoom â finds a better way of doing things, turns the user experience around and becomes the industry leaderâ. The expert recommends that we focus on people to achieve these goals.
How can I enamour my customers?
Design has to meet the userâs demands and be functional, fast, glitch-free, reliable, attractive, fun and easy to use. Yes, thatâs a long list, but researcher Ethan Parry quotes the pioneer of emotional design and human-computer interaction Don Norman, and the three levels that he established for making users tick:
- Visceral. âThis has to do with attraction and creating a âwowâ factor. If the product is attractive and fun, people will believe that itâs easy to useâ, says Parry.
- Behavioural. You have to understand how users will interact with the product âto get the right feedback and improve their experienceâ, he explains.
- Reflective. âEmotions, memories, personal satisfaction and experienceâ are directly involved here when customers use the product. A more personal relationship can mean that they also recommend it to other people.
How can I tackle all the digital channels?
Designing a physical product that fits in a single space is an intricate process, but the digital space is extra complex: the service has to be available to users across all possible digital channels, meaning that it has to be multi-platform.
âYou have to think of digital systems as systems of systems. For instance, Spotify is on your mobile phone, your TV, your computer and your carâs touch screen interface, and we interact differently with each platformâ, explains Brian Farrell from Far Co. Thatâs why, from a design point of view, âwe need a different pattern for each channel, but at the same time all these need to be connected along the entire digital chain to offer a whole experienceâ.
Who do I need on my team to do all this?
A designer, of course, but not just anybody. âYou need someone who has a more strategic vision, but who also doesnât mind moving quickly to prototyping and formalisationâ, suggests BBVAâs Anxo LĂłpez. The expert points out that in addition to quality and polish where execution is concerned, itâs imperative that âthey help you to exploreâ. This generates efficiency, saves you time and ensures that projects are feasible.
In summary?
Even with a good idea as a starting point, design can save you a lot of money and effort. âItâs better to design something and see if, although it doesnât work yet, it makes sense and offers value to users, rather than spending a load of time developing and then launching it only to find that it makes no sense. Designing takes less time than developing,â LĂłpez assures us.
The three experts agree that, above all, the basis of everything is to be clear about your idea. As Brian Farrell of Far Co sums up: âYou should have a really strong brand objective, be aware of your values, define what they are and why you have them, be clear about what you are going to offer the world and communicate it with experiences and content around your product designâ. And donât let the light bulb go out.
