Design

Industrial Design

<p>In the third and final part of this content&nbsp;series, Delve's strategists, researchers, designers, and engineers share ten more of our favorite design principles. (Read&nbsp;<a href="https://www.delve.com/insights/10-design-principles-for-better-products">Part 1</a> and <a href="https://www.delve.com/insights/10-more-design-principles-for-better-products">Part 2</a>.)<br></p>

<p>Delve's experts in insights, strategy, design, and engineering can guide you through an end-to-end innovation process that delivers results.</p>

Our Services Page: Product Design and Development (text only)

<p><span style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-size: 24px; font-weight: 600;">1. Jobs, Outcomes, Constraints</span><em><br></em></p>
<p><em>Jobs, Outcomes, and Constraints (JOC) is a framework for evaluating the needs observed during research and ranking them in terms of importance.</em></p>

<p><em><sup><a href="https://www.delve.com/news/delve-bresslergroup-unite-under-one-name-delve" target="_blank">Bresslergroup is now Delve</a>. This video was recorded prior to the merger of Bresslergroup and Delve.</sup></em></p>

Bresslergroup video editor note

<h3>How can the JOC framework improve product design?</h3>
<p>By pausing to consider Jobs, Outcomes, and Constraints between research and ideation, you can ensure you’re solving the problems that matter most to your users and business.</p>
<h3>What are Jobs, Outcomes, and Constraints?:</h3>
<ul><li>A <strong>Job</strong> is the task a customer “hires” a product to perform; it can serve a functional, emotional, or social purpose.</li><li>An <strong>Outcome</strong> is a metric a customer uses to measure the success of a Job; it can help reduce the influence of preconceived notions.</li><li>A <strong>Constraint</strong> is an imposed restriction or limitation that keeps the user from getting the Job done; it can help product design teams choose between two ideas.</li></ul>
<p>Read our full article,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.delve.com/insights/use-jobs-outcomes-and-constraints-to-exploit-the-pause-between-research-and-ideation" target="_blank">Use ‘Jobs, Outcomes, and Constraints’ to Exploit the Pause Between Research and Ideation.</a></p><h2>2. IoT Data Collection</h2>
<p><em>Decisions about IoT data collection are central to every intelligent product’s development because they have a powerful ripple effect on the product’s design. IoT data collection impacts data deployment, storage, sensor selection, processing power, security, and more.</em></p>

<h3>How can user needs inform your data collection strategy?</h3>
<p>User needs will drive decisions about what data is required, what sensors are able to collect that data, and how you will connect to the Internet to transmit that data.</p>
<h3>Three things to know about IoT Data Collection:</h3>
<ul><li>It can be tempting to let the latest tech drive your product, but data collection decisions should be driven by your users’ needs.</li><li>Decide which data you need to collect before deciding which sensors you’ll use.</li><li>A lot rides on how your IoT device connects to the Internet and transmits data. This determines how a user will interact with your device, and it will drive cost and power consumption.</li></ul>
<p>Read our full article,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.delve.com/insights/why-iot-data-collection-is-essential-to-get-right" target="_blank">Why IoT Data Collection Is Essential To Get Right</a>.</p><h2>3. Root Cause Probing</h2>
<p><em>Root Cause Probing can help medical device designers predict misuse and proactively prevent it, ultimately preventing recalls, avoiding patient harm, and potentially saving lives.</em></p>

<h3>What is Root Cause Probing?</h3>
<p>Root Cause Probing is the art of watching for user errors, trying to understand why they occurred, and digging deeper to uncover what went wrong.</p>
<h3>Three things to know about Root Cause Probing:</h3>
<ul><li>An unintentional medical device error is never the user’s fault; the medical device manufacturer must accept fault, so designers should focus on how the user interface may have led to the error.</li><li>During user testing, it’s important to let users complete a workflow before you ask why they did something wrong — and to use light language when questioning their actions.</li><li>To probe deeper, follow each “why” question with another “why” question.</li></ul>
<p>Read our full article,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.delve.com/insights/how-root-cause-probing-improves-medical-device-design" target="_blank">How Root Cause Probing Improves Medical Device Design.</a></p><h2>4. Non-Finito Prototyping</h2>
<p><em>Non-Finito Prototyping deliberately gives users an unfinished product to observe how they might complete the workflow or experience without any guidance.</em></p>

<h3>How can Non-Finito Prototyping inform your product design process?</h3>
<p>Rather than creating a complete workflow or experience and seeing if we got it “right” during testing, we can leave a hole in the experience. Seeing how the end user might fill this hole can inform and inspire the design.</p>
<h3>Three things to know about Non-Finito Prototyping:</h3>
<ul><li>Being able to interact with a physical prototype while looking at an unfinished interface allows users to think critically about the most useful and relevant information they would need to receive.</li><li>Rather than a “discount” prototyping approach, non-finito is an exploratory feedback method for continuing to discover needs as you’re moving beyond a product’s core workflow.</li><li>If you’ve ever used the “Poke” feature on Facebook, you’ve used a non-finito product.</li></ul>
<p>Read our full article,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.delve.com/insights/non-finito-prototyping-a-new-technique-for-digital-physical-product-design" target="_blank">Non-Finito Prototyping: A New Technique for Digital-Physical Product Design.</a></p><h2>5. Calm Technology</h2>
<p><em>Calm technology communicates the information a user needs at the VERY moment they need it, without hijacking their attention or inducing heightened emotions.</em></p>

<h3><strong>How can product designers create Calm Technology?</strong></h3>
<p><strong></strong>Designers should consider all forms of feedback (haptic, audio, and visual) to come up with the calmest solution. In general, use the minimum amount of technology needed to solve a problem.</p>
<h3>Three things to know about Calm Technology:</h3>
<ul><li>Push notifications and the constant buzzing and dinging of our devices represent the opposite of Calm Technology.</li><li>The concept dates back to the 1990s when a group of researchers at Xerox wondered how a future of “ubiquitous computing” might communicate information without hijacking a person’s attention.</li><li>In 2015, researcher and designer, Amber Case, inspired a new rally cry in her book <a href="https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/calm-technology/9781491925874/">Calm Technology</a>, writing: “A person’s primary task should not be computing, but being human.”</li></ul>
<p>Read our full article,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.delve.com/insights/calm-technology-in-the-era-of-push-notifications" target="_blank">Calm Technology in the Era of Push Notifications.</a></p><h2>6. Plough&nbsp;Hypothesis</h2>
<p><em>The Plough Hypothesis explains the connection between ancient farm tools and modern gender inequality and provides a cautionary lesson for today’s product designers.</em></p>

<h3>What do ancient farm tools have to do with modern gender inequality?</h3>
<p><strong></strong>It’s unlikely that the inventors of the plough intentionally built a tool that was better suited for men, but most products are inherently designed for men due to a gender data gap. In the case of the plough, this had a powerful ripple effect that influenced the evolution of gender norms in certain societies.</p>
<h3><strong>Three things to know about the Plough Hypothesis:</strong></h3>
<ul><li>Before the invention of the plough, men and women in farming communities worked the fields together, but the plough required physical abilities that sidelined women. Generations later, women in these societies are less likely to work outside the home.</li><li>The traditional three-stone stove used by 80 percent of the developing world is a contemporary example of a tool that exacerbates gender inequity.</li><li>For most of recorded modern history, the default person that we design for has been a male person. As a result, most of the world’s data is based on the male body and male experiences. This has created a significant gender data gap.</li></ul>
<p>Read our full article,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.delve.com/insights/the-plough-hypothesis-and-designs-gender-data-gap" target="_blank">The Plough Hypothesis and Design’s Gender Data Gap.</a></p><h2>7. T-Shaped Skills</h2>
<p><em>T-Shaped is a way to describe someone’s knowledge and skills when that person has both a wide breadth of skills and a deep specialization in one main area of education or work.</em></p>

<h3>Why is T-Shaped an ideal shape for product designers?</h3>
<p><strong></strong>T-Shaped individuals tend to be curious, clever collaborators who can crack the toughest product design riddles when they work together.</p>
<h3><strong>Three things to know about T-Shaped Skills:</strong></h3>
<ul><li>The vertical portion of the “T” describes the depth of expertise in a main area of education and work experience; the horizontal portion of the “T” describes the breadth of skills and experience.</li><li>Hobbies that foster creative thinking — like photography, music, and sketching — can help to broaden our “T.”</li><li>The term was initially coined by McKinsey & Company in the 1980s and was later popularized in the context of product design by IDEO’s CEO Tim Brown.</li></ul>
<p>Read our full article,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.delve.com/insights/why-t-shaped-is-the-best-fit-for-product-design" target="_blank">Why ‘T-Shaped’ Is the Best Fit for Product Design.</a></p><h2>8. Affordance</h2>
<p><em>Affordance is the relationship between what something looks like and how it’s used — a user should be able to figure out how to use something just by looking at it.</em></p>

<h3>How does Affordance make medical devices safer?</h3>
<p><strong></strong>If a medical device has poor affordance and users can’t tell how to use it just by looking at it, the design could lead to user error and patient harm.</p>
<h3>Three things to know about Affordance:</h3>
<ul><li>If you’ve ever pulled a door that you were actually supposed to push, you’ve had a run-in with a “Norman Door” — a classic example of poor affordance!</li><li>Researchers look for potential use errors during usability testing. It’s important to do this research early so designers can use these insights to build affordance and signifiers into their products.</li><li>Signifiers, such as an arrow on a cap that shows you how to remove it, are cues that improve affordance by helping users understand how to use a product.</li></ul>
<p>Read our full article,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.delve.com/insights/how-affordance-makes-medical-devices-safer" target="_blank">How Affordance Makes Medical Devices Safer.</a></p><h2>9. Miller's Law</h2>
<p><em>Miller’s Law tells us that the average person can only hold roughly seven items in their short-term memory at one time — or as Miller put it, “the magical number seven, plus or minus two.”</em></p>

<h3>How can Miller’s Law inform the design process?</h3>
<p><strong></strong>Miller’s Law can be a helpful tool for deciding how many concepts to present to a client during the initial design review — we suggest presenting clients with four to six options.</p>
<h3>Three things to know about Miller’s Law:</h3>
<ul><li>Cognitive psychologist George Miller developed Miller’s Law in 1956.</li><li>Once you know this theory, it’s easy to spot it in the world around you, often in the form of “chunking,” or organizing content into smaller clusters that are easier to process and remember.</li><li>For designers, the challenge is to determine which features or information are most important and how to limit options or create a visual hierarchy that centers just seven (+/- two) items.</li></ul>
<p>Read our full article,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.delve.com/insights/use-millers-law-when-presenting-design-concepts" target="_blank">Use Miller’s Law When Presenting Design Concepts.</a></p>
<h2>10. Pareto Principle</h2>
<p><em>The Pareto Principle states that, for many situations, roughly 80 percent of results will come from 20 percent of causes.</em></p>

<h3>How can the Pareto Principle guide a product design team?</h3>
<p><strong></strong>A design team can use Pareto Principle as a framework to focus their energy and effort by asking: What are the features that are going to guarantee the function and usefulness of this product? What are the vital few?</p>
<h3>Three things to know about Pareto Principle:</h3>
<ul><li>The Pareto Principle is named for economist Vilfredo Pareto who noted in 1895 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. The principle was later applied to quality management by Dr. Joseph Juran, who developed the related term “the vital few.”</li><li>In product design, we’re searching for which of a “vital few” features will drive most of a product’s impact.</li><li>There are four considerations that can help you determine the vital few: user needs, product lifecycle, stakeholders, and risk.</li></ul>
<p>Read our full article,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.delve.com/insights/applying-the-pareto-principle-to-product-development" target="_blank">Applying the Pareto Principle to Product Development.</a></p>

<p><strong>To further explore these and other key product design principles, download our ebook, Design Defined:</strong><a href="https://www.delve.com/insights/10-more-design-principles-for-better-products"></a></p>

<p>Our experts in insights, strategy, design, and engineering guide you through an end-to-end innovation process that delivers results.</p>

Services Page: Product Design and Development at Delve (Our Services)

Download: Design Defined 30 Key Design Principles

Ramiro mendes Cj S3 Qs Ruxn E unsplash cropped

<p><strong>We're committed to sharing our favorite design principles. Here is part 3 from Delve's strategists, researchers, designers, and engineers.</strong></p>

Contact Us | General (Let's build something together)

Medical Devices

Industrial / Commercial Products

Consumer Products

Home

Insights

10 Design Principles for Product Development Teams

Breadcrumbs

A full-service product design and strategic innovation consultancy.

Delve

We're committed to sharing our favorite design principles. Here is part 3 from Delve's strategists, researchers, designers, and engineers.

description

generator

kSwNn6qD4B-4HloWnWMUBWQNpBx2_mPi3nMqgsh6ato

google-site-verification

sharing, favorite, researchers, committed, design, strategists, designers, we're, principles, delve's, engineers

keywords

https://cms.delve.com/assets/images/_1200x630_crop_center-center_82_none/ramiro-mendes-CjS3QsRuxnE-unsplash-cropped_2024-05-21-173258_nkel.png?mtime=1716312778

https://linkedin.com/company/delvedesign/

https://www.delve.com/insights/10-design-principles-for-product-development-teams

referrer

robots

twitter:card

twitter:creator

twitter:description

https://cms.delve.com/assets/images/_800x418_crop_center-center_82_none/ramiro-mendes-CjS3QsRuxnE-unsplash-cropped_2024-05-21-173258_nkel.png?mtime=1716312778

twitter:image

twitter:image:alt

twitter:image:height

twitter:image:width

twitter:site

twitter:title

{"title":{"title":"10 Design Principles for Product Development Teams | Delve"}}

Be More Innovative

Privacy Policy

FCOI Policy

Services

Case Studies

Testimonials

What We Do

About Us

Our People

Join Our Team

Careers

Newsroom

Who We Are

Boston

Madison

Philadelphia

San Francisco

Our Studios

Partner with Delve

Contact Us

Contact

<p>Vamsee Pamula, Founder &amp; President, Baebies</p>

Read informative articles from Delve's team of experts. Discover innovative strategies and insights about product design, engineering, and development.

Delve Insights: Product Innovation & Development Blog

innovation, product, design, advice, development

https://cms.delve.com/assets/images/_1200x630_crop_center-center_82_none/Delve_titlecard.png?mtime=1654035558

https://cms.delve.com/assets/images/_800x418_crop_center-center_82_none/Delve_titlecard.png?mtime=1654035558

10 Design Principles for Product Development Teams

10 Design Principles for Product Development Teams

Related Insights