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Product Design Trends

By 31st May 2012 February 20th, 2020 No Comments

Clients and prospects ask us…’But do you think its a good idea?’

They want our opinion on whether something will sell. We try to be objective and look at the bigger picture, whether a market exists, whether the particular idea betters the current product offerings, what’s happening in the wider world.

Things change over time and it is also true that timing helps in launching a successful product. With that in mind we have noticed a few Product Design Trends worth being aware of…

Crowd Funding – Don’t want to sell your soul to a venture capitalist? Many people have turned to this interesting method of raising finance. Websites such as Kickstarter.com and Indiegogo.com allow you to pre sell a product (or other creative work) before it even exists, helping you to raise funds for production, usually by offering a favourable price to early adopters.

You get to keep all the equity, and only go into manufacture as and when you raise a target amount of money. Remember to check your position on intellectual property first before publishing details of your great new idea!

A slick presentation video / animation / demonstration using high quality prototypes helps to sell the idea, with social media used to promote to your target buyers.

Made in the UK – The UK is becoming more competitive for manufacturing due to increases in the cost of transport, energy, and manpower in the Far East.

If this is the route you take then its a marketing opportunity, ‘help the UK economy by supporting UK manufacturing’. Also the UKTI will offer you support if your UK made product could be exported.

Smart phone / tablet peripherals – Whilst not new, the trend for developing gadgets that connect wirelessly to smart phones and tablet computers continues. The interest in these products (if well designed and produced!) can be enormous and very fast moving. Have a look at the Pebble Watch on kickstarter.com. A crowd funded product that has raised $10m in pre-sales!

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