“Necessity is the mother of invention” – isn’t that what somebody once said and very true it is too. The basics are very similar in the world of product design and 3D product design these days – product design is the same as invention, designing and creating a product to fill a niche in the market place, make peoples’ lives easier or make improvements in some other way. It’s what makes the world go round.

Product design is all about taking a concept or an idea then working with the idea to create and produce a new product – something a business can sell to its customers.

So what do product designers actually do?

Experienced product designers are experts at combining art and science with the technology to actually create the product which other people will need, want and use.

The Process of Product Design

Keeping this as simple as possible the process of product design has three very distinct steps;

Analysis – first you’ve got to accept that there’s a problem and you’re going to deal with it, then figure out how you’re going to go about it. You need to think about what materials will be needed and really analyse all aspects of the situation.

Concept – define the objectives of the product you’re going to design and make and the parameters in which you’ll be working.

Synthesis – now it’s time to brain storm ideas, narrow them down and built a prototype. Today’s CAD and CAM software can help companies to design and built prototypes in record time – the process used to take ages and be littered with possible pitfalls but not anymore. If the finished prototype does not work as it was hoped then you can start the whole process over again . . .

And there you have it, the (very) basics of product design.