3D Concept Art and Design
Concept design is among the earliest stages in the product development process. It answers basic questions such as:
- What problem will the product solve?
- How will it go about solving them?
- What will the problem-solving process look like?
This is where creative minds bring their unique perspective to the product and the company nails down what they are going to produce.
Produce here relates to anything going to be marketed: physical products, services or combinations of both. The product can be entirely original or a revamp of something that the company already offers.
This requires professionals in three areas working towards the same goal of creating a marketable product and is essential for optimal results. No one can achieve the goal without the others; no one is more important than the others. In fact, products are often less than successful when the process is unbalanced.
- Business
This where the numbers are crunched and the financial rewards/consequences are evaluated. Will the product be profitable? If so, when? How much will it cost to develop? Are the potential rewards worth the risk to the company? - Marketing
Of course, for the product to be profitable, it will have to be marketed properly. Which market segment is it being made for? Who will buy it? How will it be sold to them? - Design
This is where the data from both of the other two players is implemented to produce a workable concept. Critiquing is essential and the initial concept will have to be tweaked, revised or even scrapped altogether. The goal is for the final concept to be feasible and appealing to consumers.
Research Phase
Designers will need a thorough understanding of both the problem that the product is meant to solve as well as of the product itself. This requires factual data, gathered researching both needs and solutions.
This alpha stage is the most important. All possibilities for the product are up for consideration; nothing can be ruled out. The goal is to weigh as many options as possible.
The whole process demystified
This beautiful video from Frog explains the whole process much better than any amount of words can do.
Industrial designer and engineers show in practice how they approach tasks, how their respective expertise get pooled and focused into a seamless effort towards producing the best possible end result.