Branding relates to how others see your company, products and services. While you can never completely control your image, you can take steps to show the side of your business you want others to see. Everything from your logo and your color choices to the words you use make an impression. When product design and branding come together, you wind up with unstoppable momentum that drives sales.
Experts often debate whether branding is an art or a science. However, the truth usually lies in the middle. Most marketers understand successful product design requires both graphic artists and the science of what the customer wants. Here are the best ways to apply both art and science for an excellent result.
1. Study Failures
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/75-95-product-launches-fail-every-year-do-you-know-why-anish-k/
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) estimates almost 30,000 new item launches every year. Since around 95% of new products fail, a mere 1,500 find some measure of success. Spend time looking at the ones that succeed versus the ones that flop.
Take notes on how well the product design meets user expectations. The item likely fills a need no other brand does. What type of language do designers use on product packaging? You can learn from what other brands tried.
2. Research Concrete and Subjective Facts
If you want to reach your target audience with your design, you must first know who they are. Take the time to look at statistics related to their demographics and past buying behavior. Gather any hard data you have based on their behavior and analyze it to predict future behavior.
You also should consider what your buyer personas are most likely to do. Study a bit of psychology and think through what drives people to seek a product like yours in the first place. What is the pain point the customer wants to solve? How does your product design showcase that you can help with the problem?
3. Place Your Logo
Include branding on your product with methods such as laser printing and make your logo a familiar symbol customers will recognize. People who enjoy one product are much more likely to buy others from the same company. Each time they see your logo, it reinforces their recognition of your brand and promotes loyalty.
Where is the best place to have your logo on a product? The answer is that it depends. Think about what users see first and the message you want them to take away when they look at the item. Perhaps you want a smaller logo but you want the name of the product in bold letters. Work alongside your design team and marketing researchers to figure out what your customers respond to and what looks best aesthetically.
4. Show How You’re Different
Gather all the scientific data you can on the competition. Is their target audience the same as yours? Figure out what the benefits and drawbacks of their model are.
Next, look at your own item. Figure out what differentiates it and then showcase the benefits of your product packaging or adjust your content to make it more readily apparent to potential customers.
Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1346741/ai-adoption-rates-product-development
You could also implement artificial intelligence (AI) to rise above competitors. Experts predict wide scale AI adoption will rise from 23% in 2022 to 46% by 2025.
5. Consider Every Potential Use
Your product should offer an excellent user experience (UX). People should be able to utilize it for the purpose it was designed for and features should be intuitive. Around 73% of people say UX helps them decide whether or not to buy a product or service.
When finalizing your product design, testing should be a big part of any changes. Gather your testing subjects and have them put the prototype through outright abuse. Use it in situations more extreme than the average person would — and be rough. If it survives, congratulations. If it doesn’t, figure out how to strengthen the design.
Source: https://www.marketingcharts.com/customer-centric/customer-experience-228255
Focus on creating an excellent customer experience with your product. Around 67% of business owners say implementing a hybrid digital and physical positive CX is extremely or very important.
Ask for feedback on unintended uses. For example, a fitness bar might have been created for extreme athletes. However, the ketogenic ingredients and convenience make it ideal for epileptic children following a low carb diet to prevent seizures. The intention was to serve athletes but research uncovers other uses for the food. Make sure the product design is approachable for all audiences.
6. Tap Into False Memories
Add some familiar looking images to tap into false memories. In the advertising world, marketers create bold and beautiful images and videos to trick people into thinking they’ve experienced something similar and the product is relatable.
One study showed one group of participants a low-imagery ad for popcorn. A second group saw a vivid imagery commercial. People who viewed the high-image ad were likely to say they had tried the imaginary popcorn.
Consider how to incorporate vivid imagery into the design, product packaging and marketing. Is the product’s colors and shape sharp and attention-grabbing? Look for ways to add bright and bold visuals to your design.
7. Create a Tactile Experience
When people grab your product off the shelf, what does it feel like to the touch? Think about the types of materials you use for your product packaging. Do you want the consumer to pick up the item and feel an embossed or debossed logo?
What type of material would a user expect to encounter when buying a product? If someone purchases a candy bar, they might expect a smooth package. On the other hand, if they buy a set of colored pencils, they may want to feel the texture of the wood on the handles of the sticks.
If you aren’t sure what type of texture is right, poll your top customers. Try a few different designs and test them with a control group. Paying attention to the small details such as the feel of your product materials will give you an edge your competitors may not have.
8. Keep It Simple
When you create a new product, it’s tempting to throw in every possible feature and make it such an excellent value no one can resist buying. However, there is something to be said for a straightforward design.
For those who remember the early days of the personal home computer wars, the name Apple is a familiar one. Before Steve Jobs and Bill Gates arrived on the scene with their new operating systems, the average person wanting to utilize a home computer had to learn DOS coding skills.
Instead of double clicking an icon to open a program, users had to pull up DOS and type a stream of characters in exact sequence to use software. The process was tedious and prone to error which forced you to start over from the beginning.
Apple changed the way we use home computers. Be the Apple brand in your industry. What can you do to create a simpler design that has an excellent UX and draws people back to your company repeatedly?
When Art and Science Intersect in Product Design
The best designs incorporate both art and science into the final strategy. Knowing the pain points of the consumer allows businesses to solve problems and drive innovation. The best product design showcases who you are as a company and shows customers you understand their pain points and want to solve them.
Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. She was the creative director at a digital marketing agency before becoming a full-time freelance designer. Eleanor lives in Philadelphia with her husband and pup, Bear.