Why you need both product design and product engineering for your project.

We are product designers. A question we frequently hear from new clients is just wherein the difference between our job and that of product engineers lies - and why they need both for successful product development. This seems to be unclear especially for startups and companies that have not developed a new product in a while, and are thus less familiar with the process.
Why does it take both design and engineering for product development? Where do the respective competences and responsibilities lie? How do they work together for their clients to create product solutions that work and delight?

A large part of our expertise as product designers lies in designing technologically advanced products. Our job is to make these products usable, understandable and desirable. We focus on users to define product features and form: establishing workflows for intuitive product use, designing three-dimensional shape, physical interaction elements and digital interfaces; we adjust look & feel for brand and market. We do not develop the underlying technologies, nor do we develop technical engineering for these products.

"Our job is to make these products usable, understandable and desirable."

Basically, we optimize products to make humans happy: customers, users – and our clients’ sales department! Usability, look, shape, user experience, and a fitting presentation on the market serve this purpose and are thus clearly on the designer’s side.

Product engineers, on the other hand, make sure that all those little demons hiding within physical matter (or software code) stay happy. Thus, issues related purely to the technical field are clearly on the engineer’s side: when it comes to structural integrity, mechanical/electronic components, and production preparation, the little demons within need to stay happy, or they will sabotage the product, so to speak.

The next post of this series will deal with the notable overlap between these two disciplines: to develop successful products, product designers develop creative solutions with technical aspects in mind, while engineers work on the technical basis for these creative solutions. Coming soon in the Antimatter Lab!

See what Antimatter can do for you and contact us to talk about your project!
Read more thoughts on product design and UX/UI design in our lab section!

About the author: Heinrich Lentz is the founder of Antimatter, a physical / digital product design agency in Vienna/Austria, and functions as its design director. Previously he has been working in product and ux/ui design for agencies in Austria and Spain and lecturing at IED Barcelona.

Closing the Gap between Technology and Customer Benefit

Technologically innovative companies - especially in the fields of IoT, smart products and Industry 4.0 - often face this challenge: how to close the gap between technological opportunity and a deliverable product/service system customers are willing to pay for?

Established industry leaders updating their products and processes, startups with promising new solutions, technology companies expanding their expertise and services or establishing platform systems: tackling the digital dimension and converting it into actual business cases is no easy task.

Typically, there is no lack of innovation - it is getting innovations out of a scientific domain that is challenging to technology-led businesses, bringing them back into the reality of a customer or user. After all, this is where the success of a product, service, or ecosystem is decided.

"To a user, a product is only as desirable as the benefits it delivers."

To a user, a product/service is only as interesting as he is able to grasp, and only as desirable as the benefits it delivers or the experiences it enables. A user-centric approach right from the outset of product development ensures innovation is channeled towards actual customer benefit and converted into products, services and ecosystems clients and consumers truly understand, appreciate, and value.

Thus, when working to convert technological innovation into user-focused business models, we go through the following steps with our clients in the development process:

identifying users/customers and their underlying needs early on through user research & interviews
identifying tangible user benefits: how can the product/service bring users closer to fulfilling their needs
designing the product/service around these benefits and associated experiences
employing user testing strategically, looping feedback back into development
addressing customer benefits and experience directly in all communication

Instead of imposing technology on customers, such an approach connects with users through products and digital services - enabling successful business cases for smart products and digital services.

See what we can do for you or contact us to talk about your project!

About the author: Heinrich Lentz is the founder of Antimatter, a physical / digital product design agency in Vienna/Austria, and functions as its design director. Previously, he has been working in product and ux/ui design for agencies in Austria and Spain and lecturing at IED Barcelona. The design project for TTTech's Nerve device, pictured above, was developed by Peschkedesign.

This article was originally published by Heinrich Lentz on LinkedIn in September 2018.

Tags: Innovation, Technology, User

Product Designers vs. Engineers

Why you need both product design and product engineering for your project.

Technology vs. Customer Benefit

Closing the Gap between Technology and Customer Benefit