10 Lessons for Innovative Product Design

Over my 35-year career as a product designer, I've contributed to the successful launch of over 100 products. This journey has not only honed my skills but has also provided me with invaluable insights into the art of product design. In the spirit of sharing, I'm eager to share some of these hard-earned lessons that can serve as guiding principles for your next product venture. Here, I present ten insights and real-world examples to help steer your product ideas towards market success.

1. Solve Real Problems: The first and most important step is solving real problems. Successful products address genuine needs that people are willing to pay for. Start by focusing on customers and their needs, testing ideas before diving headlong into product development. Some companies often use conventional methods like market research and focus groups to understand customer demand, while disruptive startups take a more novel path, such as building prototypes and then validating with users. Here are two examples from both:

I collaborated with a global battery company to launch a high-quality flashlight to rival MagLite. Market research revealed that women made 85% of flashlight purchases. Success hinged on understanding women's preferences, what appealed to them, and their price tolerance. We developed value propositions to address their specific desires and pricing expectations.

Airbnb started in 2007 when founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, both Rhode Island School of Design graduates, noticed a shortage of hotel accommodations during an IDSA conference in San Francisco. They began by renting air mattresses in their apartment, focusing on personal connections and authentic neighborhood experiences. As the value proposition resonated with their niche market, they expanded this concept globally through a user-friendly digital platform.

2. Avoid Emotional Attachments: Emotional attachments to product ideas can cloud judgment. It's crucial to stay objective and involve impartial experts for testing, ensuring that your target audience genuinely likes and values the idea – not you or your boss.

While at frog design, I worked on a project for a computer hardware OEM, focused on a groundbreaking computer interaction concept proposed by an in-house senior engineer. Despite exciting technology, our team consistently questioned the product's target audience and their actual usage patterns. We emphasized user-centric understanding through user research and testing. Regrettably, our concerns were disregarded, and there was pressure to proceed without user testing. The company then enlisted a more agreeable design agency, which completed the product without addressing our concerns, ultimately leading to its market failure.

3. Be Ready to Acknowledge Failure: Even if you engage end users in the process, don't disregard early warning signs. Be ready to pivot if customer feedback suggests a misalignment with your product idea. Aim for objectivity by including an impartial expert who clarifies to the test group that the idea isn't their own. Their primary concern is to evaluate whether your target audience appreciates it and is willing to pay for it. The fear of sunk costs can be harmful, but nits wiser to abandon failing ideas.

The Segway stands out as one of the tech industry's most prominent failures, illustrating a common pitfall of creating a solution without a clear customer need. Effective marketing and user research should always identify a customer's need and then provide a product that fulfills that need. Unfortunately, after the Segway's launch, it became evident that most people didn't require an alternative to walking. In addition, low-tech alternatives like bicycles, rollerblades, and skateboards already served the same purpose more affordably and effectively.

4. The Importance of Second and Third Products: You've successfully followed the previous steps, and your product is a hit. While initial success is crucial, the second and third products shape your company's direction. Maintaining a clear progression in your company's strategy and product roadmap is essential to avoid becoming a one-hit wonder. The focus should be on both creating successful products and building a thriving company.

OXO home utensils is a prime example. They focus on "making everyday life easier" and started in the kitchen, addressing ergonomic challenges with kitchen tools. OXO expanded into various home product categories through a customer-centric approach, leading the home gadget market with user-friendly, ergonomic products. During my time at Smart Design, I designed over 20 products with this approach, all still on the market today, fulfilling essential user needs.

Davin Stowell, Founder of Smart Design, emphasizes OXO's exceptional brand clarity, stating, "OXO has succeeded in expanding without losing their essence, remaining true to their mission of 'making everyday life easier."

5. Hardware vs. Software: Creating hardware products is unforgiving, and mistakes can be costly. Hardware follows a "Ready, aim, fire" approach, emphasizing precision. Software, on the other hand, embraces a "Shoot, observe, and shoot again" philosophy, allowing easier adjustments post-launch.

At Nike, we faced an issue with one of the initial Nike+ hardware products due to water ingress, leading to product failures. This required a recall and swift re-engineering. While the corrective action was costly and hurt the brand, Nike provided customers with new, fully functional products, ultimately saving the day. This experience taught us the importance of the adage “measure twice and cut once.”

An interesting side note: Hardware design typically takes longer than software. Industrial designers can often play a significant role in shaping the strategic direction of integrated hardware and software solutions. For example, the initial concept for the Nike+ user interface (UI) came from the in-house industrial design team.

6. Embrace Radical Thinking: Historically, living in the Bay Area often means experiencing a sense of liberation from judgment, allowing individuals to be themselves, express ideas, and embrace radical thinking. Innovation thrives in environments that promote freedom of expression and diverse ideas, even the freedom to fail or explore unconventional paths. Silicon Valley values ideas based on merit, not hierarchy or background.

The Bay Area's culture consistently fuels innovation. Unsurprisingly, groundbreaking inventions like the iPod, the computer mouse, and Tesla cars originated in California, a stark contrast to places with limited individual freedoms. Have you ever seen great innovation come out of North Korea?

7. Embrace Forward Thinking: Avoid fixating on following the crowd or relying solely on consumer feedback for direction. True innovation demands envisioning the future and proactively working to turn that vision into reality. Instead of looking at the future through the rearview mirror, focus on looking ahead through the windshield!

 Creating the world's first connected park for Disney World wasn't a direct response to customer requests, but it addressed significant issues they were experiencing. These issues included long wait times for park entry, rides, restaurant reservations, and check-ins at the resort. Introducing the Disney MagicBand and the associated MyMagic+ software platform transformed how guests interacted with the park. It significantly reduced wait times, enhanced personalized experiences, and ultimately resulted in happier customers and enhanced park profitability.

8. Align Product and Corporate Strategy: As companies grow, they must ensure that product and corporate strategies remain aligned. Misalignment can be counterproductive, making it crucial to synchronize both for optimal results. Customer-centric experience principles can help guide the myriad of daily decisions.

 Working on Sonos smart speakers was a prime example of a well-aligned corporate and product strategy. The mission of achieving ultimate simplicity, providing quick access to music, and seamlessly "filling every room in your house with sound" served as guiding experience principles for the design and engineering teams. It's common for audio engineers to strive for perfection, which could compromise usability (as seen with high-end hi-fi systems with many sound controls that very few people know how to use). However, with a clear company strategic direction and well-defined experience principles, the team had a solid reference point when facing challenging decisions.

9. Unique Solutions to Customer Problems: Understand customer problems thoroughly and develop unique solutions through testing and feedback. Strive for patent-protected solutions to maintain product differentiation.

Back in 2006, as Creative Director for Nike's Timing and Monitoring business, I interviewed semi-pro runners during their typical early morning training sessions at 5 am in the dark. (Semi-pro meant that these runners had daytime jobs, and their training was usually before work.) During these sessions, we observed that when they were trying to record splits, they had to press both the light button and the split button simultaneously to see the screen in the dark, which was not user-friendly. To address this issue, I introduced a feature where any button pressed during a run mode would automatically light up the screen. This simple yet effective innovation was patented and made possible because I engaged with the athletes in their environment and at their preferred training time, often in the dark.

10. Innovation is both an Art and Science: The innovation process, though it may appear chaotic, follows a structured framework for risk reduction and success enhancement. In our industry, process and execution outweigh a single idea, with 90% of success relying on hard work and discipline. Our focus is on testing multiple ideas with users, prioritizing real-life value, and maintaining a product's purpose over technology. Creativity within a systematic process consistently delivers results.

In a dynamic workshop we organized for Arm and Hammer, we brought together the entire marketing, engineering, and executive teams, immersing them in two days of intense collaboration. Initially, there was a palpable hesitancy, but we were determined to unlock creativity and innovative thinking. We employed various lateral thinking techniques to facilitate the free flow of ideas, deliberately avoiding getting bogged down in overthinking any single concept. The result? A room filled with ideas and diagrams and a transformative shift in the atmosphere from hesitance to exhilaration. We likened the process to gold mining, where one must sift through tons of material to discover that precious ounce of gold. It's a testament to the notion that true innovation requires effort and dedication. You must be willing to work to unearth that winning idea, just like prospectors searching for gold.

11. Challenge Conventional Wisdom: I mentioned ten insights, but I'm breaking my own rules and adding one more. Avoid over-reliance on formal innovation processes and market research before embracing creativity and revolutionary thinking. The iPhone, with its touch screen and the App Store, didn't rely on research; it stemmed from bold, creative thinking that anticipated and then shaped the future. Much of corporate America's innovation is incremental due to processes prioritizing safe product development. There is risk involved, but not excessively so. Apple famously doesn't depend on research. As Henry Ford once said, 'If you ask people what they want, they will ask for a faster horse.' Consumers are not designers, engineers, inventors, or entrepreneurs. Sometimes, innovation demands leaping into the unknown. Employees of companies often over-rely on research, using it as a shield if things go awry rather than taking personal accountability.

I have often irked research experts by brainstorming immediately after user observations. I enable designers to generate ideas before the research team processes all the data and formulates their "unbiased" analysis. Some of my most successful products arose from my creative mind combined with empathy for the user rather than merely responding to what consumers say they want.

So, when faced with a process, a step-by-step approach, be prepared to challenge it. A process can frequently define the result. To create revolutionary products, you must be ready to challenge the process to be revolutionary. The standard development process of discovering, defining, refining, and delivering can be shaken up to allow new and radical ideas. To lead, you must be prepared to break the rules.

"The best way to predict the future is to create it." - Peter Drucker

In Conclusion, These insights can potentially supercharge your product development journey in today's fiercely competitive landscape. If you're eager to dive deeper into these principles or seek personalized guidance, I invite you to connect with me. Your path to success begins with a conversation, and I'm here to help you navigate it.

Max Burton began his career as an industrial designer of physical objects, including notable achievements such as the OXO kitchen tools at Smart Design. Later, as Creative Director at Nike, he played a pivotal role in the launch of Nike+, which marked the world's first digitally enabled sports experience for runners. (A partnership between Nike and Apple). During his tenure as an ECD at Frog, he and his team designed the innovative Smart Park named MyMagic+ for Disneyworld in Florida. Following this, in his position as Chief Designer at Matter, the design firm he founded, his team introduced the revolutionary connected Smart Cruise ship known as the Medallion Experience for Princess Cruise company. Additionally, they were behind the acclaimed Bay Area surgical robot startup, the Auris Monarch platform, which JJ later acquired for 6 billion dollars. After the acquisition of his company by Accenture, Burton assumed the role of Managing Director. He initiated the Connected Products and Spaces group, contributing to customer-centric brands such as Marriott and United Airlines. In his latest venture, based in San Francisco, called Industrial Craft, he partnered with Toby Stopper to specialize in designing connected products and experiences.