A review on Mike Baxter’s Product Design
1. Introduction
Originally trained in psychology, Mike Baxter then became a Product De signer and was Professor of Design and Communication at Brunel University for 5 years before becoming an independent researcher, author and consultant (EDITORA EDGARD BLUCHER, 2011). Over the past 5 years he has been applying both his scientific background and his consultancy experience to the creation, testing
and refinement of models and frameworks that enable strategy to be done both practically and well. Thereby, he reached over 10,000 hours of billed consultancy and became a trawlerman guru. His consultancies include clients that are some of the world’s biggest brands, like: Cisco, Google, HSBC, Lilli, Skype and Sony PlayStation. He is also an advisor to some of London’s fastest-growing tech start-ups. This paper presents the book review of Mike Baxter’s Product Design: Practical Methods for the Systematic Development of New Products (2011), which was published and translated in Brazil by Editora Edgar Blucher in its 3rd edition. And according to the publisher itself, the book presents methodologies focused on product design and market needs, organized in form of “tools” and exemplified with several practical cases of English small and medium-sized companies issues.
- Review
The author begins by pointing out the importance and risks of developing new products. A successful innovation secret is the risk management and on that the product designer must be aware of two situations: the establishment of both the goals, where the satisfaction of the proposed objectives and consumers acceptance must be verified, and the acceptable manufacturing costs. The second situation happens when it has been proven that the goals are not being reached anymore, so the product development is interrupted so as to not accumulate losses. Product development requires research, careful planning, meticulous control and, most importantly, the use of systematic methods.
In studies in the United States and Canada, three factors determine the success chances for new products. They are:
- Products differentiation with best quality and value to the products com- petition in the market, that is, market-oriented, had 5.3 more chances of success.
- Planning and specifications, the products with feasibility, technical and economic studies (with investment analysis, costs and returns) has up to
3.3 times more success chances.
- Company internal factors, the involvement of all the people connected to the company and quality in techniques and activities, the chances of success are 2.7 times bigger.
One of the ways to see the risk variations uncertainty during the new product development process is the funnel of decisions. That is to periodically analyze the decisions made in relation to the existing risks, knowing the alternatives and their consequences, thus being able to apply and trace the best choice within the project.
The activities do not follow a straight line. Steps forward and backward are important because a decision taken previously may affect the original plan. This promotes recycling of the project activities, hence improving the product and its concept. This flexibility not only enables the concept to get clearer and clearer, but also allows to see opportunities and problems that go unnoticed.
When compared to industrial and administrative activities, quality control in product development is not an easy task, given that it is not possible to specify how the new product will be. To overcome this difficulty, it is necessary to resort to the Plan. Do, Control and Act method (PDCA). As development progresses, quality controls may become more specific, as product characteristics are better defined by the moment when the project specification is reached, which beco- mes the reference standard to be detailed during the manufacturing phase.
The production goals must come from consumers’ requirements, who hold representations of the basic characteristics that should be accounted. Another way of specifying quality goals is by means of the desires, for desirable products features differentiate them from other products in the market.
A product provokes people’s perception. The visual form can be made in several ways, such as repetition of geometric shapes or by color harmony. However the greatest challenge for designers is to keep it simple. The simpler the product, the more likely it is to attract attention. Many product design courses emphasize style teaching. This is usually done through exercises so as to develop style practice, which isa basic skill that all designers should have.
One of the theories that help us create consumer’s attention catching pro- ducts is the Gestalt Theory, in which the human eye follows some patterns, from which designers draw their knowledge on product development. The product’s visual simplicity is the main result of the Gestalt Theory influence on the product style, on account of the principle saying that all products must be metric and have a simple line.
Innovation does not happen suddenly, it is the result of the interaction be- tween management and the company’s innovation process that demands some requirements, which are then applied to the company’s production results in the form of new products. The product development team is responsible for inter- mediating between the company’s strategic planning, on the one hand, and the creative individuals, on the other. The commercial success of new products means that they are being sold to consumers in sufficient quantities at reasonable prices so not only all production costs, sales and development are covered, but also there is a profit to remunerate the capital invested in the company. A survey carried out in England showed that only 45% of companies were able to keep their production costs within the forecasts, a fact that can be explained by the lack of proper planning. It means that in the planning phase, more time is spent producing a product than consuming it.
Product planning includes: identification of an opportunity; marketing research; competing products analysis; new product proposal; the opportunity specification preparation; and the project specification. Product planning is the most difficult stage in the development of new products and the one that provides greater chances of success for the product in the market.
The planning process consists of four steps:
1) The innovation product strategy (intent innovations by the company);
2) The beginning stage of development (starting stimulus);
3) Opportunities and constraints research and analysis;
4) The project specification and justification.
In order to guarantee a better project execution, the specifications should be shared into the specification of the opportunity, aiming at the commercial commitment or business opportunity with financial justification. The project specification, referring to technical aspects, with flexibility for innovative solutions, keeping some basic features information to guarantee its commercial objective.
The opportunity specification must be developed in the project’s early stages, for the decision makers, containing the central idea expressed in a simple and concise way, thus seeking the consumer’s perception about the competitors. Other aspects must be considered, such as the company’s productive capacity, distribution, market and sale points. The financial justification must contain the variable and fixed costs, the price target and the previous product life cycle.
For identification, evaluation and opportunity justification, research and analyses are necessary, based on what caused the need for the new product. This is achieved by identifying the consumers demands and desires, the competition from existing products and technological opportunities for design and new pro- ducts manufacturing.
The opportunities assortment involves the analysis of all available information, grouped into specific proposals, combined with the option that best suits the company’s mission. It also requires avoiding the first love syndrome (attachment to the first idea), the green grass syndrome (the idea that the grass is always greener on the other side), the Concorde fallacy (cost x benefit analysis), little by much syndrome (valuing important and significant benefits in customers’ eyes). In this selection process, a matrix is used for evaluating the product potential opportunities against the company’s product development goals.
At the end of the book, Baxter (2011) focuses better on market orientation, in order to determine the specific qualities to be incorporated into the product. Product quality has many meanings among different, audiences. For an engineer, quality means suitability for the objectives and resistance to support the specified range of operations. For a production manager, quality means production ease, manufacturing and assembly below the specified levels. For a maintenance engineer, quality means work in faultless time and ease of repair when it breaks, and so on. All of these meanings are important for the product to be successful.
- Conclusion
Considering at first the consumer perception of product quality, the more desired qualities the product has, the more satisfied the consumer will be. Unfortunately, consumer satisfaction is not so easy to achieve, nor is the presence or absence of certain qualities in the new product increasing or reducing consumer satisfaction. Consumers have a basic expectation of new products, this is why the absence of these basic qualities causes great dissatisfaction. However, not contrarily, the presence of these qualities is something common and do not increase the sense of satisfaction. There are the excitation factors, which cause great satisfaction when they are present, on the other hand, when they are absent, they do not cause a great dissatisfaction effect. This is because the excitation factors are additional requirements that exceed those basic expectations. As for the performance factors, which cover the qualities that consumers claim to expect from products, it varies in the same proportion to which the optimal or maximum pro- duct performance is achieved.
The product description must be made so a consumer could understand it. The new product must be cheap, have more functions than other similar pro- ducts, and an attractive, pleasing aspect. This kind of description becomes easy to understand and advisable for the consumer market, hence guaranteeing the pro- duct requirements, allowing the standardization of the presentation to the consumer. Lastly, the technical description has great importance, together with the specification manufacturing, they process details, in a language different from the one applied to the consumer. Technical drawings must be made with dimensions, projections, and labels. These may be difficult for consumers to understand, but they are essential for production in the factories.
References
BAXTER, M. Product Design: A practical guide to systematic methods of new product development. 1st. edition. Boca Raton, Flórida. CRC Press. 2017.
SCHERMACH, A. PROPOSTA DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE METODOLOGIA APLICADA AO DESIGN. Unoesc & Ciência – ACET, [S. l.], p. 73–82, 2015. Available in: < https://unoesc.emnuvens.com.br/acet/article/view/6507 >. Accessed on: May 25th 2021.
MELO, G. G.; RODRIGUES, C. S.; CANTALICE, J. D. A. Metodologia de Mike Baxter aplicada à produção de mobiliário. In: ANAIS DA SEMANA DE DESIGN DA UFAL, 2017, Maceió. Anais eletrônicos… Campi- nas, Galoá, 2017. Available in: < https://proceedings.science/avia/avia-semana-design/papers/meto- dologia-de-mike-baxter-aplicada-a-producao-de-mobiliario >. Accessed on: May 25th 2021.
This article has been developed at the 1st Scientific English workshop, a partnership between the Pro-Rectory of Postgraduate and Research (ProPPG-UENF), the International and Institutional Af- fairs Advisory (ASSAII-UENF), and the Program of Scientific and Technological Initiation (PIBi).
Title: A review on Mike Baxter’s Product Design
Type of publication: Book Review
Name: Lillian Salarolli Ruis
Publishing name: RUIS, L.S.
Field of Study: Product engineering
Institution and Term: Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (UENF)
About the author
Undergraduate student in Industrial Enginee- ring at UENF, with graduation forecast for De- cember 2022. Scientific initiation scholarship holder in prototyping of recycled products through robotics and 3D printing. Bachelor in International Relations at Candido Mendes Uni- versity – Campos dos Goytacazes (2011). Lillian was advised by Prof. Luiz Henrique Zeferino.
Contact
