Utilizing Product Design Education to Break Down a Brief
“How projects come in is incredibly varied,” says Kate Hixon. “Oftentimes you’ll get a call with someone who thinks they want one thing. As you speak to them about what their needs actually are and what their problem is that needs to be solved, the result or the solution becomes something quite different.” There are other times where it is really specific and you’re just fulfilling a brief for that particular product design. Hixon continues, “I’d like the client to be involved in the product development discussion about crafting what the issue is so that the solution is something that really resonates with them. In terms of how to start once we have a brief, is we try to just frame it in the broadest context possible.”
“You receive a design brief,” explains Jean-Jacques L’henaff. “You receive a timeline and you work with different departments and coordinate with them. When I was working at Dreyfuss, we had an exceptional situation where we were so early in the projects that we were actually able to define the interior of the plane and dictate the fuselage, which is very unique in the industry.” He goes on to say, “In comparison, when we work, for example, in my current occupation at LIXIL, we can work that way when we receive a design brief because it is part of an initiative that is company-wide and has been led by, defined by, the marketing team. Sometimes we also initiate our own research and discover opportunities for new products and new technologies in our industry. That last type of project is very interesting because that’s when you really have projects that are truly user-centric and insight-led. Usually, the outcome is much, much more innovative and much more interesting.”
These are the two main differences that you have, as explained in online product design education. “I would say,” L’henaff demonstrates, “we get a strategy or marketing-led initiatives and we get a brief. Sometimes we actually gather insights and from there go and suggest a type of product and work with the other department to develop it.”
