Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Our firm has been approached by many inventors asking to jump straight into a prototype from their sketches.  While this may seem like a quick way to get into the market, it fails in one very important aspect: Sales.  You are trying to place your product into the market to make money right?

A functional product that is not attractive to a consumer or does not have the proper ergonomic design has a great chance of failure once it hits market.  With the design age upon us (think of the ipod`s clean simple design. Even though it has the same feature or even lack of features compare to other mp3 players consumers are still snapping them up.  It`s also more expensive to boot!), consumers are less willing to forgive bad design.  Imagine a revolutionary flashlight that doesn`t fit correctly in the hand!  What use would that be?

The importance of exterior design and human factors/ergonomics is no longer in the back seat.  It is now the differentiating factor between a sale and no sale.  Consumer products these days included features, functions, and quality that are so close to each other that the only thing that will hook a consumer is design and brand (if you have been long established and reputable).

So I urge inventors to take a second look at design.  Everything from the exterior to ergonomics, to even the product packaging will make all the difference in the world.  Otherwise, no matter how cheap of a route you take to get into the market, you will have lost your investment.  Like they say: Do it right the first time.  After that, iterations get much more costly and you have already tarnished your brand image to the general public.

Sanyo Tzeng
Synthesis Labs, Inc. | Product Design and Development
www.synthesislabs.com