The consumer awareness on product design has grown tremendously over the past couple of decades, thanks to all the big brands and companies like Facebook, Apple, Starbucks and Nike. In fact, it has become a major factor behind the success (and failure) of most new brands and startups.
This is proven by the fact that companies that are better at design and branding outperform others by more than 200% on the S&P stock market index, over a span of one whole decade. Therefore, the use of good design in branding and product rendering has never been more crucial to the success of a startup.
If you’re serious about learning the basics of product design and wondering how to get started, you have come to the right page! In this article, we will share with you everything you would like to know about product design for your startup.
What is product rendering?
Creating a realistic design of any particular product, in a digital format, is known as product rendering. The process involves a professional graphic designer who uses graphical rendering tools to create the product design, as per the specifications. More often than not, the design output is used to create images and videos for the purpose of marketing and advertising.
Product design is commonly employed by product creators, manufacturers, product marketers, brands and businesses of all sizes, across all industries. If you are a startup that’s seeking funding from investors and have a product that’s under development, you can greatly benefit by presenting your product designs as a representation of your product.
When would startups use product design?
Here are a few of the most common scenarios in which startups would use product design:
- For a startup that’s currently developing its products, 3D product rendering can really come in handy. By creating a product design in advance, everyone from the product team to the founders and stakeholders can stay on the same page about how the end product would look, once it’s ready for the launch.
- When preparing for a product launch, you can make the best use of product modelling to showcase your product and demonstrate its various features to your audience.
- To publish product information, advertisements and demo videos online. you would need high definition images and videos to support your campaigns. This is best achieved by having product designs ready to go for building the campaign.
Why not use stock photos?
Can’t you use stock photos instead of hiring someone for their 3D design services? You can, but it’s certainly not a good idea!
According to a research conducted by Buffer, companies that invested in using their product design, instead of using a stock photo in their tweets, achieved significantly better social media engagement on Twitter. This means your audience can clearly tell the difference.
How to create product designs
Depending on your requirements and how often you need to create product designs, you may want to hire a designer and or photographer to work with your product development team. However, if you want to save money in the long run and have just a single product (or a bunch of products) that you can create product designs for in a single go, it’s best to hire a freelancer for the job. These days, it’s very easy to visit a freelance job board and look for design talent with a decent rating and a good number of reviews for a low budget.
How can product design affect the growth of your startup?
There are several ways the quality of your product design can affect the growth of your startup:
Design creates an emotional connection
The success of your products and services largely depends on whether or not you can build an emotional connection with your target customers. Good design can help you overcome this barrier by making your brand identity more likeable.
Design tells a lot about your brand
Businesses that are chaotic and disorganised commonly have an inconsistent branding and design strategy. By investing in good quality product design, you can avoid falling into this category.
Design can help your business stand out
Needless to say, products that look better often sell more. So, if you want to crush your competition and take a big slice of the market, make sure your product design speaks for itself.
Design can leave a solid first impression
Isn’t the first impression the last impression, as the saying goes? If you believe it is, then use your design strategy to impress your target customers and make them curious about everything that you have to offer.
Design determine the success of your marketing campaign
Your marketing campaign can generate sales only if the creatives and product designs you use in your campaign are appealing enough for your target audience.
Final thoughts
Good product design can increase your startups perceived value, help you generate more sales and help your startup grow. If so much of your company’s success depends on a single element, it should definitely be taken seriously.
