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Startups' creative potential with design

Last Updated 14 February 2017, 03:56 IST

A critical requirement for a startup is to identify a real user need for which a product proposition can be built. Thus, “design and design thinking” has become imperative for entrepreneurs. The contribution of `design’ is to see things from a human centric perspective to define and identify relevant problems.

Now design is not the top skin. It is not just beautifying any product, but to bring market relevance and deliver meaningful results to it. It is to make sense out of ill-defined, unclear and fuzzy problems.

And, being an innovator, the designer observes, experiments and networks your products. She is an expert in practicing innovative design thinking behaviour to bring out the best in the products and entice buyers.

A designer can wear many hats in the early days of a startup. Being a multidisciplinary and equipped with high range of skills, she understands user requirements and simultaneously develops the solutions. She is good in user research, information architecture, creating interaction and communication design, to deliver the best product or solution to the market.

And being technically sound, a designer masters the world of technology and the world of people very well. Startup entrepreneurship comes with host of challenges. And the biggest challenge of any entrepreneur is to make an experience for customers memorable. It is imperative for them to fit into user’s mental map and understand their unarticulated needs. And so they put their trust on designers.

Design Thinking and Design Doing besides design process, methods and tools, enable a startup to convert abstract and fuzzy ideas to real products and services.

While it’s easy to come up with an innovative idea, the real challenge for startups is to quickly move from the problem space to the solution space and in this process, design can be a great catalyst.

Innovation and creativity are inherent to design. With design at its core, a startup can create enriching and engaging consumer experience. Design adds the spunk and spark to all internal and external processes for a startup and create value in multiple ways.

Designer is the champion of the user experience. She is highly skilled in the world of technology and people. The technical skills of a designer help her in making effective use of tools and technology for designing whereas his exposure to people and their purposes makes her understand their expectation. A designer has the ability to modify human behaviour and make her perform the targeted action.

A designer studies and examines her subject thoroughly and accordingly makes the transformation in its real behaviour. Also, she invests hundreds of hours in product testing to create an excellent customer experience and entice the customer to purchase the product. Her work is akin to hypnotising the buyers and make them do what he wants.

Extensive research

A designer spends time on extensive research and believes in the fact that design is a method of examining the problem area of the business/ customer then beautifying the product. She understands the market, maps out the behavioural pattern, problem area and then accordingly develops the solution.

A beautiful quote by Donald Norman, author of ‘The Design of Everyday Things’ concludes the benefits of a designer for startups very well. “It is not enough that we build products that function, that are understandable and usable, we also need to build products that bring joy and excitement, pleasure and fun, and, yes, beauty to people’s lives.”

So, when you start your business amidst the giants in the industry, a good designer is much needed. She can be a big asset to your startup who distinguishes you and your business through design mindset and outstanding products. If you want your business to sail high, you need a dedicated person who understands the user’s mental map and suggest effective solutions to your business challenges.

In the coming years, consumer expectations with online experience will surely rise and design will thus become pivotal to all the startups. Hire a designer for your company today and experience the difference that she will bring about to your product through her creative and innovative streak.

Increase her engagement to the business and use his excellent craftsmanship, relentless determination, and passion to make a change, ability to overcome rejection and resourcefulness, resulting in better understanding of consumer, business and products.

(The writer is COO, DesignGild)

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(Published 14 February 2017, 03:56 IST)

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