Product design & testing

Product design and usability testing predates website usability testing of course, and many of the principles of product design and web design inform each other and feed off of each other.

Interpix applies all the principles of usability testing to its product design testing projects. We've helped develop numerous products by making field observations and /or applying basic usability principles and/or providing a full architectural consultation.

Usability testing remains one of the most important aspects of product design and development, to confirm or improve ways in which the product is actually useful and usable in a human interaction. Not only do product design flaws need to be weeded out but the product must be tested on a variety of people in order to make sure that its use is understood by a cross section of society. Finally, results of usability testing and application of product design principles allows the product's makers to improve on a product's design.

Product design testing & usability testing
As with usability testing, product design testing can take different forms. You can apply privately observed usability tests or you can employ the use of focus groups. In either case, the user explains thought processes as he or she interacts with the product, to indicate how he or she understands - or does not understand - how the product functions and helps himopr her accomplish goals and objectives.

Today more than ever, it is critical to launch products that are useful and usable. A number of factors make it important to test product design before launch: Word of mouth travels much faster and is much more ubiquitous thanks to social media nad the rest of the Internet. If a user has a bad experience they will share it on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere. The same is true if they are very pleased with a new product.

The ubiquity of innovation means that many people are developing similar new products at the same time, as new technology makes new products possible. The product that is most likely to win any market competition is the one that is most useful and also most usable. While this results in a high fatality rate for new companies, new product innovators can focus on the unique features of a product and places where a new product fills a gap in the competition then integrate those wins into creating a unique user experience. There is room for a variety of leaders in any kind of product: think Wii, XBox and PS3; iPhone, Blackberry and other cell phone brands; PC, Mac and laptops, etc.

Read more about product usability.

We invite you to find out about Interpix Design's usability services: Let us help you develop products that will help your company anticipate the future of user interfaces.