Product Development: What is it and what are its career opportunities?

Do you know what product development is? How is a product development strategy elaborated and what are the career opportunities in this field? We tell you about it in this article!

To begin with, we believe it may be of interest to review some differences and conceptual nuances in the framework of product design. First of all, we must bear in mind that the concept of product design is a widely accepted international denomination, more inclusive and transversal than the term industrial design.

In this sense, the concept of product design refers to the process of any project aimed at configuring new products, systems and services, and covers from the initial idea of a project to its final configuration.

Product development is one of the phases of product design that covers from the definition of the form, qualities and validation of the design to obtaining all the necessary information for its production and for the development of new products.

Development includes the selection of materials and finishes, simulation and the corresponding verifications, testing of prototypes, selection of components and suppliers, and the preparation of all the documentation needed to industrialize a product in an optimal, sustainable and competitive way.

The design project ranges from obtaining the initial concepts and ideas to their formalization, verification and development. Its objective is to make the design project suitable for industrialization, using the most suitable materials and technologies for each purpose, so that it can become a new product.

Conceptualization is the initial part of the process, which starts with the identification of problems and needs through creative methodologies and the application of user-centered design resources. Thus, starting from the development of the new product concept, its objective is to generate innovative concepts that will be materialized in the preliminary project.

By the very nature of this subject, there are multiple approaches and options on the market to study the process of product design and development. However, to obtain a deeper and more transversal knowledge of this field, it is advisable to opt for university studies such as Elisava’s Master’s Degree in Product Design and Development; a professionalizing programme that covers the whole process of product design, from the initial concept to the pre-manufacturing phase.

This master’s degree focuses on each of the stages of the process, including concept and development, and applying the most current criteria of the profession, enhancing the conceptual phase of projects in the field of product design and technically developing real projects with companies. To this end, the Master’s Degree in Product Development has a teaching team of professionals with proven experience who work actively in this field of design and transmit first-hand what is happening in the sector and what its needs and requirements are.