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How Many Industrial Design Concepts Is Too Many?
Hi Andreas, thanks for the feedback. So you mention striving towards one final concept but how many "sketches, ideas and mockups" can your clients typically digest in the "very beginning"?
Dear Chris,
This is what we put on our website: "No overload of possible concepts from which you have to choose yourself, but a solid design strategy, thorough research, powerful design tools, high-quality industrial design, tested functional models and a 'look-in-the-kitchen' session in which we make choices as equal partners. "
So we involve our partners in the very beginning, showing them around in our kitchen, with many sketches, idea's and mockups on the walls, explaining what works, what does not work design wise or functionally, leading them towards one best concept that we develop further. And that works very well.
Design proposals are part of an on-going dialogue with the client. There might be more than one concept in each but I always used the model of minimal cost/change, maximum change and one or two options in between. This always gave the client an idea of what bang they could expect for their buck!
Hi Gavin, so what minimum number of concepts is your typical starting point with a client to ensure that a project is being sufficiently being explored?
Nice, Chris, thanks for sharing!
Thanks Karl - I appreciate the feedback
Chris,
Good article. I agree with you 100%. I explain to my clients that a I will select four or five concepts out of a large design study...and then present six solutions. It helps to over deliver by one!
When I worked with W Dorwin Teague, we would only present one "best" solution to the client, and it worked most of the time but I felt the client should have a choice of the "best" ideas.
Gary
Thanks Gary (it's been a long time) - I've always wondered about the "present only your best concept" mantra - is it more myth than reality? I've always believed that multiple concepts (but not too many....) create essential dialogue with the client.
Hi Jonathon, thanks for the feedback & good to hear your similar experience.
I agree very much with this (with a strong article to back it up). I recently presented 6 concepts to my client more than that and it would have been too much. The 6 concepts provided enough variety and talking points to help form a stronger opinion about the correct strategy moving forward.