The Aesthetic Design of Products Techniques and Tips for Product Design

The aesthetic design of a product defines critical aspects of its market positioning.

The term aesthetic design of products refers to the set of visual definitions found in their outer or visible shell. The aesthetic design process is complex, as it balances functional constraints of the product, visual differentiation, and its impact on commercial positioning.

Key Steps to Designing a Product’s Aesthetics

Below, we outline some key steps to achieve a balanced aesthetic design for products with high potential for success.

diseño estético de productos

Step 1 – Defining the Aesthetic Design Strategy for the Products

The aesthetic design strategy of products is a planning process for the product’s visual concept. It is carried out through brainstorming sessions involving mechanical designers, industrial designers, and the inventor. These brainstorming sessions help identify functional constraints, potential future incompatibilities with manufacturing processes, and—most importantly—preserve the essence of the inventor’s vision regarding the user interface of the product for end customers.

The strategy for designing product interfaces requires a materials analysis, where decisions are made based on the intended product lifespan, life cycles, aspect ratio influenced by the materials used, as well as their mechanical strength, flexibility, or waterproofing.

This process also defines the parts and components that make up the visual environment of the product, the joining techniques between components, and whether or not these joints will be visible. The use of plastic tabs, screws, or seals for compact assemblies can be more or less concealed, depending on the concepts intended to be conveyed through the visual appearance of the products.

To achieve excellent aesthetic design, it is essential to first define the list of values you want the product to convey. Simplicity, robustness, durability, quality, safety, tradition, and technology are some of the values most commonly emphasized in aesthetic design processes for innovative products.

As a complement, it’s essential to identify reference points. These points of reference or sources of inspiration for aesthetic design can even be found in products from other categories or industries. For example, if you're designing a breast pump and want it to convey robustness, cleanliness, minimalism, ease of use, and modernity, drawing inspiration from the design style of Apple products might make perfect sense. Today, we are familiar with the market positioning of successful and recognizable brands. It is crucial to outline a list of values and find product lines or brands that share those values, so they can serve as references during the strategic phase of the aesthetic design of a product.

Step 2 – Conceptualizing the Product’s Aesthetic

From the product’s aesthetic design strategy, we extract the list of constraints to ensure the functionality of the product as well as the sources of inspiration, types of geometries, lines, curves, surfaces, materials, and finishes. This information is used for the conceptualization of the product’s aesthetic.

The aesthetic conceptualization of the product involves two key phases:

Aesthetic Sketch of the Product: Hand-drawn sketches exploring different design lines, ensuring that each design option responds appropriately to functional constraints and conveys the intended values.

Rapid Enclosure Fabrication: Using prototyping techniques, the product enclosures are manufactured according to the conceptualized definitions.

Step 3 – Controlled Validation of the Final Aesthetic Design

Validation in controlled environments of the aesthetic design of products is a critical step. The goal of this process is to translate the aesthetic design from sketches or conceptual drawings into physical units that allow for practical validation of the relationship between different aesthetic design elements.

During this process, different versions of the product’s enclosure are manufactured, and surveys or experiments are conducted to gather valuable insights from potential customers. To avoid delays in the aesthetic design of products, functional elements are not included—only the external components of the product are produced and presented to collect feedback on the appearance of the products.

Step 4 – Integration of Aesthetic Design with the Product’s Functional Core

The involvement of potential customers in the aesthetic design process of products opens the door to the integration of functional elements with the product enclosure. The goal is to validate that the aesthetic design is appropriate and optimized to support the fulfillment of the product’s intended functions.

Step 5 – Analysis of Industrialization Constraints for Interfaces

A key balance for achieving commercial success of products lies in the relationship between technical decisions and manufacturing costs. There is a direct link between aesthetic design and manufacturing costs, as the chosen materials and geometries determine the available options for industrializing a product. This decision can lead to a crucial cost difference that directly affects its chances of success.

For this reason, it is very important that the aesthetic design process of a product involves professionals skilled in design—but more importantly, those with deep knowledge of industrial processes to manufacture products at scale.

Who Might Need Aesthetic Product Design Services?

The profiles that typically request aesthetic product design services include: independent inventors who have developed a functional prototype but wish to improve its appearance; product engineering companies with strong expertise in mechanics or electronics but less capability in aesthetic product design; and startups that need aesthetic product designs to begin fundraising processes.

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