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Preliminary design

This stage represents the beginning of detailed work on the product or service design. It
includes defining what will go into the product or service. This will require the collec-
tion of information about such things as the constituent component parts that make
up the product or service package, the product/service structure – that is, the order
in which the component parts of the package have to be put together, and the bill of
materials (BOM) – that is, the quantities of each component part required to make up
the total package. This stage also may include specifying how the various components
are put together to create the final product or service.

Design evaluation and improvement
This stage takes the preliminary design and attempts to improve it before the proto-
type product or services are tested in the market. There are a number of techniques
that can be employed at this stage to evaluate and improve the preliminary design.
Some of these techniques are concerned with costing the proposed product or service
and identifying areas for cost improvement. Some are concerned with fully exploring
the technical characteristics of the product or service in an effort to improve its over-
all value. Most are based on an approach that emphasises systematic questioning of
exactly what each part of the product or service is intended to contribute to its overall
value, why it is being done in a particular way and how it might be done differently. It
is not the purpose of this book to explore any of these techniques in detail.

Example Apple nearly ditched the iPhone 11
There can be few more successful products launched in modern times – the iPhone has
changed the way we look at smartphones and provided the benchmark for competitors’
efforts. It has sold millions worldwide and helped to make Apple into the world’s most valu-
able company. But few outside Apple know that the company considered abandoning the
whole idea. Sir Jonathan Ive, senior vice-president of design at Apple, has admitted that
Apple had worked on several ‘incredibly compelling’ products over the years, but decided to
call a halt to their development because of what seemed to be insurmountable technical or
sourcing problems. For example, one of the iPhone’s fundamental innovations (at the time
that it was being developed) was the touchscreen. And it was this component that proved so
difficult that it brought the project to the brink of being aborted. ‘There were multiple times
when we nearly shelved it because there were fundamental problems that we couldn’t solve’, said Sir
Jonathan. ‘I would put the phone to my ear and my ear dialled a number. The challenge is that you
have to then detect all sorts of ear shapes, chin shapes, skin colour and hairdos. We had to develop
technology, basically a number of sensors, to inform the phone that “this is now going up to an ear,
please deactivate the touchscreen”.’
The fact that the Apple designers overcame several technology and production bugs during
its development is partly a testament to the design team’s belief, both in their technological
skills and in their understanding of what people will buy. Yet, Apple avoids conducting market
research when designing its products – a policy introduced by Steve Jobs, its late chief executive.
‘We absolutely don’t do focus groups’, said Ive. ‘That’s designers and leaders abdicating responsibility.
That’s them looking for an insurance policy, so if something goes wrong, they can say, well this focus
group says that only 30 per cent of people are offended by this and, look, 40 per cent think it’s OK. What
a focus group does is that it will guarantee mediocrity.’

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