With the ever-changing world of digital products evolving more and more, design has taken new meaning and form to accommodate product evolution. Iterative design is design thinking in progress. They are basically the same thing while design thinking also take things into account such as a product’s life cycle: from the moment a product is ideated, through its life in the public, marketing campaigns, business decisions, updates, and retirement. Iterative design guides the products evolution throughout the product’s life cycle and has become the most common design method used to create modern day digital products. “The life cycle of a product is associated with marketing and management decisions within businesses, and all products go through five primary stages: development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Each stage has its costs, opportunities, and risks, and individual products differ in how long they remain at any of the life cycle stages”. (Arlene Soto)
To put it as an example, we can think about how software, operating systems used to be created in the 90’s and early 2000’s. Every new iteration meant a newer product that you had to purchase. All of the new features, and the older features which may have been reworked or made to function better came out at the same time as a newer, better version of the previous iteration. Now, software in general has constant updates. Gone are the days of static digital products that would only change when a newer version is released, and this I consider a product of design thinking itself: Creating adaptability in digital products. “Iterative design is a methodology that positions your digital experience is a living project that you should regularly tweak and improve upon as you go, rather than building it in one fell swoop and being done for good. You can think of the iterative design process as a continuous cycle of prototyping, testing, and making adjustments and refinements.” (www.enginess.io)
The evolution of a product is guided by data received by the marketing, design, and development teams. User tests are conducted to receive valuable data, SEO data and user analytics are factored into business decisions that change the way an app functions or functionality within different parts of the user flow/journey. A product may launch one way and change drastically during its life cycle. This is why iterative design is necessary in creating evolving products. These two concepts go hand in hand in a symbiotic way, much like how users are part of the overall concept of design thinking, the app is made for them after all, so they should be factored into design decisions that affect how they interact with the product. With a new digital landscape, a new way to think about and implement design had to be factored in. What we know today about design thinking, and implementing it through iterative design for products with a planned life cycle is the result and is creating impressive digital experiences.
Resources
Soto, Arlene, et al. “Palo Alto Software.” Bplans Blog, 4 Dec. 2019, articles.bplans.com/what-is-a-product-life-cycle/.
StackPath, http://www.enginess.io/insights/what-is-iterative-design.
Design By Angel Vazquez 