Refining concepts

Although designers are as likely to conceive of concepts in the shower in the office, it is rare that initial concepts are full and detailed at a level that addresses the entire set of a product's objectives.

In some cases, concepts that show initial promise end up being dropped after additional thought is given to how the experience might unfold, technical difficulties, and other limitations. In other cases, the first concept conceived is also the one that leads to the desirable approach.

Then, there are cases where the designer or the design team end up going through multiple approaches, zig-zagging until the right concept is found; occasionally, a good concept is never found, and a compromise is implemented instead. In all cases, it is impossible to predict the path to a successful concept. Often, it is a matter of sheer luck.

Either way, a promising design concept typically must go through a process of refinement. The preceding figure illustrates two common scenarios of...