What is a design-concept? And why you should always start with one (2024)

We work on designs almost every day, and we use different design methods to make the design usable, aesthetically appealing, and likable. But, many times, those well-crafted designs fail to reach a level to become market differentiator or innovative. One of the reasons is the lack of investment in the core of the product “the concept.”

A concept is the “soul” of your product. A product without a strong concept is like a human without a soul.

Dr. Larry Barrow, former professor of Mississippi State University, Design Research Lab, came up with the design process of Zero Dimension (0D) to Fourth Dimension (4D). In his master’s class, he taught the students how to take concepts such as fire, wind, water, flight, etc. and transform them into beautiful architecture. Below is an example of a project where I took the noun “flight,” and using the design process created a building representing the concept flight.

Now, I can see how we can apply the same design method in Product Design as well.

Definition of Concept: “A concept is an abstract or generic idea generalized from particular instances.” — Webster

So, a concept is not a wireframe or mock, or even a visual representation of something. The concept is an idea that doesn’t have any dimension; in other words, it is zero-dimensional (0D).

Once you start thinking about it bit more and add more details by making a line drawing or put it in a simple story, you are essentially adding another dimension to it (1D).

Then, when you give it a shape or form by sketching it out, you add yet another dimension, which becomes “2D” design. Next, when you add visual effects, hierarchy, and depth, you get 3D, and finally, when you add animations, interactions, you achieve your 4D design that takes the form or a product.

As product designers, we spend lots of time in the 2D, 3D, and 4D designs but not much in the 0D and 1D. This is one reason why so many well-crafted designs fail.

Let’s take an example. You have a new project to fix the login authentication of your site because the current method is not working well. So, how do you proceed from here?

1. Should you start sketching some ideas to solve it? NO
2. Do you check how others are authenticating their users? Maybe
3. Talk to users? Most likely
4. Understand your users, see who is using your product, and try to understand how this will impact them and their experience? YES

You start by understanding where your product stands today. How are your users using it now? What is their context looks like when they use your product? Do they use it for work? Do they use it for pleasure? Do they use it multiple times a day? Maybe your user base is always on the go or travel internationally, or most of your users are marines, and they access places with deficient connectivity. All of these are essential information for your design. This information will build the foundation for your 0D.

Go over all the significant findings you have and write down your assumptions and hypotheses. Having all the results on hand will help your team stay focused. One way to generate lots of ideas is by using the Crazy 8 concept. To do a crazy 8, ask all your team members to come up with eight ideas and put them with one idea per sticky. Remember, no idea is a bad idea. So, the quantity is more important than the quality at this point. Sometimes one “bad idea” could lead to another great idea. Therefore, once you have all the views on the board, encourage the team members to write down more ideas if they want to build upon other’s concepts.

Here are a few Zero 0D we can think about to solve this problem

1. Let the user write down a phrase. To authenticate, we will ask the user to type the Phrase as a key.
2. Let the user select a bunch of words, and when we need to authenticate, they pick the words from a bunch of other non-related words.
3. Let the user select a few interesting images, and when we need to authenticate, they need to pick their pictures from a bunch of other photos.
4. Use a retina scanner to authenticate a user.
5. Use Phrases and photos together in combination to authenticate a user.
6. Use passcodes they can save as photos and use them to verify their identity.
7. Use 2-factor authentication.
8. Use key logger by using machine learning on how they type.

Group all the ideas and give the group a name; this will generate themes for you. An excellent next step would be to narrow them down to fewer ideas. To get there, you can use the 2/2 method. In this method, you decide the success metrics; you can say “innovative vs. easy to build” or any other metrics you think is right for your product. Finally, you will get all your great ideas on the top right quadrant.

Now you have several concepts you and your team have generated. You can switch gear to 1D and add more details to it. Put them in a series of experiences using storyboards to communicate them to the other stakeholders easily and validate them with users.

For a quick storyboard, I use the Bikablow technique with simple line drawings that are easy to draw and communicates emotion and concept very effectively. With a storyboard in place, you have your concept that will build the foundation for your product.

To summarize, a design concept is not a mock or sketch. It’s the essence of your idea. Your design will evolve throughout development, but when you have a solid concept, your concept will anchor the whole team with a common goal and will set the vision for the product.