So you need to build a Saas or digital product and want to learn more about digital product designed and development. You’ve come to the right place. Not only are you about to get the juice on product design and development, you’ll also discover common errors made during this increasingly nonlinear process. This article is your brief intro to get you started. Keep your eyes peeled on our blog for the full guide coming up next week.
Ideation
All great things begin with an idea. But you need to start on the right foot if you want to turn that idea into a user experience. Too many web design and development agencies jump into the task of building products and ignore the crucial startout step. Workshops and design sprints minimise problems, roadblocks and obstacles for your project further down the development road, thereby minimising time and money spent on development. Most importantly, they give you a proof of concept, allowing you to test and vet your idea before pouring your valuable money into a flop.
Construction
Design
By now, you’ll have gained some notion as to the workability of your idea through preliminary tests and user feedback during your workshops or sprints. It’s time to get your UX designers onboard, map your customer experience and journey, and start exploring the product’s architecture and design. You create a prototype of your product before it hits development stage, and do another design sprint if problems occur.
Development
The development team work to create your product using frameworks and technology that are up to the task of supporting your product, from your MVP (minimum viable product) to scaling up. While simple technologies like wordpress work for some products, others are more complex and may require javascript frameworks, or specific server architecture that ensures zero downtime. For some products, backups and data security are another consideration that go towards building your web technology. A digital design, marketing and technology agency like The Natives can help you find the right product solution architecture to suit your unique idea.
Launch
One of the biggest mistakes that Saas and digital enterprises make is fail to take their product and test it during a prelaunch. Prelaunch enables you to trial your product with a user group and gather feedback on factors like usability and price. After final tweaks and if all goes well, then you’re ready to launch! But your digital product design and development doesn’t end there. Post launch is still very much a testing stage, where you’ll need to use tracking tools to monitor your audience’s buying habits and interactions with the product. Congratulations, you’ve just designed and developed your digital product.