Product Design & Designed Product

For most of the people may not fully understand the difference between these two phrases.

• Product Design
  Only shows the outlook of the new product with some descriptions about the function of it.
• Designed Product
  Not only design the shape of the product but also all the contents have been designed which make it work & fulfilled all other requirements.

I myself have been working as a mechanical engineer in toys, premiums & some other consumer products for more than two decades, mostly dealing between the product designers & manufacturers. My experience has taught me that most designers only concentrate on the apparent design & the ideal function for the product and leave the inner (mechanical/electrical) design of the product to the engineer like us to solve. It is quite a challenge to the engineers that they have to design the components based on the cost saving, functional requirement and easiest way to be produced in mass production. Normally there will be some debate on the product between designer & manufacturer which may need compromise. Otherwise the product may cost a lot of time & money to solve the problems during production.

I want to point out is no matter how good the designer is, it would be much better for them to get some advice from the people who are going to make it happen before they finalize the product design. It would be very good if the designer has some basic knowledge about manufacturing process and production tool/mold making. This definitely can save much time & money on the whole process of the product creation and manufacturing.