Every good manufacturer of AV products today listens to the consumer. Gone are the days when the feature laden new technology developed, was simply dressed and forced on to the consumers. Philips, Samsung, Bose, Panasonic, JBL and similar mass brands all carry out extensive consumer feedback and desire surveys to pin pointedly aim the products for specific consumers. This also helps them differentiate in the market.

Segmentation in the AV product range has driven the manufacturers of AV products to understand specific consumers in each segment and design for them. A big role is played by consumer choice in the AV design process.

There are two distinct parts to an AV Design process. It all begins with understanding & Research.

1.    Technology

2.    User Group

This is a classical chicken and egg story here.

At times the technology is developed and applications need to be found after understanding the technology.

At times consumer voice is (rarely) heard and a technology team starts putting a solution together.

Most AV companies employ designers or design agencies along with ethnographers to go deep inside consumer psyche’. Designers use various techniques like shadowing, videography, focused group discussions, eye ball tracking, one on one interviews. They also carry out co creation workshops with potential or existing users to ideate.

Specific responses on prototypes are measured and pain points are plotted. Segmentation is also clearly identified during such evaluation.  

The next stage is to gather the user / consumer study insights and see possible applications of those insights with the available or developing technology. Identifying KEY FEATURES using these insights is a critical stage of re defining the brief for design. So, simply speaking two columns are drawn. One side is the selected consumer wish list and the other side the AV technology solutions which satisfy these needs. This document is converted into a design ( Industrial Design & technology brief) with expectations from final product clearly marked.

The ideations teams on the engineering as well as the industrial design side go into an over drive at this point.

Techniques like brain storming, simulations and other such experimental stimuli are concocted to envision the final product. These are usually sketches, quick assemblies, assorted features rigged together etc.

An evaluation team critically analyses this “creative” output and use various techniques from intuition to fancy idea filter models to pinpoint the concept direction.

The Design and engineering teams get but busy and try and put a serious reality to the selected ideas.

The engineering teams start rigging up the AV devices , testing , compacting, programming etc. And aim a proof of concept test model.

The Industrial Design team crystallize their sketches , creates photo realistic representations of the final look feel of the AV product. Brand loyalty and image plays a key function in the segment of AV products.

Many brands carry a distinct product style and play upon that as a key feature of their product.

This leads to creation of mock ups and initial prototypes to jacket the engineering teams test version.

The “proof of Concept” is evaluated by an internal team for performance.

A limited exposure is given to the concept at this stage to selected consumers who provide valuable user feedback.

AV company marketing, service, manufacture or sourcing and finance teams kick in to provide their feedback on viability etc. The project gets serious now.

The engineering and industrial design teams jointly work towards a refined design. The design is detailed in terms of production engineering. One or several working prototypes are created and tested by various stake holders. Compliance to global product standards such as CE, UL and other performance characteristics are evaluated. A refined data for manufacture is produced by the engineering and design engineering teams. A thorough discussion with potential vendors, tool makers and molders is carried out. A final approved manufacturing data is released. Marketing inputs on product brand and packaging are incorporated. Product Graphic design kicks in on the finalised surfaces.

The tooling and initial molding phase takes 2 to 3 months. Tooling related problems are overcome during this phase.

T1 & T2 (trial 1 & 2) samples are assembled and tested for performance. User feed is taken again at this stage on a limited scale. Products are sent for CE or UL or other registrations and approvals.

AV product is ready for launch.