“Product development process”
after Stuart Pugh (1990)
There are quite a few methods that help the designer to arrive at their final product, currently, the development of designs has a complete team, and I consider that the Stuart Pugh method is one of the most complex methods in systematic design.
Stuart Pugh, was a British product designer, known primarily for his methodology of “Total Design” one of the methods that were published in the book was: “Product development process.”
This method has a detailed process of what is needed for the development of the product design, these are the steps to follow specified in the Pugh graph, from identifying the needs of the market until the user has the product with it.
This video shows us a process similar to Pugh’s method with some similar steps:
Market: Know the needs of users.
Competition, Competition Analysis: Know which products are already sold. Know what are the strengths and weaknesses of existing products
Specification: Be clear about the needs that will be covered and what points will be developed
Info Acquisition, Synthesis: Research and specific data.
Concept Design: Clearly specify the main approach to be designed
Concept Selection, Data Handling: Use the collected information and start brainstorming for each solution.
Detail Design: Design process, ideation, sketching, planning, recreation,
Optimization, Cost Patterns: Know the capital that is planned to carry during this process
Manufacture: Prototypes and first models
Market Trends: Know the current trends and work with them.
Sell: Put the final product on the market.
This chart is more detailed about Pugh’s method, the steps followed, and the direct specifications to follow.
The cylinder shape is unknown, but considering the style of work and knowing the method more thoroughly, I conclude that it is a way to represent the multiple varieties / possibilities that exist in a design process, there is no structured form from which to collect the information, but a climbing guide that will take you to the desired point.
The development of a design process is a way to reach a final product, there are other methods that help this type of process, but I believe that first you must know well where and what the problem is, and then solve it.
Gravely, is a company that uses “Product development process”, they has a full team of designers and engineers.
Watch the video and discover how they use this design process:
Since I read the book “How do you design?” This was one of the methods that most caught my attention because it is a complete method.
I hope the Pugh process is understood, in a simple and straightforward way.
Patricia Valdés
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Pugh, S. (1990) Total design. Product development process. Addison Wesley.
PRN Childs, JH Downie & T Katz. (2001). Design Models and Their Value in Education. School of Engineering, University of Brighton. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/18597349.pdf
Dubberly, H (2005). “How do you design? A Compendium of Models”, http://www.dubberly.com/articles/how-do-you-design.html