Often when people think of the world of sports and the world of design, they view them as unrelated fields. The truth of the matter, however, is that the intersection of these robust spaces yields some of the most exciting product innovations found in modern society.
But you may be wondering, what does the process of bringing a sports product vision to life look like? Diving into this fascinating procedure and the approaches designers utilize can give you a deeper understanding of both sports and design.
Here is navigating product development in the sports industry.
Understanding Design Thinking
The design thinking process plays a vital role in the creation of products across industries. From toasters that you find in average kitchens to cleats you find on the most talented athletes in the world, there’s a good chance that most, if not all, of the products you’re familiar with were created with the help of design thinking principles.
Essentially, design thinking is both an approach and a practice that designers can utilize when creating products. At the core of this approach is a dedication to the “customer.” Specifically, an unflinching practice of receiving user feedback and making changes accordingly.
Given the fact that feedback is such an important aspect of design thinking, iteration is also a key tenet in this design approach. As such, the design thinking process involves a significant amount of trial, error, and refinement based on the feedback of users.
While it may seem unrelated, this approach to design is actually perfect when applied to the process of creating high-level sports products and will be a key part of future work in the industry.
Why Design Thinking is Perfect for the Sports Industry
In the sports industry, many different products must be developed to support various sports and the athletes who engage in them. When it comes to developing products that perform well, design thinking is the perfect approach.
Take, for instance, the process of designers creating shoes for tennis players. While they could just use their preconceived notions of tennis as inspiration, this would be taking a huge gamble on several factors such as comfort, functionality, and look. For example, when someone is looking to buy the best running shoes for flat feet, he/she would certainly consider the core aspects of comfort, cushioning, style, flexibility, and weight. This is where a popular US brand like “Loom Footwear” scores brownie points over others, as its sports sneakers and athletic and running shoes are designed flexible, lightweight, and water-resistant due to the breathable knit material and H2-Go layer being used.
Instead, a much more viable approach to creating a high-quality tennis shoe would be to elicit feedback from tennis athletes and use this feedback as a guide. By returning to this process repeatedly, sports product designers can refine their creations and make them as good as possible.
While this is of course an effective means of creating shoes, this practice can be applied to the development of virtually any sports product. From baseball bats to shin guards, this iterative process helps designers craft the most effective products that casual players and professional athletes alike can utilize on the field.
An Overview of the Process from Start to Finish
To round out your understanding of sports product design, it can be helpful to gain some clarity around the entire process. Essentially, the development of any new sports product will involve these steps:
- Conception: This is more or less the brainstorming part of the process. In this stage, designers flesh out ideas until they come to a core, more or less synthesized vision of what the product will be. This will include a rough understanding of the materials that will be used along with the shape and dimensions of the product. Though it is still conceptual, user feedback can be gleaned to make sure that designers are headed in the right direction. Moreover, ensure you utilize legal technology to update your knowledge on trademark and patent laws. Neglecting these can lead to setbacks for your product due to incomplete legal paperwork.
- Crafting prototypes: In this phase of the design process, designers go about creating rough versions of their ideas. Depending on the materials being used and the resources available to the designers, this can be a quick process or a long and drawn-out one. With prototypes, designers can conduct further functionality and user feedback testing to decide whether to move forward with the product.
- Manufacturing the product: At this point in the product development process, it’s time to start manufacturing. It must be noted that designers may toggle back and forth between the first two stages several times before they reach this stage. Manufacturing will include providing manufacturers with all the right specs and deciding how many units of a product should be made.
Sports Product Development is Impactful
Ultimately, the process of bringing sports products to life can be exciting, challenging, and rewarding. Those who dedicate their lives to this craft are admirable professionals who undeniably play a pivotal role in modern sports across the world.
