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Compared with other disciplines and professions, such as science, engineering, fine art, etc., product design has some typical characteristics. Based on a review of previous research, some of these characteristics include, but are not limited to, the following:

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1. Product design is an activity that adds value to products

In free and global market economies, product design plays an important role for companies, even countries, in adding value to their products and hence improving their competitive edge. As Stoll [1999] argued, excellence in product design is crucial to the survival of manufacturing enterprises in today‟s highly competitive global economy. Mitchell and Oakley [1987] also stated that the „added value‟ of design is a vital factor in the economic success of businesses and nations

In addition, the more product alternatives that firms provide in the marketplace, the more likely they are to be financially successful [Kumar and Phrommathed 2005]. Design is the vehicle for product change and the more products change, the more design will be needed [Baxter 1995]. Slack [2006] also stated that a carefully designed and marketed product can bring iconic status to a company and it can also offer a unique stance in a highly competitive world.

Furthermore, the benefits of using product design include increased product appeal and greater customer satisfaction through additional or better features, strong brand identify, and product differentiation. These benefits usually translate into a price premium and/or increased market share [Ulrich and Eppinger 1995]. Peter Dormer [1993] also noted that design has two separate but related functions: it can be used strategically by a corporation to help plan its manufacturing and shape its marketing, and it can have a more obvious role in making individual products attractive to consumers.

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2. Product design is a creative and innovative and activity

Undoubtedly, creativity and innovation are key to product design. This has been reflected in the previous definitions of design and product design. As Dyson [1999] stated, good design is about looking at everyday things with new eyes and working out how they can be made better. Keinonen [2006] also argued that the development of products with new solutions that challenge the entire essence of the product is a key means of achieving a competitive advantage. Weak market acceptance of new products can result if the products are not distinct or innovative enough to capture customers‟ attention or if their features are not attractive [Brand 1998].

3. Product design is a cross disciplinary activity

This characteristic has been influenced by the root and history of design. As Bony [2005] stated, the history of design touches on many areas: aesthetics, sociology and politics; technology and materials; and commerce and the production-consumption system. Walker [1989] also stated that design history has close links with other disciplines such as anthropology, archaeology (especially industrial archaeology) and sociology. Moreover, the early product designers also came from other disciplines. For example, early European product designers were architects and engineers, while most product designers in America were actually theatre designers and artist-illustrators [Ulrich and Eppinger 2004].

4. Product design is neither a precise science nor a fine art

Even though product design touches many areas, it should never be considered as a precise science [bytestart 2010], nor a fine art. However, as Keinonen [2006] has argued, research and technological development create the foundations for product opportunities, but do not identify them. In order to find and implement these opportunities, design is needed. In addition, product

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designers do not have as much freedom as a fine artist in creating objects and, as a profession, design is recognized as a pursuit which requires specific education and training and could thus meet certain expected standards of knowledge, intellect and skill [Julier 2000]. Therefore, some people consider product design as a kind of applied art, in contrast to fine art [Raizman 2003].

5. Product design is an art of “trade-off”

Product design involves many factors, such as development time, cost, aesthetics, ergonomics, functions, and so on. Therefore, product designers must make a trade-off between these factors to achieve an optimized design. As Pugh [1990] stated, a product is made up of the many technological and non-technological components that impinge on the product design, such as, ergonomics, shape, form, texture and colour. Unless these are in balance, the product may fail in the market place.

For example, as mentioned before, the more product alternatives firms provide to the marketplace, the more likely they are to be financially successful [Kumar and Phrommathed 2005]. However, Product design can require major investment and can lead to significant financial implications in the event of a solution being unsuccessful. Risks can be managed by further developing and testing new solutions, but the tight schedules of product design rarely allow for the examination of radically new proposals.

In addition, as Lindbeck [1995] suggested, functional sufficiency is no guarantee of good or appropriate design. A product may be perfectly adequate from the functional standpoint, but fail to be appealing to the senses. However, he also added that designers can be guilty of allowing aesthetics to interfere with function.

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Therefore, product design is a process concerned with the synthesis of such instrumental factors as engineering, technology, materials and aesthetics into machine-producible solutions that balance all user needs and desires within technical and social constraints [Charlotte and Fiell 2003]. As Doermer [1991] also indicated, the product designer can be seen as a broker of ideas and values, a middle personage between the manufacturers, engineers and applied scientists on the one hand, and the consumer on the other. Products need to address excellent technology, as well as cultural and emotional values, leading to a more balanced „joy-to-stuff‟ ratio [Hecht and Colin 2005].

6. Product design is an iterative process

Upon analysis of the product design process models above, it can be seen that, product design is an iterative process. The design phase involves running many design activities in parallel, and many product characteristics need to be considered simultaneously. Decisions made regarding one product characteristic may have implications for other characteristics, and changes in one component may require changes in other components. Thus, the design phase is strongly iterative. Iterations in the design process are inevitable and will cause significant time and cost increases. Therefore, it is necessary for the designer to do proper research in order to minimise the numbers of iterations and/or improve the speed of iterations.