Product Design Process: The manual for Digital Product Design and Product Management

The design process matured by the industry and taught by universities

It has never been harder to define Product Design. The definition evolved from simply creating a single solution to a specific problem to a practice where we often need many different solutions, platforms, and variations to address the same problem. The design thinking behind product development gave way to multiple paths with the same end-goal. Each leading to multiple areas of knowledge, distinct skill sets, and various techniques. In order to answer the many challenges of designing a web or mobile product, several approaches have been developed and applied in recent years. However, there is no single technique that is sufficient on its own and there is no main technique that should be used to the exclusion of others.

With this in mind, Imaginary Cloud developed the Product Design Process (PDP), a collection of existing techniques, matured over time by the industry, and chained together to ensure that the product design team's workflow is as efficient as possible. What began as a design thinking sprint with a vaguely defined objective, resulted in a well-structured and optimized process, only possible by the contributions of many professionals and through the creation of numerous iterations. In the last decade, the structure of the process has achieved stability, signaling that it reached a maturity level suitable for industry adoption. The PDP is taught by leading universities worldwide, as part of the curriculum of Product Design and Digital Innovation courses.

Inside the book, you will find a Cheatsheet with all the phases and steps of the Product Design Process. You can also download the digital version at Imaginary Cloud's website, so you can always have it by your side.

The book provides an accessible overview of the design process, the detail of its phases and tasks, making it useful for everyone involved in the design or development of digital products.

Holds a degree in electronic engineering, a master degree in IT and a postgraduate degree in project management. Worked as a programmer, investigator and project manager. Tiago is currently CEO of Imaginary Cloud.

Studied graphic design and multimedia and has a postgraduate degree on cognitive science. Worked as an interaction designer in France and currently works in UX design at Imaginary Cloud in Portugal.

Studied communication design in Lisbon and Bolzano. Worked as a designer in Munich for three years before returning to Portugal to join Imaginary Cloud as a UI designer.