At Balance Product Development, we believe that great design is a combination of practical experience, creative skills, and understanding the needs of the customer and the realities of the marketplace. Whether it’s through primary research we conduct ourselves or secondary research provided by the client, we understand how to use market research to uncover insights that enhance the entire design process.

From concepting to design to modeling to engineering, we use these insights throughout the project to deliver work that is impactful and connects with customers on an emotional and rational level.


Immersion

At Balance Product Development, every project starts the same way: with our immersion process. We roll up our sleeves and learn as much as we can about the product, the consumer, the marketplace, and the brand. Our philosophy is that design is about problem solving and we stress the necessity of thoroughly understanding the problem(s) we are charged to solve.

Developing a deep understanding of all aspects of the project allows us to go beyond the obvious and uncover the hidden, meaningful insights and issues. Our process is collaborative and we find that the best results come from projects where we work closely with the client from the very beginning. If well-informed decisions are made together, early and often, we rarely encounter surprises later in the project.


Testing

We employ a variety of proven, effective techniques to solicit feedback from the target customer. Whether it’s informal feedback from friends and family or formal research like focus groups, online surveys, or in-depth interviews, we know the right questions to ask and the right way to ask them. When testing concepts or early stage designs, we often employ an iterative technique that not only provides us with feedback, but also allows us to make improvements to the idea in days instead of weeks or months.

Examples of research we often conduct during the design process:

  • Concept Writing and Testing
  • Quantitative Concept/Product Evaluation
  • Qualitative Evaluation /Testing
  • Usability Testing

Techniques

The following are some of the research techniques we employ to uncover the insights needed for great design.

Brand Audits - Focus Groups - In-depth Interviews - Ethnographic Studies - Shop-alongs - Home Use Tests Online Surveys - Consumer Panels - Phone Studies - Mystery Shopping - Usability Testing

At Balance Product Development, all of our designers are familiar with a variety of research methods and how they are used. But when a project requires primary research and more complex methodologies, we tap our in-house strategic partner, Ideas in Focus. They are experts in the areas of market research and brand development and bring more than 30 years of experience in the areas of product development, consumer research, ideation, brand development, and concept testing. They help make even large and complicated research projects a seamless part of the process.