Product Design
Fictional characters that represent different user types within your target audience.
What are Personas?
This 3-letter acronym represents the version of a product used to test a hypothesis with minimum effort.
What is an MVP (Minimum Viable Product)?
This 3-letter acronym represents the unique reason why a customer should buy your product.
What is a USP (Unique Selling Point)?
The first stage of the lifecycle where sales are slow and the focus is on building awareness.
What is Introduction?
Released in 2001, this device killed the CD player by promising "1,000 songs in your pocket."
What is the iPod?
This design framework uses two "shapes" to represent the process of Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver.
What is the Double Diamond?
This phenomenon occurs when a project’s requirements grow uncontrollably beyond its original goals, often leading to delays.
What is Scope Creep?
This 3-letter acronym describes the strategy for how a company will launch a new product.
During this stage, the product reaches peak penetration and competition becomes most intense.
What is Maturity?
This legendary Finnish brand was once the king of mobile phones, famous for "Snake" and nearly indestructible hardware.
What is Nokia?
A low-fidelity, usually B&W mockup that shows the rough layout of a screen without design or content.
What is a Wireframe?
This "Debt" occurs in the future when you choose an easy solution now instead of a better approach that takes longer.
This metric measures the percentage of users who move from "just looking" to actually buying your product.
What is Conversion Rate?
This group is the first to buy a product and provide the social proof needed for mass adoption.
Who are Early Adopters?
This handheld device was considered a "status symbol" of the 2000s, featuring a tactile keyboard and an addictive, secure messaging service.
What is the BlackBerry?
This Gestalt Principle states that elements located close to each other are perceived as a related group rather than individual parts.
What is the Law of Proximity (or Proximity)?
This methodology emphasizes iterative development and feedback over rigid, upfront planning.
What is Agile?
The process of dividing a large audience into groups based on shared characteristics.
What is Market Segmentation (or Segmentation)?
The final stage where a product’s sales drop and it is eventually phased out or replaced by newer technology.
What is Decline?
Microsoft’s unsuccessful attempt to kill the iPod featured a "brown" color option and a placement on Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
What is the Zune?
The degree to which a product can be used by everyone, including people with visual, auditory, or motor impairments.
What is Accessibility?
Releasing a new product that ends up eating the sales of your own older, existing products.
What is Product Cannibalization (or Cannibalization)?
This term and acronym describe the maximum potential revenue if you had 100% share in your target market.
What is the Total Addressable Market (TAM)?
The strategy of intentionally making a product obsolete so consumers must buy a new version.
What is Planned Obsolescence?
Before smartphones, this 3-letter category described handheld "smart" devices, often with physical keyboards, styluses, and large screens.
What is a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant)?