Today’s digital user interfaces demand fast and seamless interactions. To achieve this, design and development teams have to collaborate more closely than ever before. Interdisciplinary teams working on digital products require collaboration across the entire team.
For any design or product team, working together in a collaborative and inclusive environment is extremely beneficial. Whether you’re collaborating with different teams for the same project or adding new people to your design team, collaborating with your peers and colleagues often helps build trust and eliminate unnecessary communication overhead.
When it comes to designing products and services, designers tend to be more visual. They draw images and sketches so that their designs are easy to understand. However, this process is not enough for product design and development companies.
Rendering is an important step in any design process because it helps designers communicate their designs to non-designers. It also acts as an effective means of verifying designs before taking them from paper or CAD software into the real world.
Rendering is the process of creating a graphical representation of anything, be it digital or physical. In product design and development, rendering plays a major role in helping designers visualise their concepts and build prototypes for testing.
It is necessary for these companies to have a designer on board from the onset as this will help design a better user experience for the users of the products or services being designed.
Product design & development companies will always need design consultants in order to ensure their designs are getting the attention they deserve. Therefore, it is imperative that you hire professionals on a contract basis if you have any hopes of keeping your business running at full capacity.
Collaborating with internal designers and developers on designs early in the design process can be challenging at first. However, the benefits of that challenge outweigh any initial discomfort. By incorporating those into your designs early, you ensure that all user flows are consistent across all platforms and devices—which will result in a faster time to market and happier users when they finally see your product!
What is product design and development?
The word “Product” was formerly only applied to tangible items that were frequently seen in brick-and-mortar stores. Digital products are now included in the definition of “product” and the product design process.
Taking this information into consideration, it becomes clear that creating great products requires a variety of components, with design features ranking as one of the most crucial attributes.
From streamlined digital applications to the functionality of an executive office chair, every successful product begins with a great design. The discipline of product design covers a wide range of industries, including healthcare, lifestyle, interior design, automotive, and many more. It can involve creating cutting-edge audio equipment or intricate medical diagnostic systems.
In other words, product design is the process of coming up with new product concepts and designs. There are numerous approaches to taking on this task. You can, for instance, talk to your customers and see what problems they encounter when using your product.
You can also conduct research and insights to learn about your customers’ needs and problems. Once you’ve identified the problems your customers are experiencing, you can use that knowledge to inform your product design team and develop an idea to solve those problems.
What Is Rendering?
A rendering is a digital representation of a final product. This can be a wireframe, a low-fidelity mockup, a high-fidelity visual design, or a photorealistic 3D model.
It’s not uncommon to see a product design team using various methods to communicate their designs. Once a decision is made to go live, the team then moves into high-fidelity visual design and/or production to make their product.
Rendering is typically performed on a whiteboard or with a high-fidelity software program. This allows you to create and visually navigate through your product’s user flows. It’s simple to generate stunning marketing materials for products that weren’t previously possible with photography. Through the use of product rendering services, you can give 3D models life and improve your visual communication! For better presentation, colours and materials used in 3D visuals can be adjusted.
Why render in product design?
User experience is the core of any digital product, and it directly affects how users interact with the products that are offered. To ensure your product has a clear structure and logical flow, and that it is easy to use and understand, you need to design it before development begins.
This can be challenging for many teams. But, if you break down the different stages of designing a product, from initial sketches to detailed wireframes, it becomes much easier to keep everything aligned throughout the process.
Rendering allows you to create and visually navigate through your product’s user flows. This can be used to test your user flows and look for any confusing areas. You can also use this to find any issues with your design or design flow that you might have missed during the initial low-fidelity mockups or wireframes.
Rendering also allows you to create a high-fidelity visual design of your product. This can be used as a base to create a high-fidelity 3D model of your product.
Why is rendering important in product design and development?
You have probably heard the terms “3D modelling” and “3D rendering” used in conversation over the past few years unless you have been living under a rock. It decreases project durations and costs, in essence. As a result, producers now have more design flexibility. Businesses that don’t use 3D modelling technologies quickly lag behind their rivals.
Consumers have become more technologically sophisticated over time. As a result, people have raised their standards and refined their product preferences. A potential consumer can be turned off by even the smallest error or misunderstanding, which will cause them to seek out your competition. Because of this, manufacturing firms are beginning to use 3D modelling to present their products.
Rendering is an essential and sometimes overlooked step in the process of creating a digital product. It’s essential for a couple of reasons. First, rendering allows you to create a high-fidelity visual design of your product. Second, rendering is the first step in your design process where you can work with stakeholders and determine where you’re at in the process. Rendering allows you to visualise, communicate, and track all the steps needed to create a product.
Here are some of the reasons why rendering is important for product design and development:
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Simplification of the product design process
The process of product design is most easily streamlined by 3D product rendering. Even years before the prototypes are approved for production, product developers can visualise their developed items in real-time with the use of rendering technologies. This implies that every design can be authorised and meticulously created.
2. Prototyping becomes easier
In order to evaluate the design concept, details, production costs, and other factors, 3D models are routinely used to create a product prototype. The process for creating a product prototype is very flexible.
A hand drawing, a 2D sketch, or even an idea can be turned into a 3D model, which enables a 3D designer to work on and adjust a product design without having to make additional sketches showing the product from different angles.
3. High-quality product images
Every perspective of your goods is captured in high-quality photos using 3D product rendering. With modern technology, you can demonstrate all of your product’s capabilities and even show it being used without ever having to approach a camera or a model. If you want to entice your buyers, you can even obtain pictures of your product’s internal workings. Each image persuades the viewer to think favourably of your goods.
4. Easy product modifications
This relates to the process of designing products since 3D product rendering makes it simple to change a product’s design. To determine what design and features work best with your product, there is no need to make a lot of prototypes. To view how your product will seem in use and determine any adjustments that need to be made, all you have to do is produce a 3D rendered image of it. The design process can start after you are happy with the final product.
5. Variation in products
All product variations are consistently displayed in high-definition pictures through 3D product rendering. Due to the fact that a real camera can only focus on one thing at a time, this was not viable in eCommerce product photography.
360-degree rotations, product cutouts, and interactive scenery in a room are all things that 3D rendering is capable of but photography is not. To generate realistic objects, sell products, entertain, educate, or interact, 3D rendering is used widely in a variety of industries, including architecture, retail, and the medical sector.
Without having to stage numerous photo shoots, marketers can use 3D rendering to produce amazing photographs that highlight products with a lot of variations in colour, size, etc. that a customer can view and make a decision. A product can be viewed by customers in a way that is not possible with standard photography when it is rendered with high quality.
6. Convenience and sustainability
Bringing a prototype to a trade exhibition or sales meeting may be needlessly expensive and burdensome for large, heavy, or fragile products. Scaled-down real models are one option, but renderings provide an even quicker and more affordable substitute.
Businesses can meet the sustainability standards for their products by employing 3D modelling to examine various design options. Reduced physical prototype production will result in significantly less material waste.
7. Better Product Development
The most obvious justification for including 3D modelling in the design process. When developing a new product, 3D modelling offers superior perspectives, regardless of whether you operate in the building, manufacturing, or other industries.
However, while the design is still in progress, artists and designers can also add further elements and highlight all the design’s physical traits.
8. Maintaining business aesthetics and branding
Utilising 3D modelling to its full potential will put your business one step ahead of the competition in terms of branding and aesthetics. When used wisely, adding 3D models or pieces to a website or your company gives it a current and professional edge over other companies in your sector.
Due to the accuracy of the 3D modelling process, one can never make a mistake while retaining the company’s aesthetics, such as the proper colour code, font style, etc., and product creation becomes error-free.
9. Design proficiency
In a nutshell, 3D modelling helps to cut down on both the time and the expense of design. The ability to review, test, and update each component of a structure or product before manufacturing is provided by 3D CAD software.
You avoid having to start over from scratch by doing this. A drawing or 2D design cannot possibly indicate problems that can be seen when an object can be seen from all directions.
10. Acts as a guideline for the manufacturer
Most of the time, the designer and the manufacturer are located on separate continents or even in different cities. This separation may lead to a disagreement between the design and manufacturing teams, which will ultimately hurt the client and result in a loss for them.
The eventual product’s appearance can be correctly communicated by designers to manufacturers using by-product rendering and 3D animation, who can then work toward it with complete comprehension.
11. 3D Modelling and product development
A product’s development process itself benefits from high-quality 3D representations. 3D models are the most effective technique to begin visualising the real physical forms the product can take as you move from an initial list of requested features to ideation for actual design concepts.
The majority of the shortcomings connected with outdated procedures have also been solved by 3D modelling, which has enhanced general functionality throughout design organisations. Manufacturers order prototypes so they can experiment with them since they need to see a visual representation of the client’s concept when working on product developments.
However, prototyping may become fairly expensive early in the creative development phase when there is frequently an overflowing wave of ideas. Reducing the number of intermediate prototypes and streamlining the process overall are benefits of using 3D modelling for product creation.
Manufacturers must also find design defects as early as feasible because doing so enables them to finish the product’s design before actual production begins.
The prompt generation of these resources can be crucial to the development of a product. A multidisciplinary mix of abilities encompassing visual art, engineering, and behavioural science is necessary for this. Because maintaining this skill set in-house can be expensive, a full-service product development team can be quite beneficial.
How to Collaborate During Rendering
Before establishing a collaboration, there are certain points that need to be kept in mind. It is imperative to keep the meeting focused on the task at hand, instead of discussing things that are to be performed at later stages. Discussion of the concept of each design or prototype should be a priority, and questions like what it is and why it’s important must be addressed.
Make sure to explain your designs and prototypes to the team. The idea here isn’t to talk about the design process but instead to try to explain it in a way that makes sense to your team.
One should try to perform the same with the team when it comes to discussing what the design and development team is doing and why it’s important. The idea here isn’t to perform a lecture but rather to explain your work and why you’re doing it.
Important assets for product designers to be rendering aware
There are several essential elements that product designers must take into account before they use rendering in their work. These are as follows:
- High-fidelity visual designs and/or high-fidelity 3D designs
- Specifications and resources for each design phase
- Models for physical products
- Mockups for wireframes
- Separate design systems for components, such as navigation, forms, and styles
- Markup and style guides for components
- Source files for vendor-specific components
- User personas for product usage scenarios
- Use cases for user behaviour scenarios
- Demos of product usage scenarios
- Interviews of users of your product
Summing up
As a product designer, you should render all designs to ensure consistency and clarity across devices and platforms. Rendering is also important to avoid any visual artefacts or errors that could be missed during low-fidelity mockups. There are many assets for product designers to be rendering aware of as mentioned in the article.
Rendering gives improved insight into the essential elements for a product’s success by enabling sales to proceed concurrently with earlier design phases.
Workstation resources can be freed up for more computationally demanding projects like simulations or CAD assembly work when using cloud-based rendering.
For inter-discipline communication between marketing and engineering, rendering is a crucial tool. One of the more potent tools available to design teams is rendering. Rendering is a technology that all product development teams should use because it may simplify complex concepts and show goods sooner.
Overall, it has been established that 3D product rendering is the way of product development and marketing going forward. It has to be implemented widely across all product industries and acknowledged as one of the most significant technologically cutting-edge tools of the twenty-first century.
