My Key Learnings

My time at Radio Flyer brought me great exposure to the product design and design research process. One of the greatest insights I gained was the importance of understanding the job of a product - and this can hold true across any field of product design. In finding that Radio Flyer’s new areas of interest were fairly saturated with competitors, they decided to conduct more primary research into the desired jobs and functions these products might still be lacking in. Through this process, I got to take part in observing the user in action by assessing competitive products, video chatting with consumers, and having them showcase photos and videos of their interactions with the device, This was an extremely effective way of quite literally showing us where the products were lacking and had room for differentiation in design.

The brainstorming and ideation session focused on identifying our main areas of growth. There was a lot of discussion going on about improving mechanisms of the devices and aesthetics of the product. A point that I found constantly being brought up was remembering Radio Flyer’s key product job which spans all items they develop. This was the job of bringing a smile to all children and parents faces who interact with their products.

Radio Flyer showed me that new growth markets can arise when a company is able to design a product and position its  brand on a job for which no other product has been created. Radio Flyer seeks to elicit child-like joy from users and spark fond memories of childhood years. This experience helped me learn about the importance of discovering the true user need, the product job that needs to be fulfilled, and the way in which myself as a design researcher has a strong hand in creating this development. This experience changed my whole understanding of the ability design research has to shed light on areas with design energy.