Masters Project: Apple's Product Design, Revenue, and Profitability

This project synopsis provides a detailed analysis of learning from a master's project focused on product design, specifically examining Apple's strategies. It explores the significance of product design in enhancing market effectiveness and brand image, emphasizing concepts like design expression, customer experience, and design evolution. The core research question addresses how product design optimizes product offerings to increase revenue and profitability for brands like Apple. The project highlights the shift towards prioritizing customer experience in product design, using design as a strategic organizational function rather than a marketing subsidiary. It also covers the importance of understanding customer preferences, integrating hardware and software, and systematically improving user interfaces. Key steps in product design, such as identifying target users, prioritizing core tasks, and applying innovation, are discussed, with emphasis on the continuous improvement of user experience and the role of innovation in long-term productivity. The synopsis concludes by highlighting the significance of customer value and well-designed products in driving organizational revenue.

Running head: PROJECT SYNOPSIS
PROJECT SYNOPSIS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PROJECT SYNOPSIS
The purpose of this synopsis is to provide a detailed analysis of my learning from the
course. My masters project was done in regards to product design taking into consideration the
Apple company. The various essential aspects concerning product design of the manufactured
products of Apple were systematically analyzed through the assessment project I undertook. The
development of the project have significantly incorporated the value of product design towards
generating market effectiveness of a product and consolidation of brand image. The concepts of
design expression for human experience, customer experience and evolution of design were
essentially evaluated in accordance with their basic and wider significance.
The research question that is being considered is how product design can help towards
optimizing the product offerings of a brand to effectively increase the revenue and profitability
of brands like Apple?
The prospects of product design increases after the target market of a product has been
identified. This is a relatively newer and more effective process of product design. The emphasis
is on the optimization of customer experience (Cayol and Bonhoure 2004). I have been able to
learn the significance of product design towards the overall presentation and sale of product
eventually resulting in profitability. The concept of understanding the minds of the target
consumer has helped me to develop essential understanding of the basic elements of the product
design process. Companies like Apple are increasingly using product design as an integral part of
their business strategies. Product design is hence, not being used as a subservient aspect to
marketing or manufacturing functions. The customer experiences are being regarded as the
central ideas that can guide product design functions. Design is being used as an essential
expression of the changing needs and wants of the target customers (Lemon and Verhoef 2016).
Moreover, design is being enhanced primarily to enhance the experiences of the customers after

2PROJECT SYNOPSIS
buying the product. Emphasis is being provided towards developing specific brand value through
the product offerings. According to me this is an important factor that guides the market potential
of the product offerings of enterprises like apple. I definitely agree to the fact the customer
experience goes a long way towards determining the demand value of any given product. This is
according to me the basic elements that contribute towards greater efficiency of the larger
enterprises. I also strongly agree to the notion that design should be essentially used as an
organizational strategy rather than a subsidiary marketing oriented functions. I have been able to
understand the significance of effective product design towards ensuring the long term
profitability of a firm. Moreover, consolidation and effective maintenance of the customer base
takes place more efficiently if effective incorporation of design within the organizational
functional activities are maintained. It is important to provide much emphasis on the preferences
of the customers. Additionally, it is necessary that the products are valued essentially in
accordance with what they are able to offer to the customers (Homburg, Schwemmle, and
Kuehnl 2015).
The course and the project that I am currently handling helped me to understand greatly
about the various tasks that are required in order for effective product design maintenance. Most
of the essential tasks are centered on the specific core tasks. The peripheral tasks are user needs
analysis, technology implementation, pain point, first impression core tasks and other necessary
elements. I strongly agree with this point as this can greatly enhance the product offering of the
brand. For example if we consider Apple, then we can understand that integration of the software
and hardware for enhancing optimal product performance can be seen through the manufactured
products by the company. Throughout the duration of the masters’ project I was able to analyze
the various steps involved in order to effectively design and produce a product that will enhance

3PROJECT SYNOPSIS
consumer experience. The steps that are involved are identification of target users, identification
of the specific needs of the target users, prioritization of the core task for new users,
identification of the key core tasks, design and innovation for better user experience,
identification of required technology, identification of the application of innovation and
designing the end products (Suri 2003). The systematic steps can be used greatly towards
enhancing the product that is being offered. This is especially used by organizations such as
apple to greatly enhance their product offering. According to me the core tasks are the most
important part of product design. This is what I was able to understand through the evaluations
of the prospects of product design towards ensuring organizational productivity. The core tasks
often incorporate the findings and the conceptions of product design into greatly optimizing the
design of the finished product (Tao et al. 2018). A very good example can be given of the
continuous improvement of the user interfaces of the Apple products. The touch functions of the
products, especially the iphone was systematically improved through the years in order to
develop better user experiences. The needs of the users were very importantly identified by
Apple. The iphone was significantly improved as it was identified that users are not happy with
the imbalance that results from the discrepancies that arise due to the hardware not being
properly integrated with the software. (Sauro and Lewis 2016) The users have complained about
this significant issue that they generally face while using other products. This was noted by apple
and subsequently incorporated as apple began to make products where the hardware components
were optimized to create an effective hardware-software balance of the iphone. This greatly
enhanced the performance of the iphone and apart from increasing the brand value of apple, it
contributed to the increased usage value of iphone.

4PROJECT SYNOPSIS
The core tasks are focused towards what the customer will be doing with the product.
This will essentially be the things that the customer will be doing with the product (Veiga and
Weyl 2016). Understanding the core tasks will help the organization to understand the product
value and subsequently the utility of the product for the customer. The next most important phase
is the development of the product. The basic experience that the user will be getting from the
product need to be optimized. However, the process is quite systematic as a number of ways in
which the task can be approached is formed (Schöggl, Baumgartner, and Hofer 2017).
Innovation comes into play at this part of the product designing process. Many solutions are
created and from the same number of solution either the best solution is utilized or some of the
better solutions are merged together to form a strong design solution that incorporates all the
major elements of product design. Innovation is an important element when we consider
production design.
The project has also helped to understand another important aspect of production design.
The aspect of user experience is according to me one of the most important factors that
contribute towards production design. Apple has always kept user experience at the forefront of
its production design functions. Customer experience is also at times taken for granted by
various organizations. This happens from assumptions based on the current trends in the market
and customer expectations (Morris 2016). This can damage the long term productivity of the
company in regards to profitability. Hence, what I have been able to essentially find from the
course and the assignment is that innovation is a much required factor when an organization is
trying to increase all round long term productivity. The user experience curve can be used
effectively towards understanding user behavior. In this the journey of the user with the product
can be traced. Customer experience is mostly about the feelings of the customer that can vary

5PROJECT SYNOPSIS
from person to person. It has to be taken for granted that the customer will definitely have both
happy and unhappy moments with the product (Zawadzki and Żywicki 2016). The focus should
thus be towards providing a product that will be responsible for providing the customer or the
user with more positive moments with the device. Thus, when making the final decision about
using the product in the future, the customer can recall the more favorable aspects of the product
rather than the unfavorable negative aspects (Kumar, Townsend, and Vorhies 2015). User
experiences are also governed quite a lot by the expectations of the user. Brands like Apple focus
towards making the expectations of the user more so that they can effectively optimize the user’s
value through the end product design. Moreover, the course essentially helped me to understand
that first impressions are much important while designing the product for generating value
among customers. I did understood that first impressions are important, however, I strongly
believe that there are more important aspects that can govern customer experiences. Impressions
are definitely important while designing the product but when it comes to providing performance
at the same time other factors greatly come into play (Luchs, Scott Swan, and Creusen 2016).
Impressions are however, much necessary to develop effective initial impressions in regards to
the perception of a product. Analyzing brands like Apple helped me to understand how user
experiences were utilized effectively to enhance the product offerings of the brand. The brand
carried out large scale researches in regards to understanding the demands, moods and essential
wants of the customers. Hence, the factors like the atmosphere, staff, waiting and interior
become great factors towards enhancing the experiences of the customers.
In determining the experience of customers from a specific product, the aspects of vision
is also greatly used by the designers and engineers (Kolko 2015). These are the people with
whom creativity rests. I was able to assess the significance of product design based on the

6PROJECT SYNOPSIS
mindset and creativity of the designers. However, this is a tough task as a range of different
factors need to be essentially considered in order to help in the effective production of products.
The major factors that need to be considered are cultural demographics, family monograph,
sequences of life and technical creativity (Desmet 2018). The usage of a product depends on
more things than simple usability for majority of the consumers (Kolko 2015). If the iphone is
considered as a product, according to me it becomes an integral part of a person’s life in which
important information in regard to the aspects of a person’s life is stored. Hence, the most
important thing about product design is the generation of customer value. The customer’ views
cannot be taken for granted in this regards.
Conclusively, it can be said that the assignment and the course helped me to understand
the individual and group values that help in designing better products. It is important to consider
that people can develop various conceptions about a given product. This can contribute towards
the effectiveness of the product concerning profitability. A strongly designed product keeping in
mind the factors that govern the customer’s product choice can greatly increase revenue of an
organization.

7PROJECT SYNOPSIS
References
Cayol, Andre, and Patrick Bonhoure. "Prospective design oriented towards customer pleasure."
In Design and Emotion, p. 113. CRC Press, 2004.
Desmet, Pieter. "Measuring emotion: Development and application of an instrument to measure
emotional responses to products." In Funology 2, pp. 391-404. Springer, Cham, 2018.
Homburg, Christian, Martin Schwemmle, and Christina Kuehnl. "New product design: Concept,
measurement, and consequences." Journal of Marketing 79, no. 3 (2015): 41-56.
Kolko, Jon. "Design thinking comes of age." (2015): 66-71.
Kumar, Minu, Janell D. Townsend, and Douglas W. Vorhies. "Enhancing consumers' affection
for a brand using product design." Journal of Product Innovation Management 32, no. 5 (2015):
716-730.
Lemon, Katherine N., and Peter C. Verhoef. "Understanding customer experience throughout the
customer journey." Journal of Marketing 80, no. 6 (2016): 69-96.
Luchs, Michael G., K. Scott Swan, and Mariëlle EH Creusen. "Perspective: A review of
marketing research on product design with directions for future research." Journal of Product
Innovation Management 33, no. 3 (2016): 320-341.
Morris, Richard. The fundamentals of product design. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016.
Sauro, Jeff, and James R. Lewis. Quantifying the user experience: Practical statistics for user
research. Morgan Kaufmann, 2016.

8PROJECT SYNOPSIS
Schöggl, Josef-Peter, Rupert J. Baumgartner, and Dietmar Hofer. "Improving sustainability
performance in early phases of product design: A checklist for sustainable product development
tested in the automotive industry." Journal of Cleaner Production 140 (2017): 1602-1617.
Suri, Jane Fulton. "The experience of evolution: developments in design practice." The Design
Journal 6, no. 2 (2003): 39-48.
Tao, Fei, Jiangfeng Cheng, Qinglin Qi, Meng Zhang, He Zhang, and Fangyuan Sui. "Digital
twin-driven product design, manufacturing and service with big data." The International Journal
of Advanced Manufacturing Technology 94, no. 9-12 (2018): 3563-3576.
Veiga, André, and E. Glen Weyl. "Product design in selection markets." The Quarterly Journal
of Economics 131, no. 2 (2016): 1007-1056.
Zawadzki, Przemysław, and Krzysztof Żywicki. "Smart product design and production control
for effective mass customization in the Industry 4.0 concept." Management and Production
Engineering Review 7, no. 3 (2016): 105-112.