#049 Thoughts on Product Development (07/05/2023)

Hello, welcome to our weekly journal. This week was mainly spent improving unreleased products, sourcing materials, ordering components, and so on. Actually, it might seem like there hasn't been much progress in the past six months, but we've actually spent a lot of time working on the products behind the scenes. We've done more than before. I also want to thank my former classmate/colleague, Ben, for sharing a lot of the daily work, which allowed the new products to develop. Regarding the past year's work, and any mistakes we might have made, you can refer back to last week's journal. This week, I want to talk about some of my design thinking lately.

What does Re Pillow Co. represent?

In the past, I wasn't very good at answering this question. I know I value quality, I know my ideas resonate with young people, I know it's innovative, but how exactly to do it, are there any guiding principles? Perhaps in the past, I didn't have a very definite answer. Lately, while preparing for new products, I feel I have a clearer understanding, which I've outlined below:

I think my product is easy to use :

It's easy to use and can be handled very simply; it just works. The product should also be easy to clean and maintain. Under possible circumstances, try not to force users to change their existing habits. For example, if a user might only put their sheets in the washing machine once every three weeks, the product design shouldn't force them to put them in the washing machine every week or force them to hand wash them.

I think the product catalog is simple, but different people can still find what they need :

There are simply too many bedding products on the market, and the differences between each product are often so subtle that they have no impact on the user experience, and no one might even notice the difference between two pieces. In the future, although our product range will expand, I hope to maintain the current level of simplicity, making it easy for consumers to choose the right product for them. Our entire product line needs to be simple and easy to understand, and we cannot reserve certain features for a single high-end product, deliberately highlighting flaws in lower-priced items. Different products may have different prices and functions, but they should all deliver the expected benefits at a given price point. An honest business model is essential to ensure that users return to try other products.

If possible, the product should have multiple functions :

Try to avoid making products with only one function. Of course, a product should have its main function, and it should be excellent at that function. However, try to make the product usable in different places so that it can be used effectively. Earth's resources are limited. If every product can only do one thing, then everyone will need more products to live on. Therefore, it would be better if we could make a product that, in addition to its main function, also incorporates some other functions. For example, if we make a sports jacket that can not only be used for hiking on weekends, but also has a design and color scheme that can be used for weekend outings and shopping, then that would be a better design.

The products should ideally be easy for users to repair themselves, or have certain methods to allow them to be refurbished and reused after wear and tear .

Continuing from the previous point, Earth's resources truly need to be used wisely. We hope that the lifespan of every product can be extended, and that within its lifespan, it can be used to its fullest potential. Therefore, every product should be as easy to repair as possible, and even for consumable products, there should be ways to replace the worn parts while allowing other usable components to continue to be used, making a product last longer.

Methods to improve products:

When improving a product, we need to use what we know to find the part of the product that wears out the fastest, is most prone to failure, and is the weakest point, and then reinforce it, thus strengthening the weakest point in the original product. The next time, we find the next weakest point in this improved product and figure out how to strengthen it. We keep repeating this process, and over time, the product will become better and better.

Conclusion:

I quietly work hard behind the scenes, without letting up, because I know that as long as I keep going, everything will get better.

Thank you for watching. Let's all keep going in life.