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Product design is not simply an art. When it comes down to it, design informs manufacturing and as such, product design is truly a science. Listen as Jeff Theesfeld of Union Design shares his background and why he’s so passionate about the industry as a whole and design in particular. 

Jeff originally wanted to be an architect. He loved creating the design of buildings but his math skills were not up to snuff. Which is when he found product design. He’s been in the field now for many years and benefited from being influenced by true legends. 

He and his business partner recently decided it was time to put their skills to the test and start their own design firm which led to the birth of Union Design. Despite the fact that they formed at the start of the pandemic, they’ve come out strong with new designs and the ability to work with some major brands. 

Listen as Jeff shares how design needs to be done today and why product designers and developers need to be involved in every aspect of the go-to-market process. We are digging into so many aspects of the industry and the different facets that every company should be thinking about as they design products. 

This is truly a conversation you will not want to miss a moment of.

In this episode: 

[02:12] Welcome to the show, Jeff!

[02:42] He shares his background and how he ended up in product design.

[08:11] He tells the story of the ceramic piece that started his journey into product design.

[11:06] You can’t be scared of failure. It happens a lot and is part of the process.

[13:02] Product design is a progression.

[16:46] Listen as Jeff shares the first thing he designed for a company.

[21:12] He takes a very simplistic approach to design.

[22:19] Jeff discusses how he thinks design needs to be done today.

[26:20] He shares the benefits the pandemic had for them designing new products.

[29:04] He speaks about the obstacles designers face.

[30:36] Know your customer and know what they need.

[33:23] He talks about what he means by speed to market.

[36:56] Embrace the constraint!

[40:35] He shares some companies they have designed products for.

[43:11] They discuss some revolutionary products that were developed in the industry.

[47:48] Practice makes perfect, but you can’t practice unless you get 20 seconds of courage to get started.

[48:59] Jeff shares some words of wisdom for the listeners.

[51:19] Thank you for being on the show!

Links & Resources: 

INDEAL

Connect with Jeff:

Create With Union Design

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The Trend Report introduction music is provided by Werq by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4616-werq License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/