Above all else, the the component that separates great design from mediocre design is purpose.
"Great design has real clarity of its purpose," Lamson said. "It's solving a problem, knowing exactly what that product is for, doing it as simply as possible, and doing it in a way that the user can really delight in using it."
A beautiful product that frustrates its user isn't actually successful. And while a product absolutely needs to look good, that visual appeal needs to grow out of what the product actually does, not be layered on top of it.
"You've got to want to touch it and use it," said Lamson. "But that form really needs to follow the function."
Once the functional core is solid, that's where the design team can ask: What about this function can also be beautiful?
For entrepreneurs who want to think like a designer from day one, the best advice is to start with a problem, not a solution.
"The biggest thing to really start with is your problem statement," Lamson said. "What is it that we're trying to do with this?"
Most of the clients 52 Launch works with weren't trying to make another version of something that already exists. They went looking for something, couldn't find it, and decided to build it themselves.
From there, the questions expand outward:
Who is the user?
What do they need this product to do?
What's already on the market that does something similar?
And where are the gaps those existing products leave open?
This maps closely to a framework common in investor circles: Is this product something people absolutely need, or just something nice to have? The products that take off tend to solve a real, specific problem for an audience that feels it acutely.
When in doubt, strip it down.
"Oftentimes people will sort of see that idea and go, well, I could also do this and I could also do that," said Lamson. "But that additive mindset doesn't always produce something better than the sum of its parts."
Rather than trying to do 10 things with one product, the 52 Launch design team pushes clients toward finding the simplest, most focused version of their initial version, or what we call the "minimum successful product." It's a more intentional framing than the oft-cited "minimum viable product," which can feel like an excuse to cut corners. The minimum successful product is the version that genuinely solves the problem, balances aesthetics and function, and can confidently reach the market.
"By adding more and more things, oftentimes you're watering down the vision of what this was to begin with," Lamson said. "The least you can do to really solve the problem is actually more powerful than adding and adding and not doing your core thing quite as well."
There's also a practical reality: Most of 52 Launch's clients are individual entrepreneurs, not corporations. Starting tight and focused is good design philosophy and good business sense.
Openness and curiosity are often the qualities that distinguish successful entrepreneurs from the rest of the pack.
"Having an open mind and an inquisitive mind is one of the biggest things," said Lamson. "A lot of times inventors get really stuck on their initial idea and they're like, okay, I've solved it. But the design process is iterative. We're going to go down a bunch of paths, try different things, ask questions."
Being open to failure is part of that: "If every idea we come up with is the idea, we're not trying hard enough. The biggest insights often come from learning what doesn't work."
The entrepreneurs who navigate the process most successfully are the ones who bring a clear point of view: Knowing their product, knowing who it's for, and knowing what problem it solves, all while staying flexible about how the design gets there.
At 52 Launch, the design process is built around the spirit of iteration: Starting broad and narrowing over time.
"We'll have some ideas that might be closer to what the client thought they wanted to begin with, some that might push them in ways that are uncomfortable, and others in the middle," Lamson said. "Some of those ideas might not be the right idea in the end, but they might also inform ways that we modify or change things."
The team moves from problem definition to wide ideation, entailing hand sketching, concept presentations, and rounds of design reviews, before narrowing into CAD models and technical specifications. When a concept involves something untested, the team might build a proof-of-concept model before any drawing begins. The process isn't always linear; it's shaped around what each project actually needs.
"Certainly have your point of view, know your product and what you're trying to do with it," said Lamson "But know that if we're suggesting things that are maybe outside of that, we're doing that in your best interest and from things we're learning about your product as we go."
Ready to turn your product idea into a reality and get it to market? Contact us today at 52 Launch to get started.