The big idea: Product analysis examines how a product performs, finds its strengths and weaknesses, and turns the weaknesses into opportunities for improvement.
The third step is the one that makes it design work rather than a review — an analysis that stops at a list of faults has diagnosed and prescribed nothing.
Three lenses — function, performance and features — with the questions that belong to each.
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| Lens | The question | What it produces |
|---|---|---|
| Function | What is it for, and what does each part contribute? | A parts list where every component has a purpose — and the ones you cannot explain |
| Performance | How well, at the limit, in the conditions it actually meets? | The baseline numbers a redesign will be judged against |
| Features | What has been added, who is each one for, which are never used? | Candidates for removal, and usability failures hiding as features |
Description is not analysis: "The body is grey moulded polypropylene with a textured grip" describes.
"The grip texture is moulded in, so it cannot wear off where the hand goes — unlike the sprayed finish on the rival" analyses, because it ties an observation to a consequence.
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Turning a finding into a design opportunity
State the weakness with a measurement
"Tips at 4 kg placed 80 mm from the working edge" is a weakness. "A bit unstable" is an impression.
Say what it costs the user
Spilled food, a patient who stops reaching, a nurse called. Without this, nobody can judge how much the fix is worth.
Name the feature responsible
The base is narrower than the top on the side the load goes. Features can be changed; vague qualities cannot.
Write the opportunity as a requirement
"Stable with 5 kg placed 50 mm from the working edge." That is a specification line, already testable.
Analyse the product you are replacing: Most design work is redesign, and the existing product is the cheapest research available: it has been used by thousands of people who have already found its faults.
An analysis of it produces baseline numbers, a fault list and a set of features whose purpose is known — before a single user has been interviewed.
How this is tested — the purpose of product analysis and why it matters to development. It comes up two ways:
Paper 1 — multiple choice
- Identify which lens an observation belongs to.
- Distinguish a description from an analysis.
Paper 2 — analysing a product
- Analyse a named product and identify opportunities.
- Explain why product analysis matters to a redesign.
The trap: Producing a list of faults. The statement says identify opportunities for improvement — every weakness must be written as a requirement a solution could meet.
Analyse an existing school locker and identify two opportunities for improvement.
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