What Product Designers Can Learn From Bodybuilders

A product designer and high-intensity competitor all my life, I’d designed products for years but also saw the limitations of “design for design’s sake.” As an entrepreneur, I knew there had to be a more strategic approach to product design, one that encompassed the entire product design lifecycle and that focused on the end result: a successful product.

I look at product design holistically. Everything from product conception to engineering and prototyping and from supply-chain management to marketing. I’m privileged to work with Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurs and to participate every day in innovations in consumer electronics, the Internet of Things/wearables, medical devices, home and commercial appliances and much more. I’ve also worked with Apple, Cisco, Speck, Lunar and others, and am grateful to have been exposed to many of the best practices in the industry, which provided the fuel for developing many of my own.

What Product Designers Can Learn From Bodybuilders, Part 1 of 3

Adam Tavin of Rabbit Product Design has a confession to make. He is obsessed. Obsessed with every phase of product design — from defining the concept to engineering and manufacturing to selling. After all, what’s the point of a good-looking product that doesn’t sell? It’s all about the end result and that means de-risking every step of the way.

But even though Adam Tavin is a Product Designer, you might be surprised to learn where his motivation came from: Bodybuilding! Now, he may not have exactly the same look as Arnold Schwarzenegger had back in the day, but it’s fair to say that the drive to succeed, not just in the process, but in the outcome, really goes back to bodybuilding. And that in turn applies to Transforming Ideas Into Marketable Products.

So exactly what can product designers learn from the sport of Bodybuilding?

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