The 4 Step Product Expansion System
Lesson 3 from: Product Line Strategy: Expand Your OfferingsMegan Auman
The 4 Step Product Expansion System
Lesson 3 from: Product Line Strategy: Expand Your OfferingsMegan Auman
Lessons
Why You Need to Create New Products on a Regular Basis
08:26 2What Holds You Back from Creating New Products?
09:38 3The 4 Step Product Expansion System
05:30 4Step 1: Find Your Next Direction
01:39 5Exercise: What's Working with Your Offerings
03:13 6What’s Working: Student Example
05:59 7Exercise: Identify the Gaps in Your Product Offering
09:02 8Identify the Gaps: Student Example
15:09Exercise: Look to Your Passions to Inspire Your New Product Offering
05:07 10Step 2: Declare Your Intention for Your New Product Line
07:04 11Declare Your Intention: Student Example
10:44 12Step 3: Develop Distinctive Design Ideas
01:35 13Exercise: Gather Outside Inspiration
07:54 14Exercise: Carry Over the Common Threads from Previous Designs
09:10 15Carry Over the Common Threads: Student Example
08:05 16Exercise: Design Your New Product Ideas Without Judgement
05:01 17Step 4: Evaluate Your Ideas for Market Success
02:25 18Exercise: Identify the Unknowns in Creating New Products
04:50 19Exercise: Consider Production Costs
03:00 20Consider Production Coasts: Student Example
07:40 21Exercise: Look for Market Support
05:05 22Moving Forward with Your New Product Line
07:49Lesson Info
The 4 Step Product Expansion System
So the product expansion system that I'm gonna be showing us today is designed to help you overcome those mistakes and fears and like we mentioned at the top this is something that I'm teaching for the very first time here so you guys were the first people to ever see this system in its entirety but this is not a random system this is not something that I was like oh, I'll just try this and try that this was actually developed over years of my own experience so not everyone knows this about me but before I jumped up here on creative live I spent about ten years on and off teaching medals jewelry three d design and product development at universities I was running my business the whole time but I have a lot of teaching experience in the studio and so through teaching and writing curriculum and working with my students I started to understand the design process and how people think and that was really my first step and sort of looking at how do I take people from idea all the way three e...
xecution but even more than that I developed the product expansion system for my own experience so these air the steps that I go through when I designed a new collection I'm going to be honest with you this system is the first time that I really sat down and thought very concretely about how I do it but at the end of the day this is what I dio every single time I'm launching a new collection let's talk about the goals of the product expansion system because we've got a few that I really want to help you achieve first I want to break the cycle of competitive comparison I am so tired of copycats who else is tired of copycats and I personally believe that the way to solve the copycat problem if not to tell people not happy it's to teach people to be better designers to give them the tools and the resource is to develop their own ideas and their own collections and that's really drives a lot of what happens in the product expansion system and I know it works because people tell me all the time meghan, I don't see things like your jewelry nothing else is like it on the marketplace that's because I'm not looking at the marketplace I'm drawing on my own experiences is my own well of inspiration to divide design something that is distinctly me and that's we're going to do in this system and then of course we're going to design products that provide new opportunities for growth. This will drive your business instead of sitting around and waiting for people to buy what's already out there you're going to engage in excite new and existing customers you're also going to develop your own distinctive creative voice so I'm gonna teach you something that I call carry over and it's actually the secret, but I've used to develop really cohesive collection's for the last ten years starting field here they'll have ten plus years is this idea of carry over and I'm gonna show you how you khun bring that into your line to really create your own voice and then of course, this is a repeatable system. I want you to be able to use this each and every time you design a new collection, so the product expansion system is actually four steps and we're going to go through all of these in this class, so step one is fine your next direction, so you're going to go in and we're going to figure out where it is. We're headed for your next collection where it is you want to explore next and it's not random is actually going to be based on three distinct areas of your business, and we're going to find the strongest place for you to go next in step two, you're going to declare your design intention so one of the things that keeps you from drooping products in the marketplace or releasing one at a time and actually makes you have a collection is literally saying I am going to create a collection of step two is a fairly simple step, but it's really, really critical because it's, what helps you as the designer start thinking about what you're doing, not as a random collection of products, but as a cohesive collection and then step three, you're going to develop a distinctive design ideas this's where you take the intention that you said and step two and you go ahead and you actually generate all of this product did this, they might be sketches, they might be prototypes, they might actually be the first iteration of that we're gonna develop those, and we're going to do it by drawing on a wealth of inspiration that is specific and you need to you and learning how to carry over certain elements from previous collections so that you develop a really cohesive, distinctive voice over time, even as you're launching and consistently developing new products and then in step for we're going to evaluate your ideas for success, so we're gonna just crunch a few numbers, solve a few of those. I don't know how to do this, I'm not sure how to pull this off. We're going to kind of answer those questions that you're ready to bring your collection to market.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Francesca Balagtas
This class was absolutely fantastic. Even though I've had my etsy shop for a while, it has always been something on the side for me while I was attending school full-time. Now that I have the time to really focus and commit to my business I can finally take the steps I need to build up my business and make some real revenue. Because of this class I now know those exact steps to push my shop with full speed ahead. Megan is fully engaging as well, which made the class easy and fun to follow along. Great class, Megan!
I Must Draw
Megan is a brilliant instructor and each of her classes is packed with information to take your business forward. This class has practical steps to help you identify gaps in your product line. Through her own experience of developing product lines she helps you to understand how to stay consistent and cohesive. This is a great class, highly recommend.
Danielle Celeste
Megan Auman is such an amazing artist, craftsman, strategist, and communicator. Everyone trying to make a living selling what they make needs to see this. I think this was my favorite class in the series. Getting such incredibly thoughtful, thought-provoking and concise information from an academically-trained fine artist and teacher was UH-MAZE MAZE!