#46: Expert Product Design 101: A Case Study with the CEOs of Canvas and Innovatemap

A company’s product is its lifeblood. It’s the one thing most responsible for a company’s success or failure, which is why smart product design is an absolute must for every business. And truly expert-level product design goes much deeper than nailing the visual aesthetic for your website. I called in help from Aman Brar and Mike Reynolds, two respected Indianapolis-area CEOs, to unpack this very loaded and very important topic. Brar is the founder of Canvas, the first ever recruitment platform based on text messaging. Reynolds heads up Innovatemap, a product design agency that has helped more than 75 clients dream, design and scale digital products and services. The connection here is that Innovatemap worked closely with Canvas during its own product design phase, helping Brar and his team craft a stellar application and raise $1.7 million in early-stage seed funding. The story behind how Canvas got its start is a great case study for every tech company that’s in the middle of product design or is preparing to tackle it in the future. In our conversation, Aman, Mike and I cover the journey from product ideation to launch, with a strong focus on the fundamental concepts of design. We also discuss why and how to conduct high-quality market research and the important ways that product interacts with brand and culture. In this episode with Aman Brar and Mike Reynolds, you’ll learn: -- The very first steps you should take when designing a product -- Three things you should keep in mind while planning your features -- How to get the most value out of conversations with potential customers -- Specific strategies for conducting user research and blind interviews -- How to create a cohesive brand that powers your product -- Why you need to distill your “big idea” into a narrower initial product --- If you like this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes. You can also follow us on Soundcloud or Stitcher. We have an incredible lineup of interviews we’ll be releasing every Tuesday here on the Powderkeg Podcast. Check it out at powderkeg.com/itunes