How to Choose Between Competing Concept Designs
Early product development decisions—especially during concept selection—have a significant impact on the final outcome.
June 4, 20254 min read
How to Choose Between Competing Concept Designs
Introduction
After successfully exploring product ideas and generating concepts, teams often find themselves overwhelmed by the many potential directions their organization could take. In today’s highly competitive market, businesses must consistently develop high-quality innovations that meet customer expectations while ensuring sustainable profitability.
Early product development decisions—especially during concept selection—have a significant impact on the final outcome. As a result, this phase has drawn considerable interest within the field of design science.
Importance of Concept Selection
Concept development is widely considered one of the most challenging and crucial stages in the product creation process, shaping the cost, manufacturability, reliability, and development timeline.
It’s a well-established principle that engineering changes made later in development cost exponentially more. Therefore, the concept selection phase—where designers evaluate options against customer needs and design objectives—is essential. This phase includes comparing alternatives, assessing strengths and weaknesses, and selecting candidates for further refinement and testing.
Challenges and Decision-Making Tools
Designers often must make critical decisions with limited information. To support objectivity and accuracy in concept selection, various methodologies have been developed, including:
- Pugh’s Concept Scoring Method
- Weighted Rating Method
- Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)
- Fuzzy Set and Fuzzy AHP Methods
- Flexible Design Concept Selection
- Hypothetical Equivalents and In-Equivalents Method
- Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
- Axiomatic Design
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Best Practices for Applying Concept Selection Methods
To ensure effective use of these methodologies, consider the following strategies:
- Start simple – Use fundamental approaches like Pugh’s method or Weighted Rating for initial evaluations. If results are unclear, apply more detailed methods like AHP.
- Cross-validate – If weight factors are uneven or if there are significant differences in performance scores, use another method to confirm findings.
- Trust clear outcomes – When one approach yields a decisive winner, it’s likely that others will support the same result.
- Resolve ambiguities – If results are too close to call, adjust the comparison method or refine resolution to gain deeper insights.
- Analyze data thoroughly – Don’t rely solely on scores—carefully review key criteria before making a final selection.
Spotlight on Two Essential Methods
- Pugh’s Method (Pugh Chart)
The Pugh method is a comparative analysis tool that evaluates concepts against a baseline option. Rather than choosing a final concept outright, this method systematically refines potential solutions by eliminating weak aspects and enhancing strong ones.
Steps for Creating a Pugh Chart:
- Define evaluation criteria
- Develop a decision matrix
- Clarify design concepts
- Select a baseline concept
- Populate matrix entries (+, −, 0)
- Analyze results
- Change baseline and reassess
- Improve the selected concept
- Weighted Decision Matrix
This method ranks concepts against weighted criteria, converting diverse values into a consistent numerical scale.
Steps:
- Assign weights to criteria based on importance
- Score each concept’s performance for every criterion
- Multiply weights by scores to determine total scores
- Select the highest-scoring option or explore hybrid solutions
Additional Considerations for Concept Evaluation
Minimum Requirements for Evaluation
- Clearly defined evaluation criteria
- A shortlist of viable alternatives
- A way to compare each alternative across all criteria
Evaluation Based on Absolute Criteria
Concepts can be assessed using:
- Functional feasibility (Feasible, Not Feasible, Likely to Work)
- Technology readiness (avoiding excessive R&D during product design)
- Threshold constraints (e.g., size, power, cost)
Role of Models in Concept Evaluation
- Iconic Models – Physical, scaled-down prototypes
- Analog Models – Use of similar processes (e.g., modeling heat flow with electrical current)
- Symbolic Models – Mathematical or symbolic abstractions of product characteristics
As product development progresses, models become more complex:
- Conceptual Design – Sketches, rough models
- Embodiment Design – Detailed geometric and tolerance specifications
- Detail Design – High-fidelity prototypes, optimization models
Widely Used Frameworks for Concept Prioritization
- MoSCoW Method
Classifies product features into:
- Must-Have – Essential for viability
- Should-Have – Important but not critical
- Could-Have – Nice-to-have additions for future iterations
- Won’t-Have – Features that are not currently prioritized
- Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD)
Focuses on customer motivations—understanding why users “hire” a product. Ensures that features align with user expectations, improving satisfaction and retention.
- RICE Framework
RICE prioritizes ideas based on:
- Reach – Number of users impacted
- Impact – Value delivered
- Confidence – Certainty of estimates
- Effort – Development cost and time required
Strategic Questions Before Finalizing a Concept
Before making a decision, consider:
- Does the design align with company values and vision?
- Does it stand out or blend in with competitors?
- Will it resonate with the target audience?
- Can it scale across different media and formats (e.g., online presence, packaging, merchandise)?
Additional factors to evaluate:
- Market opportunity
- Development cost
- Competitive advantage
- Risks
- Time to market
- User value
- Alignment with company strategy
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Conclusion
Regardless of which framework or method a team adopts, structured, evidence-based, and iterative concept selection is crucial. It helps teams make informed decisions, mitigate risks, and ultimately create products that meet user needs and succeed in the market.
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