Back to How We Help Clients

Product Design

Transforming organizations through beautiful, ingenious products

It’s no secret that design is a source of competitive advantage and business value. But physical product design has become an increasingly complex endeavor requiring multidisciplinary teams with both human-centered design and research skills, along with the deep strategic expertise needed to deliver world-class products into the hands of customers and employees.

Captivating your end-users with products that have impact demands a broad skill set that many organizations don’t possess:

World-class product design

Design engineering

Design research & insights

Rapid prototyping

Product portfolio optimization

Market-entry strategy

How do you meet your customer’s unmet needs?

We believe it’s foundational to our work that we show up with a good ear and a strong point of view. Great design requires both. Beautiful, ingenious, and charismatic products not only deliver an outstanding experience for your customers, they also break through the cluttered, omnichannel marketplace.

We’re driven to create products that, yes, meet every technical requirement, but more importantly, propel your brand and turn heads.

Examples of our work

See how inspired product designs have transformative potential:

Ecobee3

Most connected thermostats share the same flaw that thermostats did fifty years ago: they only measure the temperature in one location, often the hallway. With remote sensors, the ecobee3’s smart thermostat was the first to resolve this fundamental design flaw and deliver comfort in multiple rooms. The Wi-Fi–connected system also saves users an average of 23 percent on heating and cooling costs.

Thule Urban Glide

Challenged with a stunningly tight timeline, our design team set out to create an assortment of new products adapted to outdoor lifestyles. Together with the Thule Group’s design department, our design team cocreated 5 full-scale models and 50+ prototypes, helping Thule ultimately successfully expand into a new product category and expand their brand image.

eNeura

Meet the eNeura sTMS mini—an FDA-approved non-drug treatment option for the prevention of migraine. This portable device uses single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (sTMS) to calm hyperactivity of the brain associated with migraine. The design process revolved around key themes of simplicity, ease of use, and portability to drive adoption by migraine patients.

Flow-c by Getinge

Getinge engaged our team to design a compact and cost-effective anesthesia machine to enhance workflow for clinicians. Flow-c is a compact device where every detail is designed to ease daily work. The final design improves usability at a lower cost and is the result of a thorough process bringing life science and medical-device expertise together with human-centered design.

Ikea

As part of IKEA’s Home Smart line, this collection includes lamps, tables, desks, and charging pads fitted with Qi technology. Our goal was to design a solution that would eliminate the activity of “charging.” Designed to integrate decoratively but subtly into homes, it’s the first wireless-charging furniture aimed at the mass consumer market.

Speedglas

The ground-breaking Speedglas design has received numerous international design awards and exceeded all expectations in terms of return on investment. But above all, professionals love the futuristic style as much as the unprecedented ergonomic benefits.

Featured Impact Story

Designing change that matters: Dexter

We collaborated with Swiss start-up Distalmotion to design Dexter, an advanced robotic system for minimally invasive surgery that costs significantly less than conventional robotic surgery systems. Dexter’s affordability will enable many more hospitals to incorporate an advanced tool that improves workflow and ergonomics.

An unrivaled design heritage

Award-winning design firms and leaders joined McKinsey to deliver change that matters. We have assembled a world-class team of more than 350 design experts, including specialists in industrial design, research, engineering, and color-material finish. To learn more about our 50 years of design heritage, we invite you to visit the websites of LUNAR and Veryday.

Our People

Our creativity is fueled by a diverse, international team of passionate design leaders and practitioners.
Thomas Nilsson
Partner, Stockholm
Delivers impactful, user-centric product, service, and digital design expertise across healthcare, specifically within medical device and medical equipment development
Ben Sheppard
Partner, London
Ben leads McKinsey Design in EMEA and the firm's global research on design. He advises clients on creating bold new products and services.

Meet our designers

Sara, San Francisco

Meet Sara, an associate director for health and medical design in San Francisco. Sara takes us on an inspiring journey through daily life at our SF studio and her passion for dance.

Bryce, Stockholm

Meet senior designer Bryce and learn why he wanted to enter the field of design and how he delivers business value through his work. Get inspired by Bryce’s journey and take a look at his landscape photos—they’ll blow your mind.

Marcus, Stockholm

Get to know Marcus, a design director based in Stockholm. Learn more about what motivates him—and how being outdoors and keeping himself physically agile translates into focus at work. Discover two of Marcus’s ongoing projects; one explores how design can help reduce malaria, and the other offers a cost-efficient, advanced robotic system for minimally invasive surgery.

How we help clients

Back to practice overview

Connect with McKinsey Design

Contact