Designing for niche markets: Hair pins + natural hair
One of the most recent projects for my senior industrial design studio presented us with the challenge of designing and manufacturing a product to sell. The products will be sold at my school’s aptly-named annual Make 10 Marketplace, where each student is expected to produce and sell 10 of their products. While my studio instructor left the specific nature of the design up to each student, I noticed three constraints immediately emerge:
- The product must be easy to manufacture or must at least have a streamlined manufacturing process. Because we will be working on other studio work in conjunction with this project, it is important that the manufacturing methods be simple, relatively quick, and easy to replicate.
- The product must be priced somewhat conservatively. The marketplace is hosted on campus, and most of the attendees will be our peers (aka poor college students). So, it’s important for the product to be set at a price that is fair for both the designer, as well as the customer.
- The product must be interesting and appealing. There are 17 students in my studio who are eager to sell as many products as possible. It’s crucial for each product to have an immediately noticeable appeal and utility, while maintaining a sense of novelty.
As I started tossing around ideas, I realized that the best way to approach this project was going to be to identify a niche market to design for. I knew that I wanted to design something that is fashionable and aesthetic, but also necessary and functional. I started thinking about things that could fall into these categories, and one of the first ideas that popped into my head was hair accessories. Hair clips, pins, barrettes, and ties are staples for virtually every woman, not only for their utility, but also for their customizability and ability to be used as a fashion statement.
Immediately I thought to design some sort of hair accessory for textured hair. Not only because I would love to have one (I have dense, coily hair that mercilessly devours bobby pins and stretches hair ties beyond recognition), but also because there really aren’t any hair accessories designed primarily for textured hair.
Design students are often encouraged to design for universal appeal, but I think that identifying and designing for niche markets on a variety of projects does more in the way of developing the student into a more well-rounded and empathetic designer.
So, what is a niche market?
A niche market is a combination of a target market (ie. the specific group of people you provide services to) and a specific service that you offer to that target market. If you design for a niche market, you are specifically providing a product or service that addresses a specific group’s needs, which either are not or cannot be addressed in adequate detail when designing for the masses.
Should you design for a niche market?
Well, there are certainly many benefits of designing for a niche market. Because your group is more targeted and smaller, it is likely that you will quickly become well-known within this group of people. Also, there will likely be less competition, as you create specific products for specific people, in your unique way.
It is also easier for you to identify potential clients. A higher quality product, designed according to your clients’ needs, will hopefully lead to repeat business. As the relationship grows, people will often feel more inclined to spend more with you.
Narrowing your focus, even if it’s just for a short project, will afford you the opportunity to better serve your clients, so you can all reap the benefits of what you have to offer.
One should note, however, that while identifying and designing for a niche market is important, it is important not to spread yourself too thin. As a student, and as a professional, you should do what you can to become familiar with designing for several unrelated industries so that you can avoid being pigeonholed or typecast.
I am currently in the refinement phase of the hair pin project! Feel free to leave me feedback on Behance or check back periodically on my website to see my progress.
