• Fast Company, Tuesday, June 2, 2009 11 AM

New products are a notoriously risky proposition, Mark Dziersk,vp/ Design at Brandimage-Desgrippes & Laga, points out in his "Design Finds You" blog for Fast Company, but he offers six tips for improving the odds of success. Some are obvious: If you overpromise and oversell, the viral Internet will catch up with you, for instance.

Watch out for side effects. "Take a popular kids' drink, concentrate it, put it into a squeeze bottle, squeeze it into a glass of water and POW! Instant drink," he writes. But it can also turn into sticky, gooey ammunition in the squirt gun of a middle schooler, cutting down on the odds of parental repurchase.

Dziersk, who teaches at Northwestern, also suggests "Facebook is the new focus group" and advises that you find a way to skirt office politics and sacred cows in the advancement of good ideas.

The tip that most resonated with the people who commented on the item was "Go fast even if you don't need to." Even if it seems counter-intuitive, don't be afraid to throw seemingly off-the-wall concepts against the wall until the goods ones stick.

Read the whole story at Fast Company »