Engineering 199: Engineering Practices and Principles 1: Home

The following sources can help you determine:

• What your product is
• Who makes your product (or similar)
• How your product is made

Questions to ask as you search for information:

• How many different words might describe my product?  Ex.: purifier or filter or cleanser
• How many different variations of this product might exist?  Ex.: UV water purifier, biosand filtration system
• What are some existing product names that I can use to search for similar products?
• Who are the main manufacturers or suppliers of this type of product?
• How does the science or technology behind this product work?
• What government regulations might exist for this type of product? 

Who are your consumers and what do they want?

Questions to ask as you consider your consumer:

• Is my target consumer local, regional, or global?
• Is my target consumer individuals or entities?
• What is the culture of my target consumer and how does that affect product expectations? Ex. Imperial vs. metric units
• Will my target consumer want many options or few options?
• What resources (and how much of them) will my target consumer have? Ex. Money, technological skills, education