This chapter delineates the conceptual evolution, core characteristics, and intellectual property relevance of product design. First, tracing the three-phase definitional transition by ICSID, it reveals the paradigm shift of product design from “features of manufactured objects” to a “multidimensional quality system,” highlighting its capacity to integrate functionality, aesthetics, culture, and sustainability across disciplines. Second, the analysis then reconceptualizes design along three interconnected axes—functionality, form, and emotion—arguing that innovation succeeds when it is user centered, low cost and highly adaptive. To ground the experiential dimension, it invokes Norman’s Three-Level Emotional Design Model, demonstrating how visceral, behavioral and reflective responses jointly shape the depth of user experience. Subsequently, through case studies across industrial design, traditional handicraft design, furniture design, and apparels design, it elucidates the coupling mechanisms between design strategies and intellectual property in diverse contexts. Finally, it posits intellectual property as the “intellectual infrastructure” for design outputs, where protection intensity determines innovation returns and directly influences designers’ ability to convert soft skills into competitive advantages. The chapter demonstrates that within the knowledge economy, only by integrating human-centric values, systems thinking, and rights governance into a unified framework can the sustained innovation potential of product design be unlocked.