When you know what content and features you want your product to have, how you want it to look, and how you want the user to navigate through it, you're ready to decide on the tools and methods you'll use to create it. Multimedia software products can be simplistically divided into two categories:
Products created using a programming language such as C
Products created using high-level authoring tools such as Multimedia Viewer
In almost all cases, the authoring method you use imposes certain restrictions on the scope of your design. To design the product, you'll need to know the limitations of the tools you have available. However, to create a truly innovative product, you won't want to box yourself in by these limitations.