user interface: project manager: Okay ? So we are here for the functional design meeting  so first I will show the agenda so we will  I will take notes during this meeting so I will try to summarise it and put that summary in the shared folder if you want to look at it afterwards user interface: project manager: so then  each of you will  lead a presentation on the task that has been required last time so user requirement specification , technical function design and working design . Then we will take  the decision on on the remote control  needed functions and then I will assign you the task for the next part of the meeting . So  who want to start the the presentation of what they did ? industrial designer: F do you want to start ? user interface: Make a start yeah . project manager: You have  PowerPoint ? user interface: Should be in my in their folder no ? project manager: Ah yeah maybe there . industrial designer: With the the whiteboard ? project manager: If you remember yeah user interface: Yeah . So most people want to have a a remote for their hi-fi and T_V_ and stuff like that . user interface: And but other people want th also remotes for controlling  and toys like robotic pets and little robots and stuff industrial designer: user interface: Yeah , so there's a project I think called X_ house or something like that that does that ,  you can integrate your remote with  computers stuff .  and th the buttons part would be  a set of buttons for choosing devices , a set of buttons for special navigation in space , industrial designer: user interface: a set of buttons for linear access of medium and a set of buttons for random access . user interface: Yeah ? industrial designer: What do you mean by linear access then ? user interface: Like a video tape goes forward , backwards ,  fast and stuff yeah . project manager: and there's a fourth one no ? user interface:  ? project manager: So the better now for special navigation ? user interface: Yeah . For special navigation for example you might have a T_V_ in the menu and you going to change yeah ? project manager: Okay . user interface: So if there are common parameters maybe we should put special buttons for that  project manager: Okay . user interface: or maybe we could have everything  generic but  there are a lot of  remotes on the market right now and basically this is most of the almost everybody has this stuff . We could assign any button a command to any button , if we have enough processing power , project manager: Okay . Okay so in our usability lab we observed the remote control use among one hundred subjects project manager:  . marketing: okay ? And here I have the results so you can see that  seventy five per cent of users find most remote controls ugly so we have to find something to make them more more nice , more kind . Eighty hundred per cent of users would spend more money when the remote control would look project manager: user interface: marketing: oh to it's not good . project manager: We can just keep doing that ? marketing: So it's not in theory but I I can I can say yeah . marketing:  and fifty per cents of users say they only use  ten per cents of but of the buttons in the in the remote control . marketing: So all the buttons we we have to put are have to to have  a use a real use project manager: Okay . marketing: and not only or project manager: Okay , so fewer buttons maybe would be good ? marketing: Yeah . user interface: But what kind of remote controls did you look at ? marketing: Sorry ? user interface: What kind of task was it ? It was a T_V_ ? marketing: Yeah . Yeah but in fact we it it seems that we are going to make a T_V_ remote control according to new requirements I received from the management user interface: Huh . marketing: So there are other frustrations expressed by users , so they said  they lost  often the remote control in in the room so they want to have a way to to project manager: Yeah . marketing:  and  lot of the time they it takes too much time to learn how to use a new remote control . marketing: And  remote controls are bad for project manager: What is her other side ? marketing: R_S_I_  user interface: Other side yeah , yo wa your wrist marketing: I dunno . industrial designer: marketing: Okay  before that I I have some some some thing  to say before  project manager: Yeah . marketing: So it's better to put    something very easy to set and  and project manager: Yeah . marketing: and  we asked this question if they prefer an L_C_D_ screen or on their remultific function remotes control project manager: Yeah . So you know that  project manager: marketing: for the younger it's very important project manager: To have L_C_D_ and voice . And  and the others is not so important but  we know that   people between fifteen and twenty five are people who watch a lot T_V_ and  who who wh can use a lot this  . project manager: Moreover th maybe those  like those teenager customer could advice their parents to buy this equipment and so we can user interface:  . So as we say before , I think   a remote control lightening in the dark it's it's a good thing . marketing: e easy to use  a way to find it easily in the room and   resistant to to shock and to to industrial designer: project manager: Okay these are the user requi marketing: I dunno if you see something else important or industrial designer: project manager: industrial designer: I'm just thinking of some thing . industrial designer:  We want to have a no , I don't know if this is a good idea . project manager: Cos it would be costly  and and also it it would take more time to develop to have a a general generic remote control . Because I received that email from management board and they seems to tell that that if we want to be on the market as early as possible we should  focus on T_V_ more where it seems that the market is more important . What's your opinion ? user interface: I have  I've no idea  I should know a bit more about how fast we can  design it . marketing: user interface: I don't think project manager: industrial designer: marketing: user interface:  yeah . industrial designer: But basically yeah maybe I can continue with my presentation , it would be al you you project manager: Okay . project manager: Maybe you can go to the whiteboard if you have some drawings to do industrial designer: If fact project manager: I don't know . project manager: industrial designer: Okay so I'm just going to describe in fact for for a remote control this is quite easy . We just have project manager: user interface: industrial designer: sorry , I'm going project manager: Okay . Let's say that  something like that , which could be  a L_C_D_ let's say or  an array of push button , something like that . So I say U_C_ and I feed that to  L_E_D_ which is  infrared  which is a an infrared  component . industrial designer: Y it's a it's this just a chip which does all the  numerical project manager: Computation . We just need to take to define what we want to do when the user interface  wants something and after that we just do the coding to s and send that to to to the not the to the television .  we just have to define the processing power that we need  especially if we want to do some  speech recognition , in that case that mean that we are going to use more for simple user interface: This will think this will take more time to develop also . project manager: To have a you s you speak about with voi voice control ? industrial designer: No no no no , project manager: Standard button one . project manager: So do you have any idea of how long it would take to have voice recognition now ? user interface: Ten years . project manager: user interface: industrial designer: I would say  about eight months to have the first results . project manager: Even if we have a L_C_D_ display ? industrial designer: Yeah even . So who think it would be good to go for  like speech recognition ? user interface: But we don't have time to market . industrial designer: during the kickoff meeting you say that we we shouldn't we shouldn't go up to twelve point five Euro per unit marketing: project manager: Euros . user interface: How muc how much do you get how much do you if you buy one million units h no , one hundred thousand units . How much will it cost for one hundred thousand ? industrial designer: Usually this is less tha at two dollars per chip . project manager: Because we are user interface: So you have any idea for a powerful one that has  good enough for do speech recognition . Maybe we can  we can look at the new requirement I receive from the management board and discus discuss all function we want to have . industrial designer:  I just had a question  do you want to continue with your presenta ? marketing: project manager: Yeah I I will continue . industrial designer:  you say that I don't remember by heart but thirty per cent marketing:  ? industrial designer: of the tested people say that's it's quite difficult to to to use the remote control . industrial designer: Do they say that this is difficult but for the same reason or do they have other reason ? To to marketing: Oh . industrial designer: maybe to keep in mind maybe to access to that menu you should do something like that . marketing: Would j  yeah w I I think they they say that it's  difficult to learn how to use it but i when you know how to use it , it's it's okay . industrial designer: But yeah maybe and what about if we design a remote control which can be configure as you want ? You say that I want , I have six button user interface: Mh A a lot of people are  if you have the L_C_D_ screen if you can do it completely the way you want because the buttons also look the way you want them industrial designer: Yeah . I think the young people are th  are  marketing: user interface: Christine here said  you have a industrial designer: Yeah . Maybe it would be more complex to configure it to be simple than creating a simple product . user interface: And there are another thing is that if we make something that's simple and easy to use that's bas to use immediately that means that it will be exactly the same as everything else . user interface: Otherwise , if it's different then of course everybody has somebody has to learn to use it first . project manager: But also we we see that that most people find it find remote controls too complex because they have too many buttons and they mainly use only channels and volume buttons . project manager: So we may just  make a very easy to use remote control with mainly those buttons user interface: Yeah . project manager: and maybe also  some lightning stuff too because most people find also hard to to find the remote control . project manager: These these are these two points are the main frustrations so maybe if we design something very simple and easy to  find when lost it will  add  a serious competitive advantage without making something too complex and too long to develop . So we don't have to so this this  is  is  in the this is in the same direction as we were speaking so we don't have to make a very complex remote controls to access teletext and stuff like that user interface: But teletext is just one button . project manager: Yeah but then you have to you have to define the buttons to surf amongst pages and stuff . So well user interface: So will you add with the channel keys , right ? project manager: Yeah . So anyway we don't have to include this feature because it's it's not used any more by users , user interface: So . If if if we want to make it very simple we have to reduce number of buttons compared to th to our competitors . Also  so as as I told before  it would be better if it's only for the T_V_  because we want to be quick on on the market . And then also we have to make very   clear that this  this remote control is is part of of our products and show our corporate  logo and and colours on the on the design as well so that  they identify it as one of our product . marketing: project manager: So before  finishing we can  define  what would be the characteristic of the o th of the control of the remote control and which button do we need which function do we want etcetera . project manager: So do you  so so from from the the Marketing Expert I think a key aspect is the easy to use aspect , it should be very simple and most button are never used marketing:  . project manager: only ten per cent of the button are are used often so I think we have to do something very simple and I think we all agree on that point , no ? industrial designer: user interface: Well if it is going to be just a T_V_ remote control it is going to be very simple . So few buttons , channel , volume control and what el what function do you see in addition to that ? user interface: Well if it's going to be as simple as possible then just have the remote control , there is no other function that I can see project manager: Yeah . project manager: Maybe switch T_V_ on and off user interface:  industrial designer: project manager: user interface: no you want to keep television on so that the advertising can revenue can come back to us . project manager: And that's all ? industrial designer:  I know that som you say that many people are doing plenty of a lot of zapping . user interface: industrial designer: I know tha I discovered that when I did a quick look ,  they do now som they do something which is quite nice now , user interface: It's a memory , yeah . industrial designer: you have a button , you you press it , and this is  the previous channel which has come back . So we have like channel button , the previous channel button , the volume button , plus a mute button , and  just the the traditional on off button . I I talk about that , yeah ? user interface: How should they how should we implement that ? Because  could be numerical only or could be also incremental . This is  incremental , but once you press it for a long time , you go five by five . It's an interesting idea , that if you press it for a long time it does something else , in general . So if you you have your ten buttons for the for the numeric the numerical buttons and you have instead of having just one memory industrial designer: Yeah . project manager: Maybe we should have also a digit button user interface: Maybe we should have a complete keyboard and just type console commands . project manager: I dunno bec because if you have the user interface: Well if it's useful like if if you want to change between three channels for example then you h you cannot you cannot cannot work with just memory being incremental . Because you have your previous channel button if you have incremental only it's not  it isn't worth it because the previous channel is eith either minus one or plus one . project manager: Maybe we we can make very obvious the channel and volume button button and smaller button down there with the the digits . user interface: Yeah when you zap usually you will have to press the same button all the time project manager: Yeah . user interface: Hey I just thought this thing industrial designer: You user interface: there is a  you know there is are some with a wheel like this . project manager: So have a wheel for incremental , have the digits  on the lower side that can be closed so as you say protected , industrial designer: project manager: and  yeah I think this is the basi user interface: On the lower side I think it you have to turn it . industrial designer: Or a or a ball , yeah , not a a wheel but a ball , and you say  to project manager: No , a wheel is better . user interface: So you have to the user has to like to should feel the the the discrete sense a bit . project manager: Well also we have to decide  so it should be lightening in the dark I think because most people lost their remote control . industrial designer: 'S quite it's quite easy we do that w with back light on the on the wheel . Even if i L_E_D_  or a if if it's the L_C_D_ feature  industrial designer: A blue a blue L_E_D_ and we sell that  . project manager: and do we put an L_C_D_ display ? marketing: user interface: Yeah . If you do not multi function then there is no p point in having L_C_D_ . project manager: And so no speech as well because it w it would delay too much the development process user interface: Well if it's going to delay yeah industrial designer: Okay . Because a user could say C_N_N_ for example and it would go C_N_N_ . project manager: and Maybe we can just  industrial designer: Ten years project manager: user interface: project manager: Okay . So  I I will  I will so I we will move to next meeting so in after the lunch break  here are the individual  action  you are required to do industrial designer: project manager: but you will be  recalled to the actions by  email I think but you can take notes if you if you want but well the instruction will be sent . project manager: and I I will make a summary of that meeting that I will put in the shared folder you can't see industrial designer: Okay . marketing: project manager: and  and then you will  you will be able to to see what has been  has been said on on this meeting and and what has been decided . user interface: What is the folder that you put yours in ? And did it it did work ? marketing: No . Okay ? user interface: Okay what is your email ? project manager: So yeah I I'm it's in the first  email so I'm participant one at AMI user interface: At participant one


So , we will first start by summarizing the  the previous meeting and the decision we've taken .  I will take notes during this meeting so  that you can  look at my  folder to see the summary of this meeting afterwards . We'll then t take decision in concert and then   we will  define the nest next task , to have to be done before the next meeting . We have also  the lightening feature for the remote control to be easy to find , and for fast development and low cost we have decided to have no L_C_D_ no voice features . So the conceptual specification by Industrial Designer , the specification of the U_I_ by or U_I_ user interface: Abdul al-Hasred is my name . industrial designer: I_D_ you want ? project manager: Maybe I can switch slide  on your request . industrial designer: and I think a remote control is , as I s mentioned previously , you just have a a very simple chip and the  the user interface is just done usually by push button and in our case we are using a  a wheel control . So   I was looking basically for that chip , which is  very very standard , and  I just looked for the wheel sensor and the standard push button . The push button are usually extremely cheap , but I just have one problem and this is related with the wheel sensor , which seems to be quite expensive . industrial designer: And I think we if we could just talk about that if we really need a wheel sensor or if we can not if if we could combine something with the push button . Yeah project manager: So will will will this with  including all possible things , so buttons , wheel and the chip , be  lower than twelve Euros to produce ? industrial designer: I I th But I don't think that  we should We should talk about  the design of the box also which needs some money . project manager: Okay user interface: Also have to say industrial designer: But user interface: Did you receive the email about the voice recognition ? industrial designer:  that's all user interface: No ? project manager: You received something industrial designer: yeah . But I guess it could be project manager: And could it be adapted ? user interface: I guess it's possible . project manager: Okay and there can  recognize some commands and stuff ? user interface: Yeah you reco recognize commands and you can record new commands and stuff , so if they already have it as  as a chip project manager: Okay . project manager: Okay maybe we can just  listen to this presentation and then take decision later on according to those news . industrial designer: Yeah but I think it's yeah Sorry , I haven't written my personal references .  the I I just want to mention the the problem of the the r wheels sensor which is much more expensive than any push button , project manager: Okay .  , what is the purpose of the light ? industrial designer: Just to to make something which is  slightly more design that  a squarey box with a rubber user interface: Is project manager: You can easily find the button in the dark or so ? user interface: But But in th in the dark  Yeah but is going to be always turned on , the light ? project manager: It will be turned on when the when the user move the remote control I think , no ? user interface: But if you move it then you have it , you don't need to find it . user interface: But if you move it then you have to have some sensor to when you move it to detect your movement . industrial designer: I don't think that this is really expensive , but at the end this is plenty of unexpen eh very cheap devices but  the bill starts to be user interface: Okay . Yeah , but I expected also the wheel would be cheap but you tell me that it is very expensive so , industrial designer: First of all I was thinking to have a a continuous light user interface: yeah . industrial designer: and you w when t you you you you press the on button you have the light on your remote control , when you want to turn off your device user interface:  . project manager: But it can be  battery consuming , no ? To have the light always on ? industrial designer: Yeah , a little bit . user interface: So I just look at some current designs  on the web , of usually more complicated remote controls . And let's look at two of them because  th even though they have many buttons they look quite simple . And in our case we just  reject the buttons what we don't need and it become even simpler . project manager: And also does it  fit well in hand ? Because it was  th your wrist problem with the usage . We have all these buttons as you can see , but most of them , we just need the ones in the middle . user interface: So , from the bottom or whatever is there ,  the  the numbers and then the top ,  until the ten also , this middle part , project manager: Yeah . So it's basically more or less how we would like it , with a big volume control , big channel control , and mute and power , yeah ? project manager: Yeah . user interface: So basically , w software we will build will look more or less the same as these two . user interface: Yeah , if you have , for example I think that the volume and the buttons that are there on the top are not very easy to reach with your thumb . Will be down or user interface: So that they're separate a bit , project manager: Okay .  and it's easy to press the other the big buttons , but  , it's not that difficult to press the the channel buttons either . Usually what I have noticed that people put the plastic cover on things that you normally don't mess with , like buttons for t  tuning the channels and stuff like that . user interface: We could use the some wheels can be pushed down , could use the push down of the wheel for the record if we want . user interface:  so we could just basically use one just wheel and  user could use just the wheel to do everything with the channels in that case . So we can move to the Is there any question ? For designer of user interface ? or we can move to the next part , maybe , and discuss afterwards ? Okay . marketing: Can I ? So now the recent investigation we we have done fo of the remote control  . So , the most important aspect for remote controls is to be fancy look and feel and not current functional look and feel . marketing: And the third most important aspect is to to is that the co remote control should be easy to use . And there is a fashion watchers in Paris and Milan that have detected the following trends ,  fruits and vegetables will be the most important theme for clothes , shoes , and furnitures . So , maybe if our remote control have to be a fruit form or vegetable form project manager: Okay . project manager: marketing:  I don't know which material can be spongy , project manager: Yeah . marketing: and if you project manager: This is good also for user interface: Well , wou wou I think we can certainly just put the electronics in a spongy thing , industrial designer: Yeah . We could say that if you throw it , you have a sensor , and you throw it and hits the television and turns it off . And you know here the more iz important aspect is the fancy look and feel , after is  technological innovative , and after the easy to use . marketing: Yeah that's why project manager: Has it ? marketing: Yeah that's why I think we have to keep that if it's possible . You know the pear , is like that and it's it's easy to to have in in hand project manager: Yeah , and it's ergonomic as well . D D Is is there anything you want to add ? user interface: Is there any fruit that is spongy ? marketing: project manager: I don't think so . I think we we can have like yeah a pear is good , fit well , or banana as you told . industrial designer: And for maybe look and feel , what about a a piece of ice , with blue L_E_D_ inside ? project manager: But that's not in the trend . user interface: You can make it  marketing: project manager: The trend is spongy , and vegetable fruits . marketing: project manager: I think p spongy is good because it it will be robust as well . project manager: So , I think we can keep the wheel because it's  easy , it's innovative , even if the cost is a bit higher , industrial designer: Yeah . project manager: and we also have to find a , so , a fruit like pear or banana wit  any others idea you have . What kind of fr fruit would you like to to control your T_V_ with ? marketing: user interface:  . industrial designer: You y you don't use the banana when the banana is curving like that , user interface: Two of the button , yeah . industrial designer: but when the banana is curving like that , with the wheel on the top and to control , user interface: Yeah . industrial designer: and here you have a a push button to marketing: But you don't have project manager: I think it's a good idea , yeah . user interface: Yeah so you can just have  just have this curve , yeah , and you move  your hand here to press the buttons and then you move  on the other side . user interface: So you can have it on on two sides and it'll be cool , project manager: Yeah . user interface: no ? project manager: I think it's a good design and it's innovative as well then . industrial designer: If you if you start with  fancy fruits and fra s and tha user interface: Ah-ha . industrial designer: Oh , yeah marketing: project manager: Yeah it's really  really a good point . marketing: user interface: Now who are recording this meeting ? project manager: I think it So One second . So ,  so for marketing: project manager: sorry , for  component , so industrial designer: So project manager: we have to think about those aspects , sorry .  what do you mean by case ? project manager: I think it's the box that should be spongy , banana's shape . project manager: industrial designer: I just want to have so something to prin to to fix my my components onto that box , and that's it . user interface: But  the thing is that the buttons and the wheel have to be industrial designer: Spongy also . user interface:  if it's spongy then the buttons and the wheel have to  if it's spongy then it's going to move , right ? So , it's going to be bend a lot . user interface: So if we try to push the buttons , it project manager: No the button would be user interface: You think it's possible ? project manager: In fact it it should be something odd shaped , with a spongy cover . Button , where do we want some buttons ? user interface: Well , usually hold 'Kay , we want it to be good also for the left-hand users , right ? industrial designer: Yeah . Sa let's say that th o It has to be basically you can only take two sides , one on ths this side where is the thumb and the other side where there is  yeah also the thumb . Or you could use use this one , but I don't know if it's very comfortable , to use this one for the wheel . user interface: This for the wheel and then this for the buttons ? project manager: Yeah I think it's okay for both right and left . user interface: So if the left , we have the op project manager: I think you can turn it this way also . user interface: Yeah , the problem is if you have buttons and wheel then when you turn it around , the buttons are on the other side . project manager: And moreover , th the button ar are lighted so you you immediately identify the right side , because you have light on buttons . user interface: So the buttons have to be here and the wheel has to be Y Yeah I know , but  if you hold with your left hand , and the wheel is here , and the buttons are here , then when you turn it around the buttons will be on the other side . No you you I think you will use it only on the right or left hand , whether you are righty or lefty . project manager: So , for interface we said also that we have  this banana shape with button on the s on the side . I think it's  we defined everything according to what we should what the decision we should take , yeah . That is to say ,  check if it fit the the requirement  given by the users , but according to  your presentation it seems to be okay . project manager: So so to prepare the prototype I would suggest that the Industrial Designer and the User Interface Designer  work together . project manager: You feel  free to express what you want to say ? You don't feel too constrained ? user interface: Yeah . industrial designer: user interface: Maybe you can make    project manager: Okay , so user interface: okay


Then  I've I will also take notes during this meeting and I will send you  a summary then as usual . We will then look at the evaluation criteria of the prototype presented by  our two colleagues that make good work . industrial designer: marketing: project manager: And  then we will see the financial aspects and the cost of the product . And  end with the conclusion of this project and see whether it fits with it fulf if it fulfil the requirement or not . project manager: d let's start with the cost aspect so so I look at the aspect discussed last time , that is to say  to have a standard battery , to have a yellow banana shaped  case with  a rubber material around it industrial designer: project manager: to be  to feel spongy , user interface: Like a banana . project manager: So for the financial aspect it's okay , we can  we can continue with this product  as if , marketing: project manager: and we are now going to see the project evaluation with  our marketing expert . marketing: So I made an evaluation and the the evaluation criteria is made according to the users' requirements and the market trends we talked about  during the previous  meetings . marketing: So we we want to have a product fancy look and feel , technologically innovative , easy to use , fashion , easy to find in a room , and robust , project manager: Yeah . marketing: and  according to what you think about the this project you can   make a one point , two point or seven point . marketing: The okay ?  so  fancy look and feel , what do you think ? project manager: Okay . user interface: Do you vote  Christine ? marketing: eh ? user interface: Do you also vote ? marketing: No , I just want to see something project manager: Maybe we all have to agree on a common user interface: Well , we can very easily . So user interface: marketing: Need to project manager: this is your marketing:  I don't know if you we ha we have to put  one  f If it's better or project manager: One is most . project manager: How much would you give on the fancy aspect , on the fashionable aspect ? marketing: Six  s you can how much what ? project manager: How much would you you don't answer to this  questionnaire ? marketing: Oh yes I  I dunno  , I think six , it's a good  user interface: So it will have five point five average . project manager: Four ? industrial designer: A four also , because , except for the wheel , we don't have so much innovation . I I user interface: D are we including the voice are you glu are we including the voice in the end or not ? Huh ? project manager: No . project manager: Four ? So we have four , four f and five ? marketing: We can put four ? user interface: Yeah . Is it fashion ? project manager: Oh yeah , user interface: project manager: its its f its fruit fruit shape . marketing: Yeah it's fashion , because it's a fruit , user interface: Yeah , we can we can put a seven here . marketing: We have the lightning , or project manager: Yeah , we have the marketing: The lighting . project manager: we don't sesh especially have the lightning user interface: So you'll make the material transparent project manager: but marketing: user interface: so that it  lights up completely , or project manager: So it's yellow . project manager: I think it's very easy to marketing: Seven ? project manager: I would say seven . marketing: Is it is it robust ? project manager: Yeah , it's rubber , made of rubber , industrial designer:  f yeah , it's ru it's rubber . user interface: Yeah the only problem there might be which know , i if it's very sensitive , project manager: Yeah . user interface: I don't know project manager: But it is  it is surrounded by rubber material .  if we say that seven it's  it's the better , project manager: Yeah , the be . industrial designer: user interface: Yeah , the top marketing: and when  s six sit six are good it's a good  p product , I think . user interface: Because I saw  some phones that were banana shaped ,  wireless phones not mobile ones , wireless for the house , marketing: project manager: Yeah . user interface:  quite big also , marketing: user interface: and they were selling something like a hundred Euros , two hundred Euros . project manager: I think the industrial designer: But almo also the complexity between a phone and a remote control is not cannot compare . user interface: it's much more complex , but project manager: So , I think , we can summarise . We we have the cost below  our threshold and so we could sell at twenty five Euros and make i make profit . marketing: project manager: So the cost is in the budget , the evaluation is okay , so I th I think we can now  open champagne and make a huge party . user interface: project manager: I don't know if it's provided by  by the meeting staff . user interface: So what does the management say ? project manager: Sorry ? user interface: What does the management say ? project manager: I think we will have  much bigger project next time and a much bigger salary as well


Now hopefully we've all got a better idea from than we did f leaving the last meeting as to what it is we are up to now .  you should know that I'll be taking minutes during all the meetings , as I was struggling to our last time  and that'll be easier for me now because I'm not actually giving the whole presentation .  the additional points are just the stuff that we sent and that I forwarded on from upper management having a few bright ideas to make our lives painful . Here's the additional points I just wanted to put those in there to see if you guys had any comments on them . project manager: So does anyone have any overall marketing: Well  what comes up for me is that if we're gonna if we're gonna be marketing a product that is going to be  having no teletext , people are very comfortable with the idea of having teletext and using teletext , and so we're not we're gonna be a new product without something that people are very comfortable having right now . What are we gonna have that makes this thing better than project manager: Well tha that first point could  also be an op opportunity because in seeing that teletext is becoming outdated , some sort remote control that can work with the Internet there is the opportunity that's presented , I guess . marketing: So what I'm talking about is I see that one side we're eliminating something so we have to come up with another side which is , what are we gonna be targeting our market  that identifies our product as better than because it doesn't have teletext it has ta-ta-ta-ta-ta . So we're really probably , in terms of marketing , are looking for that's  that's a cost winner rather than a fantastic new feature product . industrial designer: So  we're gonna be removing the teletext out of any T_V_ that we people use our remote with . project manager: But there's also the potential for mark there's a market here for our lost teletext . project manager: For example someone that just goes to the shop that wants a replacement wants it as cheap as possible . marketing: That's what I'm that's what I'm talking about is is that we have to find something that is gonna be very attractive about this product 'cause somebody , some people are gonna be hap unhappy 'cause it took they can't ac access their teletext . 'Cause we're talking about eighty percent or ninety percent or ninety-five percent of the televisions out there are are teletext . marketing: So so it's it's not that I'm criticizing the product at all . It's just when we eliminate that then what do we bring ? What are we bringing in to take the place of this , project manager:  'kay . industrial designer: So then the double R_ will be our our project manager: On the product yeah . Can you handle that black and yellow ? user interface: I think one of industrial designer: I tho I tho I thou I think Rol Ro Rolls-Royce might mind , but don't worry . user interface: I think w , yeah , one of the things that we should also keep in mind  when we're doing this  our company's slogan is we put the fashion in electronics , right . So I think our kind of our target here is to have some kind of very like sleek nice look remote and we want it to be functional as well , but I think one of the main selling points is that we don't want it to be clunky like like this thing here . We want something that looks nice and it's fashionable and so marketing: So you have this ? project manager: Nah . But  click it on off ? user interface: so you all know me , I'm the Industrial Designer . And we've some basic components that  our remote is gonna need , just basically every remote'll need 'em .  we have to decide on our our user interface , which is his department , but the in user interface is also a major component .  we need a programmable digital signal processor to  to take the input from the user and translate that into  into electronic signal , which we pass to the infra-red L_E_D_ , which you aim at the television  which and it receives that signal . And  we also need to  have the if we want a universal remote we need to have encryption codes for the different makes of T_V_s . So we need to know all the different you know all the different signals and so that'll require some memory as well . You ha the v the power source is in the upper right-hand corner there , and you can see that  we have the user interface here which is connected to the chip which does all our signal processing , and then passes that signal on to the infra-red L_E_D_ and that signal is then emitted and received by the television at the photo-transistor . So those are the basic components that need to go into this and everything else is pretty much  open to move around . marketing: Now is would this be considered just a standard   user interface: I think any des marketing: This is not this is not cutting edge technology we're talking here . user interface: Yeah this is just this is just a basic layout of ev of all the components that w w are gonna be absolutely necessary f to have a working remote . We can add things in like if we wanted some voice recognition ,  that  that you can kinda say would would fall under the user interface and the digital signal processing chip . project manager: Do we have an idea of costs of different components ? user interface:  well the most the most costly components are gonna be the chip and the  th it could als basically the user interface and the casing are gonna be expensive as well . user interface:  the L_E_D_ and the the transistors and everything else are you know they're they're pretty cheap . So depending on what we want our functionality to be ,  the chip could be expensive or it could be cheap . user interface:  depending on the n amount of memory we need in there and stuff like that and h and h you know how much power . user interface:  but and I think a significant part of the cost could be the actual the actual casing itself and and you know the the b the buttons and things like that , I think . project manager: And you wanna get industrial designer: When we're fighting over it's also more lot more fun . project manager: View a slide show , that's what you wanna do , yeah ? Just go up to view .  you guys know me , Pedro , and  what I found is we want to do fashion and I think , honestly , we should keep technology low and just simple basically and try to aim for design . If basically a case will will cost the same if it looks good or bad so we ma we have to make it look good . project manager: industrial designer: And  although mo most people will buy s televisions and everything for  that have loads of loads of little functions and everything and they mostly end up using simple functions and little things and most the people won't won't get too mad of actually having to go the to the s to the television to , for instance , tune in their the stations . So   as for what I would recommend for  the the interface design , and  I will change the colours on the on the logo , but  we should go for the user-oriented device , so simple controls and good ergonomics .  and  although I th I th I'm still here recommending the teletext so I'll remove that , I guess , but  we should go for the project manager: But I t I think what the the management recommendation was less that there's a worry that teletext will become outdated rather than we shouldn't have it . So I I still think if it's cheap enough functionality-wise to include , it really should be in there . project manager: Because otherwise we're just going to  even if it's necessary or not , if you if you're given the choice between a t a remote with teletext or without  when it really if it i if it isn't more expensive for us to k make because as far as I understand it , it can be operated with the same set of buttons , yeah ? So it should be in there . I in the very beginning it said with the with the advent of computers there's gonna be the it's gonna be out-moded teletext . How does how does computers and teletext h how why is one eliminating the need of the other ? I don't understand that . project manager: Well maybe what we're getting into here is the the idea of  Internet through the T_V_ for example . industrial designer: Yeah the they're basically aiming at saying that you would use you know a couple of years ago teletext to be the easiest way to check like for   the scheduling and the next programme and stuff like that user interface: Scheduling . marketing: Yeah 'cause , yeah , I just I don't see the cross-over between computers and television .  I do see the cross-over in some sense , industrial designer: Yeah , but it's not happen yet . marketing: So so if we make the cross-over and we're gonna view television on computers then we're then we're losing the the necessity of the remote . S user interface: Unless you have a project manager: Well there there is a for example on digital T_V_ systems you have you can press a button and you can buy things in adverts , user interface: Yeah . project manager: A a family member of mine has got a system where you just  you can Yeah , and there's other features for example on other systems where you can pause live T_V_ and things like that . They're just features from the Internet  from computers are are coming into the T_V_ sort of under the covers , but you still use it through a teletext . project manager: So now the things to think here are that that there's gonna be more functionality , potentially that we can handle . And all of those require the other commands with more complexity and more software and user interface: I think a lot of that's proprietary anyways . If if it's , for example , a trainable one then we're just simply having like an up , down , left , right , an okay button or something like that might might do as well in future proofing it . industrial designer: Yeah but we would increase the price to try to make it a trainable one , so project manager:  . One way the other teletext was there but I guess we can remove it or , you know , make two separate interface designs . user interface: I think if it's possible you should try to you know have a talk with management about that . marketing: I I don't see the logic in elimination of teletext , I just I I project manager: Yeah , and neither do I in fact . industrial designer: project manager: I'll communicate that back to those guys there a a and th the message really we wanna be sending to them is that , although teletext may become outdated w there's no l logic in not having it in there anyway i if it doesn't affect the price . project manager:  but I I think what they're pushing us towards here is in terms of thinking of ways to future-proof our system for future systems that have something else other than teletext maybe . project manager: I dunno I'm industrial designer: Yeah but we're not putting some there's no no putting anything in in the place of teletext . marketing: So so w we can't go and pump a whole bunch of technology into this thing project manager: Yeah . So if we drop if we are gonna choose to drop teletext , again what are we adding to the product that makes it marketable ? project manager:  . So if we're keeping it basic we're loo loo what we're looking to sell it basically is it's  just being very easy to use , looking exceptionally good , that sort of thing . marketing: I don't I don't see it , and to me if I'm gonna market a product for b for beauty for for design I'm gonna I'm gonna try to market it at a much higher price . So I would market this product it at eighty-nine Euros and come up with some really beautiful exterior design or something th but but I don't think we have that flexibility . project manager: But i if design if design is cheap and functionality is basic , then twenty-five Euros is probably a high price for a commoner garden stan standard T_V_ so the place  remote the then the place we're going to justify that cost is through through design through making it a a sleek elegant high-priced basic remote . Does that make sense , huh ? marketing: No I no I I understand what you say , project manager:  . marketing: but what I'm what I'm , okay we probably need to move along , project manager: Yeah we probably should . marketing: but my my concern is trying to find a marketing niche for this product , project manager: We we're doing alright for time . marketing: and if I'm coming in with a with with twenty-five Euros , which is mid-market price ,  then what am I going to give these people for this ? project manager: Yeah . industrial designer: No just I I would I would advocate for continuing teletext and those would be the basic commands .  as for , you know , the the case design  maybe I'll come up with more concrete ideas . Right now it's just the idea of simplicity and slickness , cute and small  user interface: Right . I'm just thinking you know with all these universal remotes that are out there , how many people how many people actually use every feature that ar you know i like these trainable remotes and things like that , where , you know , it's just so confusing to do to use all these functions . Where I think the largest portion of the market is just gonna you know they lost their T_V_ remote , they need another one that'll work with their T_V_ . They want something that looks nice , that that that isn't gonna break when they drop it , that you know that maybe it's it's ergonomic , it feels good in your hand , something like that . user interface: I think that's gonna be where you're gonna find the biggest , you know , market share . project manager: So we are looking for something that looks good and just works , rather than looking for any special features . Is that user interface: I think the more bells and whistles we add , it's just gonna cut into our into our profits . user interface: Because I think as we as we add costs for things like  for like if we add the voice recognition and things like that , I think you know what percentage of the of the  of the market is actually gonna use that ? project manager:  . marketing: Oh P Pedro , I just want to say quickly I I would really like it when you can come up with some more bells and whistles , eh . industrial designer: marketing: You know sell  things come to my mind is   something that's   voice-activated . I know we're getting into some , I hope , some big money on this thing , but project manager: I think that's probably a question more for for this guy here , yeah . marketing: 'Cause  and I think of voice-activated I think of of how many times I've I've lost my my remote and I can't find it . So some way that I can I can find my remote by clapping my hands or something user interface: I'm trying to find some bells and whistles 'cause when they talk about tel taking out teletext , it's like , what are we gonna put in ? What makes this thing attractive ? And it's only for televisions . So we everyth our our competition out there has got these these multiple adaptors where they can use 'em for their V_C_R_s , their D_V_D_s , their their televisions and we're coming out with one remote for television only . marketing: I I I don't s I really have to say I don't see the market niche for this product . I'm I I go along with this , because this is what we're given to try to market , but I I don't see the market niche for this product without without some really sort of something really special to identify it as as unique in the market . industrial designer: I think technology we'd we we're not in the price range to do it . We don't have the money to do it towards t f technology so we should we should aim at design . marketing: Okay well , so so that's up to you then to to make this box in something that's absolutely extraordinary . Does any of the  the features that Pedro's spoken about here have any implications we might not have thought about on in terms of just pure functionality ? In terms of making it work or the cost of that or user interface: I don't I think all these things are pretty standard . marketing: Well you know for marketing f marketing for me is  and  how do I go here ? Okay . user interface: No no no marketing: Is that right ? user interface: you just get off that . Yeah , what for me is it  I d I don't know what I'm marketing right now , okay , 'til you spoke and when I wrote this , I don't know what I'm marketing . I just know that I I was identified as a a we identified ourselves as a as a developer , as a manufacturer , and as a as a  distributor t to other wholesalers . And so the th the twenty-five Euros that we've identified as the sale price is a wholesale price rather than a retail price .  so what I did is I I decided that that this this needs to be a product in a in a sense can market itself . So I say inspiration , so having something beauty , something attractive ,  something that in a sense will sell itself .  cutting edge technology , I don't think we're gonna have that , these were ideas I was putting together ,  unless we come up with some New Age product a as far as the casing is concerned . I I wanna make this thing something that I can identify as special in some way , so maybe we can have some I I talked about environmentally sensitive ,  maybe we have a product that can be identified in some way as advantageous in a home .  I wanted to talk about  who we are as a as a corporation , that we're new , we're aggressive , we're competitive , we're we're trying to provide a product from a new perspective rather than from an old corporate line . marketing:  we're kind of in the middle of the market , but what I'm seeing is that the market is ready for I I identified new technology , but again , because what I see is budget restrictions and limitations , I don't know that we can bring any new technology into this thing . user interface: And it's kind of along the s lines of environmentally sensitive , and it may even fit into ergonomics , and even kind of address the issue of losing losing the remote , what we were saying it's a common issue . user interface:  what we can do is , well you know that batteries throwing a aw remotes run through batteries like crazy . Well maybe not a solar remote but instead what about if we had like a power cradle ? marketing: But solar user interface: Like a a cradle that is is there to hold the remote when you're not using it , so you'll always know where the remote is 'cause you have to put it back there to charge the remote , and we can , instead of having instead of having , you know , replaceable batteries we'll just have a power cell that stays there for the life of the remote . And also you can I I think it's a good opportunity for the user design or for not just for the user design , but also for the just for the look and feel of the remote as as a whole . You know you could have some kind of neat little , you know , a sexy design for d a cradle and the remote itself . marketing: But boy , we can sell this thing , because there's no batteries , it's environmentally sensitive , i we can identify it as a safer product in some form . I really see project manager: Now the the question is can we make this for less than twelve-fifty per ? marketing: But the cost i No no . project manager: We we well do we necessarily have to change the end cost because  Can we dl can we do that without  changing it twelve-fifty per product , if we basically can sell more based on this ? marketing: There's   I don't see it anyway . user interface: Well marketing: I my reaction is no , but user interface: what I can do is I can d look into ho well Pedro and I can look into how much this might increase our our costs project manager: user interface: and you can look into what kind of effect an increased cost is gonna have on our on our final numbers . project manager: Yeah we we can certainly push for a more expensive product if that's gonna be marketing: Well , see I I see I I'm an advocate to make this an exclusive product . Let's make this thing really exclusive , environmentally sensitive ,  high-tech design ,  ergonomics , all of this . If you don't have one , hey what kind of remote do you have ? Oh you've got one of those , oh fantastic , I want one of those too . user interface: I just don't know about that , because in order to do that in order to price it at that kind of level I think we'd need to have every functionality that all the other competitors are offering like being able to operate , you know , the D_V_D_ player and , you know , the stereo system and all that . And additionally we're m maybe not supporting teletext  project manager: Nah , I think we can say with certainty now that we are supporting teletext . marketing: user interface: But I do think there are some basic features that we don't have that a lot of other remotes are going to have . marketing: Yep , one one thing I don't understand is h they've they've given us this package , okay . I don't think it's our place to create their product for them , maybe it is . I don't know what kind of role we have in this in the corporate ladder  , but to me it's like , okay , you have got your here's our ideas , okay . marketing: And then let them look at those ideas and they say , yeah well , we can we can raise the price twenty percent , you know we like this idea , this idea no , but to me it's it's about a choice , do we follow their directives or do we make  presentations back and and then and then discuss ? beca I I do not I do not see the market niche for the product that they're handing f handing us right now . I think our market niche is basically people who need who have lost their remote or  who've broken their remote and don't wanna send back to the manufacturer , they just wanna run out to the store and get a remote , and then they're gonna look on the shelf and they're gonna see ours is the nicest looking remote . These aren't I I think that it project manager: And and th to get to back to another point , sorry   for cutting in but , I th I think it's important to remember that that this remote has to work with multiple T_V_s , yeah , 'cause it's selling on its own . project manager: It's not going to be specifically for Hitachi T_V_s or or whatever . project manager: So technologically , if I understand it ,  T_V_s T_V_ remote's working exactly the same way as video remotes and D_V_D_ remotes . All you need to do is train them to the individual one , all you need to do is is know the the f like some four-digit code . marketing: project manager: So saying that it works with all T_V_s is equivalent to saying that it'll work with D_V_D_s and other things . industrial designer: Yeah y y you you wouldn't marketing: They've identified this product limita project manager: We have done this . marketing: That's why I say I don't I don't see the market niche for this . marketing: If we if w if we were going to have a product that worked for D_V_D_s , V_C_R_s and everything , then I can see the market niche , project manager: marketing: And it's like whoa we ha in my opinion we have to go with something that's extremely exclusive to make this thing marketable , user interface: Well here's project manager: And I I'd marketing: because who wants just a television remote ? project manager:  sorry . user interface: If you're in the market for this ultimate remote , you're not gonna go for just a television remote . If it can't control if it can't control your your D_V_D_ player and a al if y if you can't get that all-in-one ultimate remote , that just you can throw all your other remotes away . marketing: That's why I say I quest I q I question the marketability of the product . user interface: So that's what I'm saying project manager: The the one thing that that that you said really struck a chord with me here in that we're we're carrying the corporate identity with the product , but we're actually looking for a large profit at the same time where I'd be inclined to go back to upper-level management and say like let's just cut down our profit expected on this product because we are actually branding our company here . We're trying to get mind-share about  Real Reaction to to the people who are gonna buy consumer electronics . We want people to eventually say , oh that's that's Real Reaction that's a good m make . And and we're gonna make it we're gonna win mind-share by  either being a fantastic product industrial designer: project manager: or for it working , it just being good , reasonable-priced , and solid . So if we can make if we can put an emphasis here on it not breaking I think that's in itself an extremely big thing . marketing: W okay if you if you drop the cost , now if you make if you make go to the other side of the cost scale , and you make it less expensive , then all of a sudden now we're going into an a a new market area . So we can say low-cost     good design , beautiful , wa-da-da-da-da-da . project manager: Is twenty-five Euros a mid-market price for a remote ? marketing: project manager: Okay . marketing: for for multi for a multi-function remote , that's a mid-market price . In a discount right now you can buy 'em on sale sometimes for about about  eighteen , nineteen Euro , project manager: Okay . marketing: and that's for the multi-functions ,  D_V_D_ , V_C_R_ ,  catch-alls . And and they have 'em in a little box in the middle , and and this is the consciousness that most people have about replacement remote controls . We have to have something that will change people's thinking to identify this as advantageous , and I don't know what that is . project manager: Well I'd be inclined to say , if we can make the design better than any comparable remote while reducing the cost , then that's the way we really should play it . If we can take it down to you know fifteen rather than twenty-five and make a low profit-margin on it , user interface: Yeah . marketing: Or my d project manager: And I can communicate this to to the more senior   people within the company here to to get a reaction . user interface: What about  the idea that I had with the cradle ? How do you feel about that ? project manager: Well how does everybody feel ? user interface: Or how does everybody feel ? marketing:  I I well we g we're talking about the other end now . user interface: No , but I that's the thing I I don't think it's necessarily the other end . marketing: I like the idea , but we have t we have to find out project manager: The other the o the problem with that in my mind I just think off-hand as a as a consumer , would I wanna buy that ? And I think maybe not because I've got a remote and I'll take it to different chairs , I'll take it to different user interface: It i if it is gonna be somewhere that you put it down then it needs to be at the side of your armchair , user interface: Right . So it's very good for some people but it's not a like user interface: Well it lasts it would last for several hours on its own power , but when you're done with it you put it back in the cradle . project manager: You have to d shift down the side of the couch to find it and put it back and user interface: project manager: I d I d I d I think it it in my mind it doesn't seem like something that oh I'd really want  because of that fact . You know if we're gonna go in this direction , to me we're going to the other side of the cost range . marketing: Are we gonna make this selling selling the cost as a high high-tech   environmentally sensitive whatever , or are we gonna go to the lower side of the range ? Again I don't see our market niche in the middle for our product yet . project manager: So what do we think maybe we should Pedro , do you have any opinion on it ? industrial designer:  we should keep it simple ,  medium-low cost mar  cost area and  make it look good . marketing: W a question I have in in a 'cause I I I think I agree with you on , we gotta make it a box . marketing: Can can can we have multiple designs ? Have a modern , have a traditional , have a you know , and so so instead of them all looking the same , people can have maybe four or five different designs they can choose from . I don't know what that creates cost , or user interface: Well the the problem with that is we may end up with a whole bunch of inventory of a of a poor design you know . industrial designer: Yeah , complicated but user interface:  but what we could do is some kind of well  Yeah we we need to , have a few designs to look at and then come up with something that I think we all agree is , you know , the best fit . I think w what's really important is it has to look good , it has to feel it has to feel good in your hand , project manager: Yeah . user interface: it has to be durable , it has to a and I think it's really important that it doesn't look cheap . I think I think we have to make sure people look at it an and feel like it its like a quality remote . marketing: What ab what ab what about a a remote that's that doesn't maybe look like a remote ? Just an idea . Maybe that could be part of our design exclusivity , is we make a remote that doesn't even look like a remote it it opens like a telephone . user interface: Or what if it looks like a pen ? marketing: Doesn't matter , yeah . user interface: A pointer ? marketing: It That's the thing , I'm gonna keep thumping on .  I really un unless you guys are die-hard against the fact that  it's possible like it reduces the usability of the remote b and the fact that you can't lose it on your own , I think it still might be a good idea to investigate having like a power cradle . user interface: Because I really think i in a certain sense it almost like for me I would want to have that just , because I know at the end of when I'm done watching T_V_ that when I'm done , oh I better go find the remote and put it back where it belongs . project manager:  there's al there's also remote controls I remember that that worked  , this hasn't been done in a while I think , but th as a as a watch . user interface: As a watch ? project manager: Yeah , there is remote control watches  , user interface:  'kay . project manager: but I think they're a sorta eighties thing , so it might not be easy to market in it  but the the technologies came along and it might be cheaper to make now . marketing: One thing I just thought about when you were saying that , is that the p our target market is gonna be someone who has lost or broken project manager: user interface: That's what I was saying . So how many remotes do they wanna buy ? Can we p can we sell them a remote that can maybe guarantee they will not need to buy another one ? user interface: Exactly . marketing: And so with with with this kind of system or locator or something , to to think about , how have people been been losing or breaking their remote ? user interface: user interface: And also presumably they've marketing: And and then and then design the product , maybe some component of the product that can identify this as the last one you'll ever need to buy . project manager: Well if if we're going down that then we can we don't need to go the user interface: Exactly . project manager: it it strikes me that the locator feature might actually be  quite expensive to make . project manager: Whereas actually just putting it in a power cradle might not be too expensive at all because that's just done with mobile phones user interface: True . project manager: you can just n we we have said we have actually similar products that we can take from and potentially cut costs there . project manager:  need to look into whether we can do that but  I think we we have some m mobile phone-based products  checking quickly our Internet . marketing: It's  just it's that I think it's telling us to stop our meeting . marketing: So we have the c we probably have have on-line in our in our system , we have the ability to create this , we're talking about . project manager: without it being too In fact we can cut costs through using the manufacturing that's already gonna be in place here . marketing: If if we can create this we have probably five or six or seven really strong marketing characteristics . user interface: I think one of the things that we can put right on the box is , never buy another battery


marketing: So do we need to re-train Mike on how to put his mic on ? project manager: We may do . industrial designer: Think s marketing: Okay , can he get it all by himself this time ? project manager: I dunno , I'm feeling like a big boy . Pro marketing: industrial designer: Probably not , 'cause he's 'S been listening to too much . We're gonna all do a presentation , and then hopefully we're gonna make some decisions now .  you've got a printed a printed  circuit board here , and you've got all these buttons which kinda press down little rubber nubbies into these little holes that activate marketing: project manager: We've all broke a remote control ri  s yeah . industrial designer: marketing: I've user interface: So you've also got  you've got your chip here , your batteries here , and some sorta electronics . industrial designer: Yeah there's a thingy and a dingy and project manager: You press this and it does th user interface: Well marketing: Yeah y do jabber user interface: so you've got here's here's a transistor , and this amplifies your signal , industrial designer: user interface:  you've got the L_E_D_ here on the end of the   on the end of the printed circuit board . user interface: So  we've got a i in this in this  drawing he  in this example here , this is a eighteen pin   chip I dunno . You can use a basic battery , which we've already discussed ,  th our tech department also said we have the option of doing some kind of hand dynamo where maybe you crank it or something like that . user interface: I don't know if that's really marketing: I I gotta I gotta flashlight , and  user interface: I don't know we got some qu crazy guys down there in that department so industrial designer: project manager: Okay . user interface: So that's the next bullet is the  the kinetic provision of energy , marketing: And that's on the camera . user interface:  we've got solar cells , which I don't think is a very good idea because  you could not use your remote at night which doesn't make a lot of sense . project manager: Okay so we basically have battery versus cradle here ? user interface: M battery versus cradle I think is yeah . project manager: It's actually a novel thing because you could sell it a as a novelty , just to be actually serious for a minute here , user interface: Yeah . project manager: you could user interface: Well it is it is more   it is more eco-friendly than the than the cradle 'cause you're still using power off the grid with the cradle . Our material choices are a plastic latex  ty or plastic , a rubber latex type thing ,  wood , or titanium . If we go with titanium we're gonna be  limited in the amount of shapes we can do because it's tough to shape the titanium , and  Yeah pers project manager: Wood wood would ge would give us a little bit of a marketing niche , wouldn't it . user interface: I I can't see anybody wanting to use a wooden remote , it's just anti-technology really , you know . We can we can o we can  accentuate whatever whatever product you put in there we can find a way to accentuate it . user interface: And what we may be able to do , and I think this might be the best option is to combine some a couple of these .  my recommendation personally would be to do some kind of a plastic inner shell with a like a rubber outer shell , to make it  to mak  like a thick plastic inner shell and a t  kind of a to have that rubber outer shell to make it more durable , and also maybe i I think it feels a little better than the plastic . user interface: Yeah  marketing: And if you make it from that super rubber , when you drop it on the floor it can bounce right back up in your hand . user interface: The advantages of working with plastic and rubber is w we we'll have a lot more  options just in terms of shape industrial designer: marketing: user interface: because you can extrude plastic in basically any shape you want . So  and then we can cover you know the breakable bits with rubber yeah so  project manager: Okay . user interface: But basically these are curved and double-curved I I believe that the tech department , in their  in their message to me , that they were referring to the number of th curves in the bottom . user interface: but that's what they told me , uncurved , flat , curved , or double-curved . industrial designer: user interface: I would guess this like this pen would be kinda like a double-curved , where it's curved on m m multiple axes , right ? I think curved means just curved in one axis and double-curved is curved in two axes project manager: Okay . project manager: I think it might mean something like that sorta shape because a double curve rather than a marketing: - yeah that's yeah that's what I see .  okay , with the interface we have the following options , we can u we can use push buttons , we can use a scroll wheel with an integrated push button , and L_C_D_ display , marketing: Ooh .  so these are all options that the user interface guy can  has at his disposal to put together a user interface . A simple chip , which is the least expensive , but I have no numbers to give you , project manager: user interface: a regular chip , which is like the medium porridge the medium expense  project manager: D do we have actually any concept of what the difference is between a simple chip and an advanced chip ? user interface: Yes the difference is , with a simple chip a simple chip will operate oh why doesn't this scroll up ? Previous previous , okay . user interface:  an advanced chip is required to to operate  the L_C_D_ display , and it didn't say specifically , but I I have a hunch that a regular chip is gonna be the scroll wheel and the multiple scroll wheels . project manager: Technical functions or interface concept ? user interface: I think industrial designer: Oh interface concept . user interface: project manager: user interface: industrial designer: Well that doesn't bo bode well for it for it tats as well . It it it you'll be you know be affected by the by the other speech and user interface: If the T_V_ is working , yeah . project manager: user interface: That's just  it'll if somebody says up in the middle of a television show , it's gonna change the channel . industrial designer: Yeah and and fighting for the remote would not be fun anymore , user interface: So industrial designer: and I think that's one of the things we wanna keep . project manager: But what if you actually had to press a button to make it recognize ? So if you pressed it and went , up ? industrial designer: That kinda would r d user interface: Well then why don't you just press the up button ? project manager: Man yeah . project manager: But if it's just one thing with a button that you can just go Up . user interface: Even still there's gonna be interf th there's there still will be interference from the T_V_ . user interface: It might not be it might not be completely confusing , but I think you'll still y it's still marketing: user interface: I don't think it's practical at all . industrial designer: Yeah so  taking that away , our  the the the rubber but rubber buttons are the more reliable project manager: You guys know your stuff . industrial designer: it's the the ones that would al would allow us to to market our product as being you know less prone to damage and more resistant to things like spillage of liquids over it or you know mistreat misuses as it happens to remote controls . Well , we wanna small r remote control one side because  we want it to be cool and  designed , but  apparently  market shows that bigger s bigger  remotes get less lost , user interface: That I would believe . user interface: industrial designer: But  yeah I think we we need to compromise between those two and somehow we'll do that .  so the the what I would propose is something more or less in the  direction of what is to yo the right of that slide  but without with a l a less complicated  design , so the numbers , the volume control , and channel control , and teletext access .  the volume and channel control can just become those the the four button array as in if it was a round dial . industrial designer: And  if you just think about it as the one to the right but with the numbers and the four buttons plus maybe a centre one with teletext . project manager: So we're suggesting doing a sorta scroll wheel thing for the volume ? industrial designer: Ye no it's not user interface: That's not a scroll wheel . industrial designer: i i it's just four buttons that are on a cross , project manager: Nah . user interface: Instead of play , stop , rewind , and fast forward there , that's up , down , louder , and quieter . industrial designer: Yeah  yeah so I think we w we go for something mid-sized , so something looks good marketing: industrial designer: and  is not too prone to get lost . When I s when I see the when I see the product I I I I don't wanna buy it . There's nothing about that product that makes me wanna choose that product over other products that are out there . user interface: Are you talking about the picture ? That's not our that's not our b design , marketing: Yeah yeah . user interface: that's just a that's just something he a a graphic he used to show you the layout of what the layout of the buttons might be like . Okay 'cause 'cause right now I don't have too much to say about how to market this product because we don't have a product to market yet . marketing: And  from from talking to Mike is that we have we have  we can market a more expensive product now . marketing: And and so yeah I'm a I'm a little bit stuck right now in that what  w what is it that I'm gonna market ?  without special or increased marketable features I don't believe the product has a consumer demand .  I like the idea of of the scroll makin there are so many people making these products at this price right now . What are we gonna do to make this one special and unique ? user interface: What's special and unique about a scroll ? marketing:  well I don't project manager: It's cool .  I say that it's different I what I'm looking for as marketing is m give me something different . I give me a lower price , give me a higher price , give me some new technology , don't give me the same thing that everybody else is putting out there on the shelf it's f at the same price . project manager: I'd I'd say though that we if we did make the decision to go with the cradle though , the then we have that as well , marketing: What i if when when we have project manager: but wi with a similar marketing: yeah when we when we have something like the cradle or or something give that's as as a marketing standard I need something to market , to make this product unique . user interface: Well right I think the two big th points that we have so far are the having the cradle and also having  the  the actual design of the  case itself having like this like rubber shell maybe with a plastic interior , marketing: Yep . Just remember when I made up this report I didn't have the information that we're discussing here . marketing: And and so so  yeah when we have a cradle , when we have some kind of design , so what I'm saying is , from my perspective , I don't have a product to market right now .   my personal preference is that we make some adjustment in the cost , either lower or develop an integrated new technol technology . That's that is the next step , there's technology and then there is technology , which we're moving into the next phase . industrial designer: marketing: And so  we're gonna have some new technology to enhance the marketability . Yeah  again I'm not sold on the product because we don't have a product in my opinion yet . project manager: So now marketing: If you if you give me if you give me a cut-out of what everybody else has then I need to I need to find a lower cost . project manager: So our big questions here really are cradle or not cradle ? Do we go basic or do we go for features ?  d does anyone really wanna do anything with the scroll wheel or should we ditch that off-hand first ? user interface: Well my question is what would the scroll wheel do ? Function-wise , what does that do that project manager: Oh but that was in your presentation so wh what would you imagine it doing ? marketing: Yeah wh wh what's the wh user interface: Yeah . Well it's it's just another way to do the exact same thing that the buttons do . project manager:  'kay industrial designer: But would we marketing: Okay now what I see with the scroll wheel is everybody has buttons . So from a marketing standpoint I have I have another door to walk through when we have something that's unique . marketing: If it creates something more complex or more expensive , then I don't know if that makes it  a marketing necessity . But again , from a marketing perspective I want as much new and different about this thing as possible because we're we're co it's a very competitive market . project manager: What I understand about scroll wheels is they're they're quite expensive to to make . project manager: So I d user interface: Th they are gonna be more expensive , but on the other hand , it  it is an alternative if if you think that's gonna sell some some  you know if if we're gonna make up the extra cost by extra sales I think maybe it's worth it to do it , but  I would just use if I was gonna do this I would just use the scroll wheel for s channels up and channels down . user interface: No we can we can do multiple scroll wheels but project manager: Well I d I like the idea of basically focusing the my personal preference is focusing the p the product on the idea of the  the case the the  dock to put it in to to charge it . project manager: And if we we keep the rest in a format that is durable because th th the whole product's gonna need to be more durable th thus because you're not going to be ditching it as often . I think we got some exclusivity in that , you know , we got something that nobody else has right now , user interface: Yeah . marketing: and and that means we can we can make some adjustments in the retail or wholesale price if we need to and it also can create it's own demand from it's uniqueness . project manager: So our big decision then is like how do we do  like we have to decide on the details and we have to decide on well n not exactly the details , but d do we have  What type of casing ? I personally like what you were saying about the plastic with the rubber . project manager: user interface: I'm thinking yeah something like kinda almost like these pens , you know , where there's you have plastic bits and then it's not really rubber but just kinda like a fused the plastic with rubber on the outside . Just a very thin sorta sheet for a a grip , sorta thing or for user interface: Well no ma yeah maybe a bit more then th is on here but ju just as a kind of an inspiration , these pens I think are are kind of project manager: Okay . So then if we d d do we want to do anything more basic with the  more advanced with the user interface in terms of do we want to go for  buttons , or do we want if we're ditching the scroll wheels do we want to go L_C_D_ ? Do we want to give do we want to have anything else on it ? industrial designer: It's only a T_V_ . user interface: Or from from my perspective I think L_C_D_ is a mistake because this is a universal remote and all you're doing  it's you're not gonna get any information back from the television , so the only information you can display on this remote is what channel you just sent it at last and there's just not a lot of information , you know , there . user interface: So I I don't see any reason for having an L_C_D_ 'cause it's an increased cost . Yeah right now there's right now there's nothing coming out of the T_V_ to receive , so you know unless technology changes and information starts coming out of the a cable box or something there's no s I don't see the , user interface: Right . project manager: Okay so the question is now I guess we need t to decide on well y you guys basically have to now go and figure out the details of this thing . marketing: project manager: So , what we need to know in terms of marketing and  project management are are there any other questions that we need to answer now before you guys can go and build this ? marketing: project manager: What what overall things have we not decided on ? user interface: Well we have to I think for me it's still not exactly clear exactly what the inter user interface is gonna be . There's the scroll wheel , in or out ? What do you guys like in the user interface ? project manager: I think maybe in terms of marketing , is that gonna make enough of a difference to justify the cost ? marketing: Again . Well I think it's it's the more uniqueness you can bring to the product , the easier it is , I believe , for me to market . And so we can go with the same thing , but we're gonna be com competing in a in a broader market than if we go with something unique . You know the other thing I thought about was you know , do we go to something like this ? Make a remote that doesn't look like a remote . It's just another it's just a an idea , and I don't know user interface: Well I dunno about like the flip-phone idea , because I think , as far as durability th it's not a big well maybe when it's closed . marketing:  what I see one of the things one of the things you brought up in an earlier presentation is , when you got children , their their stuff gets inside the circuitry , they get dirty , they get messy with drinks and stuff . marketing: And what I keep throwing out there I just keep throwing out ideas to try to make this thing look or act or in some way identify itself as unique or different . project manager: Yeah and I guess th th the question th th that you're being asked right now is whether is the dock enough of a unique feature to be able to go out and sell that a a as a a very different product , or do we really need the scroll wheel as well ? marketing: Oh okay project manager: Because the scroll wheel comes at quite a cost . I think if you can have the base station with a with a locator , I think those are two very strong features , user interface: Well marketing: if that's something that can be integrated without a bunch of extra cost . user interface: The The locator's gonna require a radio transmitter , which will marketing: project manager: That's gonna n is that gonna need a better chip as well ? user interface:  we're probably gonna have to go with a like a medium chip , s I would imagine . marketing: So it's just  I I think that's user interface: It should be a really simple signal though so marketing: I know personally that would be a very attractive feature , is to have a  have a button I can push to find my remote control . project manager: And it's presumably gonna need a little speaker in it or something like that as well to beep . project manager: But I guess a little tiny speaker is gonna be quite cheap , it's not gonna need q quality , is it ? It's user interface: Oh yeah yeah . marketing: Or maybe you can like have a a smell-o-rama , you know you push a button and it s puts out a stink . project manager: marketing: You can industrial designer: Maybe not marketing: project manager: Makes your living room more fresh as you watch . I think that  user interface: So the scroll wheel , in or out ? project manager:  pr my personal preference is out . I don't think the cost is justified for a little bit more uniqueness when we already have that , and I don't s think it's obvious and natural how it would be used . Yeah I think we have like and it's not very usable and it will bring down the robustness of the whole thing , project manager:  . marketing: user interface: I don't know exactly what the increased cost is gonna be , but I think he does have a point , i it might push somebody over the edge when they're looking at our at our remote versus something else , when they see this one has a scroll wheel to go up and down on the channels . project manager: But then that that surely d depends a little on the T_V_ marketing: W project manager: because some T_V_s are quite slow at changing channels from like so user interface: Sure . project manager: if you've got a scroll wheel and you s you have to scroll scroll it really really slowly just so that you're actually keeping in pace with the T_V_'s ability to to change channels . project manager: You scroll it a bunch of times and you wait for it to user interface: Well I think wh what it would be is like like the m like this , where it's maybe you know a digital wheel , right , where it's where it's quantized into you know certain project manager:  . That's where you user interface: That was that was my my intuition of what the scroll wheel would be . marketing: user interface: It's just it's basically it it's just a f look and feel thing . marketing: I I think there's you know that  there are so many people today that are that are surfing are television surfers , and I see the scroll as a as a great mechanism for surfing . project manager: Yeah if you're just sitting there going marketing: Instead of going button-to-bu you just j you'd j j j j j j . user interface: Now just just so you know though  you did bring up a point which is very valid , is a lot of T_V_s won't re the T_V_s won't respond exactly the same . Some of them are gonna be kinda slow switching , so you may like queue up like fifteen channel changes , and it'll be like flip , flip , flip . user interface: But project manager: You could basically make it so that it'll  it's just gonna be sending a signal to the T_V_ yeah the T_V_'s ge so if you send about five flip channels , if you did that it's gonna flip once . user interface: Yeah it just might be frustrating where you can't make it go as fast as you want , project manager: Other than click click click . user interface: but I think once people get used to it I I do like the idea of the scroll wheel though . project manager: And if we're marketing it as a high niche product , then we're gonna be selling it to people who are buying good T_V_s as well , yeah , presumably . marketing: Now the the only thing I I on the interface side of it , is that I I I see the dilemma . But if we have the option of of scrolling at any particular speed , or the option of jumping direct , okay . marketing: So I can go  presuming I have , on my television , something that tells me what channel I'm on , I can scroll direct from channel five to channel thirty two . So I don't know that really that's that's gonna be a a d problem , 'cause the television can go automatically from channel five to channel thirty two with the push of a button . marketing: So ca can we can we create that kind of interface within a scroll system ? You understand what I'm saying ? user interface: I think I know what you might be getting at , or or project manager: Oh I see so if maybe if we had an L_C_D_ up the top that just did a number on it , right ? And then it that basically marketing: Oh no we could read it from the television . user interface: Well , what about this what about if you can programme in your favourite channels into this scroll wheel and you can just like roll through your favourite channels , project manager:  . user interface: and it c it project manager: You'd need a display on the th the thing . user interface: Why ? It'll tell you when you flip the channel on the T_V_ . You say programme start , and then type in marketing: Put user interface: 'cause you still have the typing you know you'll still have the keypad where you can type 'em in manually . user interface: So programme start , zero , one , enter , zero , five , enter , thirty eight , enter , programme end . project manager: and that just basically flips between it and it'll go it sends out zero , five , and then thirty six , and then zero , one again . project manager: That's not gonna be too expensive because that's gonna be you're gonna be able to nab that off of computer mouse manufacturers really . user interface: Oh well we also have to determine in some manner how to switch between modes , between going through your favourites list and just hitting up one , up two . marketing: Or we go directional up we go we go this we go this we go this way for one , we go this way for the other . project manager: Yeah people are gonna have their favourite sorta , whether they do that or whether they marketing: Ah-ha okay . user interface: I think we'll need a we'll need a mode switch , but then if we have a mode switch we're gonna need some kinda indicator project manager: Just the lights behind the buttons . user interface: to which , an L_E_ an L_E_D_ project manager: You could have back-lit buttons maybe . And if we're making back-lit buttons period , do we want that just for the mode indicator or maybe to indicate what button you're pressing at the time , so that you know if it's actually pressed or not . Just so you know I think  it was my understanding that before we were gonna stay in the mid-market range . project manager: Yeah well we don't have it's not that we have more money , marketing: Didn't you say so ? project manager: we can push up the the price . marketing: So I don't know I don't know whether having user interface: I just wanna make sure everybody's on board with it . So we really need to be sure as to what we can push the cost up to , though we haven't got to a stage where we're ready to pin down the price of components . But I'd say what sorta price are we looking to be able to sell something like that , and what sorta price can we make it for ? marketing: Well I think th I think the design and technology has to come back and say , okay to create this product we see it's gonna cost us this much for this volume , because we do have a volume target of of fifty million profit . project manager: Yeah no I I think that's where we really should be more flexible than anything else because as we said in the last meeting , our management is really looking for us to push our brand . project manager: so I think the the profit expectation for this one product is maybe not as important as being able to marketing: Okay I'm I'm okay with that . I guess what I just want to me the next step is for these guys to come come in with the design proposal w with the cost estimate attached , and then we have to take this to the next level . project manager: But th what's our ballpark as to what we'd be able to sell something like this for ? user interface: Well y yeah . Let's let's try and think now , how much would you pay for marketing: We have to find cost . user interface: with all these features how much would you pay if you went to the store , and you were in the market f to replace your T_V_ remote , how much would you pay for that ? project manager: But you've gotta think who our target market is because I I'm not our target market . project manager: I'm a student , but on the other hand I would think ,  with my Project Manager salary , I would think yeah I could probably afford this user interface: If industrial designer: user interface: Then you could probably afford this . If I had a cool new T_V_ and this was r looking really slick and it had the dock and it had the scroll wheel , which I think's a really cool idea , that would sell me on it a little . I do I don't think I'd go over a hundred Euro certainly , that would be way too much , user interface: Oh no no . project manager: but the I would be happy paying over forty for it , I guess , but not much user interface: I would say thirty five to forty . marketing: Because one of th one of the things we're marketing about this product is that this is the last one you will ever need to buy for your television . industrial designer: Okay so we'll come up with something between thirty five and fifty that is rug rubber , robust , with scroll wheel , with the new facilities of the scroll wheel like favourite stuff , favourite channels , and and with a cradle , and yeah and the locator . The next meeting starts in thirty minutes , although does it ? It starts at three twenty one , the next meeting . marketing: Well I have Is my three twenty one is the next meeting ? project manager: The the ne next meeting is three twenty one yeah . project manager: Okay are there any other questions with regards to what this thing's gonna do , look like , how it's gonna work that need to be addressed before we really look at this in a lot of detail ? user interface: I don't think so