it's our conceptual design meeting and it's starting at approximately fourteen twenty five and so we have forty minutes for this one again and so we'll go just after three o'clock .  okay our agenda , we're gonna do an opening , I'm gonna review the minutes of the last meeting , then we'll have your three presentations  and then we'll have to make a decision on the remote control concepts , and finally we'll close . We decided our target group is the focus on who can afford it , because we have international appeal and we said it's for all age groups , different  functions of it . And s  in specific functions are something to keep the remote from getting lost , large buttons for the essential functions , a possibility for extra functions , like a sliding a sliding piece and a long-life battery or a charging station . I'd like to do it in this order , first do the conceptual specification of components , properties and materials  and then the conceptual specification of user interface and finally trend watching . This is where you look at what does it take to make a remote control and what should we make our specific remote control out of . So , we need to examine each element separately , but we're designing a full thing , so you wanna keep it integrated as a whole . The main elements of remote controls in general , and therefore ours as well , are the case , the buttons , the circuit board with the chip and the battery . These are all things that we had sort of addressed before , but I'm gonna take each one a little bit separately here as we figure out what they should be made of and what they should look like . The case ,  the options that I've gotten from headquarters about what we can do ,  there's there's the shape of a case , we could do a flat sh a flat case , a curved case or maybe even a double double-curved case . I haven't seen any pictures of what this exactly looks like yet , just keep that in mind , but these are the options that we have from manufacturing and we can make our case out of plastic , the m the main base will be plastic , but we have all these sort of fashion and technological elements we can add in , wood , latex , titanium , rubber or other coloured types of plastic .  buttons , for buttons we have  pushbuttons , which is what Real Reaction uses the most often , but we also have scror scroll wheels , project manager:  . industrial designer: which can have integrated pushbuttons , or we could go all high-tech and have an L_ L_C_D_ screen .  circuit board and chip we can have a simple one , a regular one or an advanced one , depending on what our other needs are .  we can we can have your sort of basic double A_ batteries , but we also have these options of  using a kinetic battery , like are used in high-tech watches , where you just have to move it a little bit to get it to power up . Or a solar battery , although there are slight  complications with solar batteries as in we can't use a latex case if we have a solar battery . industrial designer: Or  something they only described as the type of battery you find in torches from about fifty years ago , flashlights . Not quite sure what that is , but that's the description that I received , so that's what I'm passing on to you .  personal preferences that I was thinking through here's what we've been talking about all through , fashion and simplicity . So if we're going for fashion in our cases , I think that what we're gonna wanna look at is a curved or a double-curved case , probably with a variety of design elements . We're gonna have to investigate that better when I get specifics of the actual materials , but that's sort of what I have in mind . Probably pushbuttons , but I'm sort of intrigued by the idea of a scroll scroll wheel , if anyone has anything project manager:  . industrial designer: any ideas on that ?  I know the iPods and things right now have touch scroll  buttons which are exactly like what they're describing , so that might be something we wanna look into . Solar I don't think would be such a good idea , because how often are you sure that your remote control will get a certain amount of light . project manager: industrial designer: But this idea of the kinetic , that you don't have to replace , and that a simple just shaking it around will make it work , I think that that m would be a very interesting thing . But I think we'd also wanna go for e a simple chip or regular chip to keep our costs down .  we really only need a regular or advanced chip t if we're gonna start using an L_C_D_ . So I think we want to be aware of not making things overly t technological if they don't need to be , 'cause that'll keep our manufacturing price way down .  I'd appreciate anyone's input , but that's what I'm seeing for the future of the the look of this thing . marketing: Is double-curved like would be like two hands kind of thing ? industrial designer: I'm not sure . marketing: 'Cause I'm imagining like double-curved is like , you know , like two sides that curve industrial designer: This is what I'm sort of marketing: and then like one curve would just be like a single vertical-ish kind of looking thing , industrial designer: Yeah . project manager: Yeah , I wonder industrial designer: I know if we do have a double-curved case , it can't have any titanium in it . But the titanium , they were quite they're marketing quite hard to us as being used in the space programme , so that could be quite interesting . project manager:  just a real quick question  the weight of these different elements , have you industrial designer: Yeah , n project manager: no idea , okay .  I'm assuming that a kinetic battery isn't gonna take up that much weight , project manager: industrial designer: and that a tita titanium is very light , I know , project manager: industrial designer:  but other than project manager: industrial designer: that's really basic , that's all I have gotten so far . industrial designer: I have save this in the  shared projects , if anyone wants to look project manager: Thank you , perfect . industrial designer: and I have c considerable notes on the topic as well , if anyone needs any more information . project manager:  if you made notes yourself you can put those on our  underneath our oh ,  in your book , industrial designer: Just in my notebook , project manager: then don't worry about that . industrial designer: but if anyone has any specific questions , don't hesitate to email me or something . Alright ?  I guess I can project manager: 'Kay now we're  concepts concepts of user interface . user interface: Alright , so I'm gonna describe the the concept of the user interface of this des device .  we want people to be able to use it s as a remote control , so we need to determine what the essential functions of the d of the device are and make sure that we include that we've included all of those and that we actually end up with a device that is going to be useful to people . We have a number of different choices for a design concept  and s that's that's something that that I'll show you some examples of  , but essentially we need to choose how how is this device going to work , industrial designer: user interface: how how what kind of model is there going to be for user interaction with this device .  once we've chosen a a concept for it , we can then design the features around the concept , making sure that we get all the essential functions in the device and  the extra functions and the more advanced features . industrial designer: user interface: So basically , marketing: user interface: that's what we don't want .  you use these four buttons to m to move around a range of settings on the small L_C_D_ screen .  you can just about make out  that the button three buttons are  previous track , next track and play pause . They're the main the main features of the iPod , the things you will use a all the time .  then if you want to do anything more advanced , you go into the little menu on the L_C_D_ screen and you use the buttons just to scroll around and and find the more advanced features that you want . So I think that's that's a good a good kind of model that we could have . The buttons are are different shapes and and you can sort of yeah if you're watching T_V_ in the dark or whatever , you can work out which button's which and basically , yeah it's ith it's fun . So I I like I like this idea of just having buttons for the features that you use most often .  most people , when they watch T_V_ , they have two hundred and fifty channels on their T_V_ and they watch of 'bout four of them at the most . So , you have buttons for your favourite channel , changing the volume , which is something you do all the time when you're watching T_V_ , and the button to switch it off , in case you get bored .  other features , things like adjusting the brightness , tuning the T_V_ ,  I don't know what else you do with a T_V_ .  you can't have a t there's no point having a television that you can't tune or that you can't set the contrast , so we need to find a way of including these somehow .  and one other suggestions I'd make is to in is to include in a menu system , a bit like on the iPod . So we'd either have a small L_C_D_ display on the device itself , or  have a dis a menu display that comes up on your television and can b be controlled through the device . user interface: And that would allow you to access access the advanced features  whilst keeping a very small and simple set of buttons for the features that you use most often . industrial designer: So you'd be advocating an L_C_D_ then ? user interface: I think that's that's one way to go , yes . user interface:   there are there are advantages and disadvantages if you if you have an L_C_D_ display , it's it's nice , because it's it it lets you just sort of sit there and st and control your television from your armchair . user interface: There are disadvantages , an an L_C_D_ display would have to be quite small , 'cause we're we're I industrial designer: Right user interface: well we're I assume we're gonna be making quite a small device .  it would also have to have  a kind of backlighting in it , 'cause you ten you tend to watch T_V_ in the dark , project manager: user interface: but you need to be able to see your L_D_D_ L_C_D_ display . The alternative is to have a an on-screen display on your television that you control through your remote control .  a bit like a bit like how they have these  digital boxes where you you press the buttons and it comes up with your this thing of watch lo what's on each channel . It's it can it does have it's problems as well , if you've got a small T_V_ and you're sitting on the other side of a room , it's hard to read the little text that comes up . project manager: I do think that  one of the important features for a remote is seeing a menu and seeing what's on . project manager: like favourite channels is is applicable , but I think th that you do need to have some kind of function where it's  you have t you can see the title of the show or possibly a description of it . industrial designer: Well Are you are you tak project manager: Like I I know I use that often enough . marketing: Wait , but is that separate from what he was saying ? project manager: Well industrial designer: Yeah . project manager: if it if it was a L_ L_C_D_ on th on the remote , I don't know that you could f that you'd be able to see a industrial designer: No , I think I think we're talking menu like contrast and tuning the V_C_R_ or something if I've understood you correctly , rather than menu as what's on . 'Cause that would be more specifically a digital box , user interface: But it's it's it's something to bear in mind is that if we put a display on the remote control the c  communication is one way , project manager: user interface: so you can't have the televisions and information back to the remote control , at least I don't think you can . marketing: Should I plug that in ? project manager: marketing: user interface: Is that going on ? Okay . marketing: Is it on ? Ri What F_ do you have to press , project manager: Eight . Basically , I was given  an executive summary that was a market investigation on remote controls that was recently conducted , and then also some fashion watchers in Paris and Milan commented on some things that are gonna be going on this year . project manager: marketing: So first  they had people they ranked  the important aspects of r remote controls , and right now i d they're saying that currently there's a functional look and feel preference , but that really , over the next year it it that's gonna be switching to fancy look and feel remotes , so that just goes back to the whole desire of our c Real Reaction company wanting to focus on fashion and so , even though we're stressing , when we're talking , we've all been talking about this like simplicity and easy to use idea , they're sort of wanting us to remember that the number one thing for everyone is that it's fancy look and feel . And as these are ranked , the top one is doubly important to the second one , which is doubly important to the third one , industrial designer: Okay . That would be like if we use something like the space material or the L_C_D_ screen , things like that . And then ease of use was the third most important , whi so really , no matter what , we need to focus the most on fancy look and feel , according to this . And then the fashion watch talks about that this year's top trend for clothes , industrial designer: user interface: marketing: shoes and furniture is fruits and vegetables and tha that there's a preference for spongy , tight material . industrial designer: project manager: marketing: Personally , I don't really think that I want one that's gonna go out of style or go stale , excuse the pun ,  in a year , so user interface: marketing: even though this is coming from us as , you know , trend watch , market research , I don't know how much of it we necessarily wanna take away . industrial designer: marketing: Also , considering that the d research b has been carried out by Real Reaction , I'm a little hesitant as to like , how these questions may have been worded , and if necessarily this whole fashion to technology y edas ease of use is necessarily the right ranking . Personally , like I might reverse it , but if we're working for this company then I guess no matter what , we have to stress fashion the most . user interface: industrial designer: That there's all kinds of scope for imagination in that one though . I don't have a lot of notes to share if you want them , industrial designer: user interface: marketing: that pretty much sums it up . marketing: Yeah , what can I possibly enlighten on ? project manager:  do you have any ideas how to possibly use these ?  how to how to use a fruit or vegetable or  or the spongy material at all ? user interface: project manager: Like could we make a s like could we make a spongy remote ? It would be easier on the hands . industrial designer: If it's latex if it's latexy project manager: It's kind of and then it industrial designer: mean project manager: we would have to find a way to protect like the chip and all that , user interface: A kind of thing that project manager: I dunno . But industrial designer: An  I if th my understanding of a latex case is that it's in fact hard to protect stuff inside , project manager: industrial designer: but that it's covered with the latex , which is spongier and softer on your hands . It's there's something to be said ,  we we got that thing earlier from you about  not wanting it to R_ R_ repetitive stress injuries and things project manager: industrial designer: Yeah , marketing: Yeah , so something , m m instead of a necess industrial designer: something grippable ,  we don't we don't we don't wanna go spongy , maybe . marketing: yeah , grip , I'm thinking grip more than like sinking into your hands , user interface: Yeah . marketing: you know , i and I think I'm envisioning more like , you know , the material that you have when you sit on like a bicycle , industrial designer: Yeah . marketing: so that it doesn't hurt when you're sitting down for a long time , industrial designer: marketing: like I'm imagining that sort of thing , I don't know what th that material's called . industrial designer: Yeah , I think that given the list of materials I w I was forwarded it's that seems doable . could we go in fruit and vegetable colours ? We could colour-co-ordinate them , project manager: F for sure , or maybe like marketing: industrial designer: li project manager:  couple main ones being like , I dunno , lemons or strawberries or something . project manager: Could they be smelly ? user interface: I Is it supposed to be shaped like a vegetable ?  like  I dunno , like  carrots or something . marketing: project manager: Or carrot shaped , industrial designer: it's quite easy to s shape thing like carrot project manager:  . industrial designer: isn't it ? user interface: Maybe , project manager: Like large button , industrial designer: Or maybe the buttons could be shaped like different fruits . marketing: What about the idea of like a round remote ? Instead of like a vertical up and down one . project manager: would you think you you do you think you'd be able to hold it ? marketing: Just to tie it in a little . When you when you use a remote , do you press the buttons with your thumb , usually ? Or your fingers ? marketing: Yeah . Maybe industrial designer: I user interface: Or maybe you want something that's shaped like a mobile phone , so you you hold it in one hand , and you press the buttons with your thumb . project manager: Don't you think ? industrial designer: No marketing: Yeah , industrial designer: just thumb-sized . industrial designer: Jus project manager: But  in order to get to all of them , marketing: But I like i project manager: you know . user interface: But if you've only got like four or five buttons anyway , then it's it's not so much a problem , perhaps . I When I'm when I'm pressing buttons on my iPod , that's how I do it , hold it and press the four . user interface: So you hold it in one hand and you press you press the buttons with your thumb project manager: industrial designer: Yeah , or in and use my thumb or my pointer finger on the touch scroll wheel . user interface: and And you find that works quite well ? marketing: I love the idea of the wheel like the iPod . user interface: Is that marketing: 'Cause th user interface: The button on an iPod , is it what is it , is it just four buttons or is it li more like a scroll thing ? marketing: It's like five , project manager: It's a scroll , yeah , it's a wheel . industrial designer: yeah , it would  each version of it has been a little bit different , project manager: The one I have doesn't have the four on i like around it , I don't think . industrial designer: but Oh yeah , you had one of the in-between ones , when they weren't doing that anymore . marketing: I think why it would be good for us is 'cause like you could have the same wheel sort of effect for like channel flipping and then the other one could be like for volume . marketing: Like just the idea of like those industrial designer:   marketing: so few buttons for main things , industrial designer: t marketing: but then how you could go back to the menu and like , I dunno if we would want it on the screen there or on the actual T_V_ . marketing: 'cause if you're changing the brightness , don't you wanna see it happening , kind of ? industrial designer:  . industrial designer: Yeah , I think an L_C_D_ screen might be good in theory , but not as useful in practice . Also z yeah , 'cause you would be z looking down at the L_C_D_ screen , than back up at your T_V_ industrial designer: Right . industrial designer:  project manager: Okay  we have we've about fifteen minutes left , industrial designer: Oh we probably have to get going , don't we ? project manager: so I'm I'm gonna continue with my pres presentation .  I've one more slide before we close , but in that slide is when we need to make decisions about this these kinds of things , so I'll just bring that up and show you all industrial designer: 'Kay .  industrial designer: Could Could we  could we have changeable covers like for your mobile ? In different fruit and vegetable colours , marketing: If I get any more information of fruits and vegetables , I'll let you know . project manager: Yeah , and then like the the covers could be spongy latex industrial designer: Exactly . user interface: I think maybe th the packaging , it should be like a lemon and the the packaging is like the peel . user interface: So instead of opening the box you just kind of peel it , and the remote control's inside . marketing: Lemons ? industrial designer: user interface: project manager: Okay ,  marketing: project manager: components concept . project manager: G industrial designer: Right , I had sort of skipped over that hoping it wouldn't get be necessary but  project manager: That's th th this is the agenda they gave me . So can you just explain what that is real quick ? industrial designer: Alright , so  decisions , what the okay deci decisions on energy I'm thinking is based on the battery . industrial designer:  I dunno , what do people think about this kinetic battery idea ? project manager: I think it's awesome . user interface: Yeah ,  I think it's good , as as long as we consider the the cost and the  how reliable it is , industrial designer: Right , I haven't gotten any user interface: but as far as I know , the technology is good . industrial designer: yeah , any more information on cost other than it's more expensive than a regular battery , but  but if we're using a an i a cheaper chip , then it'll even out , I think . They're they're thin fibreglass with copper wires etched on to them , and di I think they're quite easily printed on by machine , which is chip on print is where the machine prints on the wires and solders it all together for us . project manager: industrial designer: I don't really know what to tell you as far as decisions . I wasn't really given any options , I was just given that this is how they're done . But I don't know any decisions on marketing: project manager: If they're if they're really options . industrial designer: I did f user interface: Al all circuit boards are pretty much the same , I think .  oh bu I guess maybe if we decided on like a simple , a regular , or an advanced chip , maybe . Well okay , here's the here's the thing on the chips that I that I got .  , 'kay , the pushbutton if we're gonna have pushbuttons , they require a simple chip , but a scroll wheel requires a regular chip , and an L_C_D_ requires advanced . Do we want a scroll wheel , or do we just want pushbuttons ? user interface:  I don't think we ne really need the scroll whe wheel . user interface:  but project manager: but I don't know how useful it'd be for changing the channel . 'Cause you don't have control over numbers user interface: I don't think it would really work . marketing: Yeah , it's a project manager: or industrial designer: Yeah , user interface: Yeah , you really need buttons for changing a channel . industrial designer: th it'd be it'd be handy for going through if there was an on-screen menu of your channel choices , than you can scroll down on the scroll . marketing: But if you c if you could scroll through the channels , and then the volume would just be user interface: Yeah . marketing: and the volume would just be like the same way , forward and backward as I'm just thinking like it would make it much like sleeker sort of looking . marketing: And otherwise , no matter how may buttons we have , we're gonna have like , you know , black with red sticking out and th no it's gonna inevitably sort of start looking like those group of sort of ugly ones that we saw stacked up . project manager: So , have a scroll for volume ? industrial designer: F or for all those secret functions ? project manager: F industrial designer: When you get on the on-screen menu of all your functions that your remote could do for you without the buttons and you could have a scroll wheel to go through those menus . user interface: I think yeah , I think a scroll wheel would be nice , but it's not necessary . So we could either go with a simple or a regular chip , depending and maybe we could table that decision for later . project manager: I think w well I think when we go on to the une userface , we're gonna have to decide the interface we're gonna have to decide  whether we're gonna have a scroll or not . industrial designer:  I'm kinda liking the idea of latex , if if spongy is the in thing . project manager: I'm a little  I'm a little hesitant about it , because I'm worried about protecting the stuff on the inside . project manager:  marketing: Oh could it be hard , and then something around it ? industrial designer:  yeah , everything I've project manager: Yeah , I would be more okay with like a titanium actual thing and then maybe like a mobile phone kind of thing . industrial designer: N oh wha what I've what I've seen , just not related to this , but of latex cases before , is that there's  like a hard plastic inside , and it's just covered with the latex . industrial designer: Not too thick a layer of latex , just enough to be grippable , like bike handles or or anything that you've seen like that . I don't think we need to worry about protecting the circuit board , project manager: Ge o industrial designer: I think that that's done for us . Okay  let's go to the ufe user interface then we'll come back to the chip I suppose . industrial designer: Oh and we want a curved case , yeah ? Or a double-curved ? project manager: Well , we don't really know what the difference is , right ? marketing: I'm thinking curved of some sort . industrial designer: We don't really know what the difference project manager:  okay , interface , the type and the supplements . So push or scroll , user interface:  project manager: right ? Or both ? user interface: Yep .  And I think if we wanna keep our costs down , we should just go for pushbuttons , 'cause then we can have a a simple chip and it's simpler , it's it's cheaper to make pushbuttons than it is a scroll button . user interface: So in terms of  in terms of  economics it's probably better to have pushbuttons . And if we had a sc an on-screen  kind of thing that you could scroll through , like you can use your buttons to scroll through things . For channel surfing I think a scroll an actual like an iPod's kind of scroll thing would be too fast , I dunno . I say pushbuttons at least unless we get any information but I have no idea how much more expensive a scroll wheel is than than a pushbutton , but it's gotta be some more expensive , so I think it might be better to put our money into the stuff like the kinetic battery and the cool case user interface: Yeah . project manager: Is that okay with you ? industrial designer: because project manager: How you feeling ? marketing: Yeah .  I'm not like hard-sold on the scroll wheel , it's more just to give it a different kind of look , project manager: marketing: but if it's gonna be in a latex type thing and that's gonna look cool , then that's probably gonna have a bigger impact than the scroll wheel . project manager: Okay , so we're gonna go with  type pushbuttons , and then supplements , user interface: Yep . project manager: how are we gonna do that ? user interface:  what do you mean by supplements , exactly ? project manager:  I assume that's what else we're gonna like h ha the  the additional buttons we can use . user interface:  project manager: So we're gonna have like a menu button , industrial designer: Oh . project manager: Okay ,  so we're doing an on-screen menu that we can scroll through . user interface:  in industrial designer: So what are what are our buttons gonna be ? user interface: Yeah . industrial designer: So like one through five , or user interface: Yeah , yeah marketing: Like a radio type sorta situation ? user interface: about yeah like yeah , a bit like radio presets .  project manager: Pre-set channels and then we're gonna need  numbers one through zero , right ? user interface:  we wouldn't even need the numbers . project manager: Well , but in order to pre-set a cha oh I guess you can just hold it down when you get to one when you're scrolling through . user interface: and you need some kind of , I dunno , sort of up down kind of button , industrial designer: Yeah , up down .  our next meeting starts in thirty minutes , industrial designer: project manager:  you each have things to do , look and feel design , user interface design , product evaluation , and you two are going to work together on a prototype using modelling clay . project manager:  did we decide on a chip ? Let's go with a simple chip ? industrial designer: Simple chip


Okay  the agenda we're gonna do an opening and then  I'll talk about the minutes from the last meeting , what we d discussed  , then we'll have the prototype presentation and a look at the evaluation criteria . So , starting off with the  last the last one , oh I don't have it here  , but we talked about energy , we're gonna use a kinetic battery  , we want to use a simple chip , because we're not gonna need a a shuffle  , we're gonna need a scroll  , we're choosing a latex case w in fruity colours that's curved and  we're using push buttons  with a supplement of an on-screen menu . user interface: Right , do you wanna start ? industrial designer: Right , well we made three different prototypes and I guess we'll start with with this one .  it's you hold it sort of either like like this in your left hand or you switch it over and  it's easily adaptable to either hand . You can push the buttons with your thumb like a mobile phone , or you can push them with your index finger of your other hand , or even  there's a whole variety , you can hold it like this and press it with your same index finger . We have our up and down buttons , which are also gonna be our channel selectors , and we have our little menu button here . If you push if you're just pushing these normally , they're the menu buttons , if  the volume buttons rather . If we press select three times , the menu with the other features and pro possibly also with your T_V_ channel choices shows up , and you have your five presets down here . industrial designer: or shall I present the Martian ? user interface: Okay , project manager: The little lightning bolt in it , very cute . user interface:  What We call that one the rhombus , marketing: I could project manager: The v the rhombus rhombus ? user interface:  the rhombus . user interface:  this one is known as the potato ,  it's industrial designer: user interface: it's a marketing: user interface: how can I present it ? It's an ergonomic shape , so it it fits in your hand nicely .  the red ones are for  changing channels , channel up and channel down and that's  moves between your favourite channels that you've selected .  this middle button here brings up the on-screen menu and when you're working in the on-screen menu you use the other four buttons to navigate around the menu system and the middle button  to select and that's basically it , that's the potato . project manager:  on , off ? user interface:  that would be one of your channels , basically , project manager: Okay . user interface: so like channel zero would be t to switch switch the machine off , project manager: Yeah we turn it off . marketing: Could the middle button of the on-screen menu function as a power button ? user interface:  not really , industrial designer: user interface: it would make it hard to turn the machine off , to turn your T_V_ off . project manager: industrial designer: And then you have on the sides to make it a little bit more three-dimensional , you have your channel changing , volume changing buttons and your menu button right here in the middle . So , that's for your consideration as well , plus it's an interesting talking point to have standing up . industrial designer: We figured it could stand up like this on your table , if you wanted it to , if I made the bot the bottom flat . marketing: Sorry , what's the yellow one in the middle , industrial designer:  the menu select button .  basically , in terms of making decisions , what we'd need to do is first of all decide on a form  which of the three different shapes we want , then decide what kind of button layout we want , how many buttons , and then to choose what colours we want to make the buttons and if we wanna put any text on the device , like label on the buttons or put a brand name or or a logo on it or whatever . industrial designer: We were we were thinking that normally we'd go for fruity colours , but maybe we're also thinking that your sort of middle aged man , for an example customer , might not want a fruity coloured remote , so m maybe we'd have one version that's a bit toned down , project manager:  'kay . Yeah , something still a little bright to make it hard to lose , but user interface: Would Yeah , but we don't want it to look like a kids' toy . I don't know if you picked up your email , but  the f the  feature that we considered for it not getting lost . Well we were we were talking about that a little bit when we got that email and we think that each of these are so distinctive , that it it's not just like another piece of technology around your house . industrial designer: So we're we're not thinking that it's gonna be as critical to have the loss marketing: But if it's like under covers or like in a couch you still can't see it . project manager: It's really Would it be very difficult to  just have an external device that like I dunno , you tape to your to your T_V_  that when you press it you ha a little light beep goes off ? Do you think that would be conceptually possible ? industrial designer: I think user interface: I think it would be difficult technologically , project manager: user interface: because if your if your remote's lost it's probably under the settee and in that case you can't you can't send an infrared sing signal to it to find it , project manager:  . user interface: s so it's I'm not quite sure how it would work project manager: That's true ,  'kay . user interface: and then I wonder if it's if it's more just a gimmick then anything else .   ho how many times do you really , seriously lose your remote control and would would a device like that actually help you to find it ? industrial designer: There might be something that you can do in the circuit board and the chip to make it make a noise or something , but it would take a lot more development than we have this afternoon . Okay 'cause well , the designs are very bright , so you're right , they're gonna stick out , but  industrial designer: So d do people have a preference as far as feel and functionality ?  . marketing: I feel like this is simil or it's sort of what already exists so if we're trying to think of something sort of like new and fun , even though this is like what you're init I'm initially drawn to , just 'cause it's like comfortable and like not different . I sort of like this one , like I I don't know why , it just it's like small but still sort of like cute looking , I dunno . But I also like the b the side buttons on that one , like I think that's kind of neat . marketing: But I dunno how much any of this has to do with the fashionable , sort of cool looking thing that we also need to focus on . project manager: Could we maybe have like an extra button on the top for on off ? So then w we wouldn't have to have like a dual function ? industrial designer:  yeah , user interface: Yeah , it's possible , yeah , yeah . industrial designer: project manager:   why don't we do a product evaluation using your criteria , if you've developed some ? marketing: Well do we w like I think we're supposed to have one that we do it for . marketing: That was industrial designer: So where marketing: I was a little vague on what exactly I'm supposed to do , but let me I have to like write something on the whiteboard , so . Do you need this industrial designer: project manager: or just write on the white board ? marketing: No , I actually don't have like a PowerPointy thing , project manager: Okay . project manager: It's kind of like  like a joystick kind of thing , industrial designer: Ooh . project manager: Oh it does , industrial designer: project manager: it's kind of like industrial designer: user interface: It's like a deformed foot , I dunno . project manager: There it could have a stem like that , 'cause I do l kind of like the stem . industrial designer: is that where people are leaning then , the potato ? I like the idea of the project manager: I think I'm leaning towards the potato .  in that like i withing menus there are submenus , and so how do you get back to the main menu ? industrial designer:  . industrial designer: Well that on the iPod , for example , you just every time you wanna go back you hit the menu button again and it brings you back one level . project manager: But that has a menu button separate from a select button , whereas if this one's both the menu and the select button ? user interface: Yeah . user interface: This is , it's the up and down buttons are used for scrolling up and down for a list of choices . industrial designer: maybe it can be one of those , if you press down and hold for two seconds , then it brings you back one level or something . Well , as long as we have that in mind as we're designing it still ,  'kay . marketing: Okay , so which one are we sort of roughly looking at to address whether or not it meets our s  necessities , the yellowy one is that industrial designer: The potato ? Are we leaning towards the potato ? user interface: Potato . marketing: So basically what we need to do is some of the things that we've talked about before we need to make sure that that remote actually does conform to the things that we said it was going to . marketing: So what we sort of wanna do is that we each need to separately rank each of the following things and then I'll tabulate an average just to make sure that it does meet that . marketing: So we'll just go through them one at a time and we'll just go around and each of you can tell me on a scale of one to seven with one being really extremely true and seven being not true at all , or false , if the remote that we've created conforms to the following criteria . So like in my opinion the for now at least , the yellow one is probably somewhere in the middle so I'm gonna say it's like a three . marketing: What does each of you project manager: I I kind of think it's it's unique enough that I'd give it a one or a two . Alright , and same sort of scale for functionality , is it functional ? I think it's extremely functional , I'm gonna give it a one . marketing: One ? user interface: I think it's it's functional , it's also pretty basic , so I'll give it a two . I think it'll get everything done , I think it might be a little confusing at first , I don't know if that's gonna be a later one . Well there's some other ones , I will address that , project manager: Okay , then I'm gonna give it a two . Not really ,  not so much , 'cause we we don't have the L_C_D_ screen , we don't have fancy chip . Other than what it looks like , I dunno if it's really project manager: Well , the kinetic battery . But it project manager: But they'll notice it after like a year , marketing: but we know it's there . marketing: And if it's made of like latex , that whole idea , that's pretty cool . 'Cause it we could've picked a lot of features that would've made it really industrial designer: Yeah . I I would say that it's Yeah , like fancy versus creative it's it's different . Everyone else ? user interface: I'd say it's technologically it's not it's not unique ,  it's it's just it is just pushbuttons  , so I I'd give it a four . marketing: Next , is it easy to use ? Just so you know , easy to learn will be separate , project manager:  'kay .  we next wanna see if it has a spongy quality industrial designer: user interface: marketing: and if indeed it's made of latex or rubber I it's spongy all the way . user interface: Yeah marketing: Iain , what do you give it ? user interface: I'd I'd give it a one . marketing: Alright and the next is , does it integrate some notion of fruits and vegetables ? industrial designer: user interface:   . marketing: Well , is it gonna be yellow ? industrial designer: It it might be , 'cause that's our corporate colour , isn't it ? project manager: That's right , yeah , corporate colour , we didn't keep that in user interface: Yeah . project manager: if we I know it would make it a little less c a little more confusing , but if we had all the buttons in black , and a design in and the outside in yellow , that'd be our corporate one and we could also have alternative colours , one a more conservative one , one that's more fruity . user interface: Yeah , project manager:  and can we have like an R_R_ inscribed on the bottom or something ? industrial designer: If we had a yellow Sure . industrial designer: So marketing: Alright , so I think it it's industrial designer: it was inspired by the potato , so I think it's pretty fruity . industrial designer: That's a much more trendy than a potato marketing: What are what's everyone's numbers ? industrial designer: one . industrial designer: marketing: Alright  , and does the design match the appropriate behaviour ? Remember earlier we discussed that people don't use a lot of buttons , that they use the channel flipping and the volume the most . I think we really took that into account a lot , so I'm gonna give it a one . marketing: Okay  , also we talked earlier about R_S_I_ and wanting to prevent  any sort of like Carpal Tunnely kind of thing . Do we think that the latex sort of grip appropriately takes that into account ? I think I'll give it a two , 'cause I almost feel like no matter what you do , something is gonna happen . project manager: And if it's repetitive movement it is gonna be only four buttons that you're constantly pushing , but  marketing:   worth the risk , I think . project manager: I like how it fits in the hand though so I I'd go with a two . Because older people that aren't used to like texting with the thumb might find it a bit at first , project manager:  . I just got mine , I still haven't read the instruction book and I'm doing okay , so project manager:  . industrial designer: The menu system and the the fact that multiple buttons are used for different things might be a bit confusing , but I think if it's one it's one of those things that it might take you five minutes to figure out , but you'll have it afterwards . user interface: I think it it's probably a little harder then most remotes to learn , because you have to you have to use the menu system and you have to tell it what your favourite channels are industrial designer: Oh , good point . user interface: once you've , yeah once you'd learned how to use it , I think it is a lot easier . It's a pretty high learning curve , it'll be easy once you've done it , but industrial designer: user interface: Yeah . Alright ,  also earlier we had something about losing it and so now we're not addressing that at all , so project manager: We we industrial designer: project manager: I think we can kind of say we addressed it with colour , but marketing: Okay , so in terms of not losing it , do you think that on a scale of one to seven , how easy or hard is it to lose ? I'm gonna I'm gonna give it a four , 'cause I think that you can still if it's in between somewhere where you can't see it , you're kind of not gonna find it , project manager: industrial designer:  I'd say I'd give it  a three , I guess it depends on how tidy you are normally . user interface:  I'll give it a five 'cause i it would be easy to lose something like that , yeah . marketing: Alright , we also said simplicity , how w how well does it address just being simple ? industrial designer: Simple to use or simple in design ? Do you know ? marketing: I think overall , 'cause we had said before our two main things were simplicity and fashion , industrial designer: marketing: so those are the next two things we're gonna look at . marketing:  it like wants to be simple but it's not like totally totally simple , so I'm gonna give it a two . industrial designer: user interface: marketing: It's hot ,  it's a mango , come on . marketing:  how fashionable can you make a remote ? I think it's bringing technology and fashion together real really well . user interface: industrial designer: I don't think it's quite as fashionable as my robot remote project manager: I do like  the little Martian one . marketing: And does it meet our like demographic need sort of for international appeal , that whole thing ? Just that it would se serve our audience . marketing: Alright , did anyone have any other features that they think were important that we didn't talk about ? project manager: Well  we didn't we didn't address the fact that it does need to b have a corporate logo , so let's let's make sure we keep that in mind that we ha that one of our colours concepts is corporate and has an R_R_ on it . marketing: And so we're gonna do that , so it will address it , project manager:  I have an Excel sheet that we're actually gonna calculate the cost  , so let me exit out of this first . marketing: Well don't we need plastic , and industrial designer: No , we we the plastic is the plastic for the inside is assumed . project manager: The wood ? industrial designer: Oh , I guess it was rubber rather than latex . marketing: Do we have more than one special colour ? project manager: Yeah , we're using we're gonna need at least two special colours . marketing: Well , but we know that we're having at least three colours , project manager: So let's y say three . marketing: so industrial designer: Well , are we talking about on each colour combination or are we , you know , we'll like we'll have yellow and black . That I thi industrial designer: Or or is white and black , then two more or project manager: I thought that would be under yours . project manager: Maybe the R_R_ will be in colour as well , industrial designer: Alright . Oh , we'll do we wa Are the buttons in special colour , special f I didn't get information on project manager: Oh , marketing: Oh wait . So the case material will just have one colour , right , industrial designer: Well , project manager: but then the buttons will be in special colours ? industrial designer: does it marketing: Yeah . industrial designer: but if we're making multiple varieties of this is where I'm getting confused . project manager: Okay , so each unit will only have one colour on their industrial designer: Alright , and each button s project manager: but the case is could have up to thr  the buttons could ea could be up to three colours , 'cause that how it's designed there . project manager: Special form ? They're all kind of just push button , industrial designer: No , project manager: right ? industrial designer: I think they're fine . project manager: Special material ? industrial designer: Material , we want them rubber as well probably , yeah . Oh do I have to do it per button , do I ? industrial designer: No , I don't think so . project manager: Yeah , what can we reduce ? industrial designer: Okay , let's have our buttons all be one colour . Okay , it's the kinetic battery that's kind of expensive , but we have a simple chip , single curve , marketing: project manager: case material is rubber and it's a special colour , industrial designer: Yeah . How did it get more expensive , what did you just change ? project manager: What ? industrial designer: It was it was thirteen and now it's fifteen . marketing: We industrial designer: user interface: What was our target price again ? project manager: Twelve point five . Satisfaction with for example the room for creativity , leadership , teamwork , the means , any new ideas found . So I guess what we're gonna talk about here is just evaluating how we created this project , the information we got on the news , how we used it , if we were able to  , you know , use our creativity with the information ,  how how well I guess I led it ,  the how well we worked together as a team ,  the digital pens , the whiteboard . user interface: in that we've achieved almost all of the design goals that we've set industrial designer: Yeah . industrial designer: I think we could've done even better with a little bit more information , project manager: industrial designer: like what's a single-curved case , how many colours , what do colours count project manager: industrial designer: things , but given given what we had I think that we did we did really well . marketing: Yeah ,  if I'd had more market research on the fruits and vegetables , maybe we could've taken that into account . industrial designer: Do you think we could user interface: marketing: No ,  I thought the pen was a little distracting for me personally , like its heaviness , and like just being so conscious of like turning the pages , I dunno . marketing: That was the last one , like I chose not to do a PowerPoint 'cause I didn't think it made sense to , so I liked that I had the option to do that and just to take my own notes and that whole sort of thing . marketing: project manager: I don't think anybody dominated it , which I thought was really good , like each of us was able to  like each of you had your information and I  I tried to facilitate it without like taking over ,  industrial designer: Yeah . user interface: industrial designer: Should we have that somewhere on the packaging ? I have a little R_R_ . project manager: I know , industrial designer: project manager: let's think of it like a little jingle . industrial designer: marketing: I like the R_R_ , that's gonna be etched in . Hopefully not with just my fingernail at some point but  it's quite a useful little gadget . What did we find for new ideas ? project manager: new ideas found ? industrial designer: People should really base their remotes on fruits and vegetables . user interface: industrial designer: That was marketing: Yeah , I didn't even know they existed . industrial designer: I I knew you can get watches that had them , like really quite expensive watches that just never need a battery , 'cause you're always moving your wrist .  so , this is the great product kids , I think we've created something really interesting and that we have a market for it ,  especially if we can produce it at twelve point three industrial designer: Yeah . Make sure in your questionnaire to put down criticisms of both the process and the  the final results and . industrial designer: user interface: project manager: If we could choose more than one , that would be my second choice . industrial designer: marketing: project manager: I'm afraid I would user interface: That's cool . industrial designer: It started because I wanted to have it as st as a stem user interface: Break the stem off . industrial designer: Is it started as a pear , but then it started looking more and more like a Martian project manager: Oh industrial designer: when I put the user interface: marketing: Kind of looks like a penguin , like with no eye . user interface: industrial designer: So are are project manager: user interface: That was bound to happen.$ marketing: Oh , sad . Anything else to say ? marketing: Nothing will come up until after our meeting's supposed to be over , project manager: Alright . project manager: I got more master classes , anybody else wanna like take a master's class ? industrial designer: It's really funny that you got spam in your work emails . marketing: industrial designer: user interface: marketing: industrial designer: marketing: No the first one that you sent like I didn't realise that it was a joke and I was like why did she send this to us ? project manager: Oh industrial designer: marketing: It's very it's very work relevant , project manager: It is . project manager: Yes definitely industrial designer: Let's see , project manager: I'm very sad that I didn't get any links to the corporate website . industrial designer: what did I get through the corporate website ? It's just inspiration about circuit boards . project manager: I love Excel , marketing: Here , like , basically project manager: it's one of my favourite programs . marketing: it's like inspiration , basically I'm gonna give you two sentences on fashion and that kind of thing , see . industrial designer: Yeah , my inspiration from from last time is the in interior of a remote control being taken apart bit by bit , talking about circuit boards . industrial designer: Now I have all about circuits and chips and transponders and I wrote it all down , because I thought it would be relevant , like all the different parts of the inside of a remote control , but then they're like , you don't actually need this you just need to talk about the case . marketing: That's like mine it was like , would you prefer an L_C_D_ screen or a multifunction remote control ? And then it didn't have like any kind of table , like awesome , I'm glad they asked that question and didn't report the result . industrial designer: and user interface: We didn't we didn't use the whiteboard that much . project manager: Although I don't see how we could have very l at least for me user interface: industrial designer: I yeah . If I'd gotten pictures of the different parts of the case , the different looks of the case , I would have probably drawn them up , project manager:  . industrial designer: but marketing: 'Cause we weren't like voting on anything and I think usually , like whiteboards are good , you know like crossing out ideas , or like if we had had like a brainstorming period . industrial designer: Yeah , we could've put our brainstorming stuff up there rather than just talking about it , project manager: project manager: And with and with the PowerPoint that we can all look at , like you can do all those things pretty much on PowerPoint industrial designer: I think if you had a larger group marketing: Get crazy . marketing: And these might've made us more willing to like take notes than to like write up them here , project manager:  . industrial designer: We if we were all gonna stay in here all the time , then having the notes up on the whiteboard would've been alright , project manager: project manager: Now when you were  creating your  prototypes here , did you work together or did you like do separate projects ? user interface:  we we worked together , industrial designer: Yeah . user interface:  but we were making like we sort of made different shapes and then discussed how the how the buttons might work , project manager: industrial designer: So it was a bit of both really , we just kind of started out by each taking a colour of clay and just fooling around with it and I came up with that rhombus shape project manager: industrial designer: and he came up with the sort of potatoey , mangoey shape , and then just went from there really . user interface: I think we did well in first of all giving our meetings the time , project manager: It's kinda fun . user interface: and second we actually we we did a good job of making firm decisions at the ends of the meetings . user interface: I know what happens sometimes is that you tend to sort of have meetings and then people sorta drift away without anything actually really being decided . user interface: But I think here we got we got clear and and decisive decisive points at the end of the meetings , so that we we knew where to go on from there . industrial designer: Yeah , I was quite worried at the end of the last meeting that we weren't getting we didn't really have enough information to make firm decisions , project manager: I'm not usually a very decisive person , so it helped to have people say this needs to be done in five minutes . project manager: I found that we did we could have used another five or ten minutes sometimes in the meetings . project manager: Yeah I think the last time we had a lot of information , but at the same time not quite enough , industrial designer: Yeah , project manager: you know what  , industrial designer: Yeah . And I I felt the first two meetings , that I was coming in with no information , project manager:  . industrial designer: and not sort of made me really like , ooh I don't know , throwing together PowerPoint out of no no information and then last time it was like the opposite . project manager: It was interesting what came out like later , like as I was doing the when I was doing the breakdown on the agenda that they gave me  , that more points came out from your presentation even . I'm a little I am a little disappointed that we didn't do a  something for losing the remote , because that was kind of a big point . that was something like in order to talk about that we would've had to have actual knowledge about circuit boards and things like project manager: About yeah . marketing: Well the problem was , even when we just were creating from the Excel file , there wasn't like a option to select to somehow have it included , project manager: marketing: There was no way for us to have project manager: Considered the re industrial designer: Yeah . project manager: Well marketing: project manager: it's interesting that they industrial designer: I think we really got into it ,  I got into it as the day went on and I got really like , ooh I'm designing a remote control , I dunno if that's just me , project manager: - , yeah . industrial designer: but project manager: It was interesting though that they put that fifty percent of people say they have frustration with losing their remote and yet they didn't provide us with information to  we weren't provided with information to discuss that . project manager: I know that like people people have like things they can put on their keys that you press it and it'll beep , but I but I'm sure that would require some kind of technology industrial designer: Yeah . project manager: that I just don't know what it is , but industrial designer: I think there are some of those like infomercial remotes that have things so you won't lose them .  we were talking about it and like i in my household at least , there's only about two places that the remote is ever project manager:  . industrial designer: 'cause there's only one T_V_ and there's only like three chairs . marketing: That's like saying you're never gonna lose your keys , and I always do , anyway . marketing: like you just will forget that or you like put it down somewhere that like made sense and then not remember , project manager:  . project manager: It d yeah , it depends on how organised you are personally , but industrial designer: Yeah , or like I guess what the setup of the house is too . industrial designer: But ,  I am notorious for losing my keys , project manager: industrial designer: I just I guess I've just never lost the remote . industrial designer: You you're taking stuff from a bag and putting them in the refrigerator and then go back to my room . marketing: I always do that , leaving it in my coat , and then like using a different coat . industrial designer: But I guess it's 'cause we don't carry remotes around that much . Maybe with our little robot one we could've had him have a robot , alien , pear , whatever he is , have a little voice like , I am located marketing: industrial designer: Oh a G_P_S_ system , internal G_P_S_ . project manager: Or or like some crazy like electro-magnet , that you push it and it'll go zoom to the T_V_ and stick there . user interface: project manager: industrial designer: Just if you like you'd have a remote for your remote , that'll . project manager: Well , but if you could attach them to the T_V_ , then you can . I decided to you know how I sent you the email saying that PowerPoint minutes will be complimentary , rather than like repeating them . project manager: Just gonna make I'm making full minutes , so that it'll include all of the agenda and all that . project manager: But I didn't have like information to sloth through either , so industrial designer: Yeah , I guess How much of your PowerPoint was already done for you , every meeting . Yeah , I didn't even think about adding slides , 'cause I would just get slides with titles on them project manager:  . project manager: Well , the thing was they would provide y an agenda with s like several points , but it wouldn't have a slide for each point . project manager: I know personally when I do PowerPoint , that's what I do and so I had it once , even if it was just like the title of it , like the three presentations , and I would do your three . marketing: You have you have to have the slogan on it or can it just be like project manager: The slogan on it ? industrial designer: No , no , definitely not . industrial designer: No , I don't think we need to user interface: project manager: I think we just need the  the R_R_ , industrial designer: I think the R_ and R_ , especially if the yellow and black one . project manager: Yeah , I was just kinda going by the web page , 'cause they didn't give me any clear , like yellow , grey , or . marketing: project manager: Wasn't it interesting that  I thought it was interesting that our market marketing  expert did not agree with the marketing  marketing: Yes . project manager: the marketing choices , industrial designer: user interface: project manager: you know , like industrial designer: marketing: I will project manager: that was a bit of a conflict . marketing: I just feel like if you're really doing like a a really big market evaluation , you wouldn't just have like one set of source , industrial designer: marketing: it's kind of an they were so not backed up , it would just be a sentence like we did a survey , this is what people said . industrial designer: I guess it i it sort of a grey , isn't it ? Yellow and grey , but then the slogan's in blue


industrial designer: user interface: project manager: Yeah I kinda like this I'm kinda getting into it . So just to kick off the meeting basically  so we're working now for a real reaction , this is  so it right . Just got an agenda to set out what we're gonna try to accomplish in this particular first meeting .  We're gonna just do a quick opening and we can hopefully all get acquainted with one another  then we're gonna start talk a little bit about tool training . Essentially that means getting used to the only thing that we haven't tried out yet , the whiteboard .  we've got a general plan for the project how we're gonna go about accomplishing this and then just a bit of discussion close up .  I guess you know game or something  in real life  so yeah basically I want to I'm just gonna you got of course you can discuss that , I'm thinking about   proposing that since we've got this weird blend of ourselves and our roles that we just don't ask , don't tell .  so  if you say something about marketing , right , sorted ,  y is marketing: You're just gonna believe me , industrial designer: marketing: we'll go from there . project manager: obvi if if you guys if if at the same time if you like logically if something doesn't like if I'm like we're gonna sell a remote control that's the size of this paper book you know  you say like well that doesn't seem like such a good idea because of X_ obviously go with it .  we'll discuss it but I'm not gonna ask do you know that or  yeah it seems like marketing: Prove it project manager: yeah yeah exactly marketing: yeah , okay . project manager: so , 'cause we're what we're sort of role playing is y g yeah you're gonna tap into your own knowledge as well  . And that's the same for your when we do introductions   and you talk about your background you know have fun , you know maybe you went to   you know maybe i you're like in Maine you went to U_C_S_B_ but you wanna say you went to Harvard or something like that , why not , you know industrial designer: marketing: project manager: you can this is you know I guess we can have a little bit of fun with it . So are you guys okay with that does that seem logical ? industrial designer: Oh yeah , that's fine . So I guess that that we're totally we're making a remote control which is thrilling industrial designer: Right . project manager:   but the idea is that we can make something based on the whole corporate model I dunno if you guys had time to check the in real life I dunno if you guys  checked the   the corporate website .  we've got to make something as fashionable as possible , that's kind of the corporate strategy is we're gonna try to take ordinary stuff that nobody really thinks about and try to make it nice you know like John Lewis nice or you know if you go to Debenham's or something . So  basically we are reinventing the wheel but we wanna try to do it in a user friendly  slick sleek kind of way .  way we're gonna go about doing that is basically at first we're gonna start on the basics . And that's where I'm gonna need you guys the User Interface Designers and the   the other designer that I can't remember , marketing: project manager: the the I_D_ and the U_I_D_ right  the Industrial Designer industrial designer: user interface: marketing: project manager: hey right on alright , user interface:  . project manager: to guide me and guide us on this project 'cause you're gonna be you're g you guys are the bottom you know you're like no you can't do that you can't have you know X_ and Y_  at the same time . And then  we'll work up from what is necessary to more like what would be good , you know like  I I think you guys probably got the same emails I did but the idea of  , yes a coffee pot needs to be able to hold coffee but it's also better if it's not like really cheap glass so that it if you touch it you hurt your hand , or something like that .  and so we'll work up from there and  then we'll meet on and talk about it and then finally we'll incorporate as kind of the last stage you know where you guys build or tell me tell us what's possible and then you tell us what we can  hope for and what way to go take the the the take the basics and make it nicer and then ov obviously  the U_I_D_ and the I_D_ you know you you can keep on the you know sort of at the cutting edge of how to get about maximising what is possible  to try t of sync it all up .  right so for now just for th the white board  basically  just to get used to it , I haven't tried it yet either  I'm just gonna start and   carry like five remotes around  and just write down I'm just gonna write down one of the names of my  desert discs you know if you if you were trapped on a desert island and you could only bring five C_D_s along with you name one of them that you could , not all five , if you wanna write all five go for it but name one of them that you could  . marketing: project manager: I'm Marty , industrial designer: user interface: project manager:  I went to uni at  U_C_ Santa Barbara and I'm here working on a P_H_D_ in psychology . So marketing: I'm Sarah , I went to Michigan , and I'm here doing cultural studies and I'm the Marketing Manager or something . industrial designer: I'm Nathan , I'm from California , and I'm here doing a Masters degree in social anthropology . project manager: Where did you go to uni Nathan ? industrial designer: U_C_L_A_ . marketing: So do we have to wait for you to write it down or are you gonna tell us ? project manager: Well I'll t i marketing: I'm waiting to know . See I'm a big music fan I don't know if you guys are , I'm assuming everybody likes music to some lesser or greater extent marketing:  project manager: but there's some other options , if you're a T_V_ slut marketing: Fair enough . project manager: like I am like Smallville terrible television show industrial designer: user interface: project manager: but I happen to love it , marketing: Oh , Smallville .  and  oh well I might as well throw a British person in there  you can't go wrong with Radiohead . Alright so  user interface: project manager: whoever wants to get up next , you can write down some telly that you watch or whatever you want . Right now I'm listening to a lot of somebody nobody's ever heard of , Chris Bathgate , project manager:  . marketing: really lame user interface: marketing: and   what else did I bring with me ? Probably classical , to totally geek it out , project manager: Okay yeah yeah . Isn't h has h industrial designer: project manager: do you watch the new season ? marketing: No . Are you getting it online , project manager: I think I'm gonna start downloading it marketing: or is it on sky ? project manager: yeah . user interface: marketing: It's the five by five , I can't read that much . user interface: I just came from Glasgow project manager:  marketing: Seriously ? user interface: and I'm  happy to say that there's the there's the same quantity approximately . project manager: I have to be here for three years so I might as well get the terminology right . And I'm gonna go home next week and everyone's gonna be like oh my God you're turning into one of those people , project manager: Oh , have you been home yet ? user interface: project manager: They'll be like , say something British , marketing: no . project manager: Bad religion ? marketing: 'Cause industrial designer: Yeah , that's the music I grew up listening to . user interface: industrial designer: And so there marketing: Oh , now I can think of so many other ones . project manager: Where are you from in California by the way ? user interface: industrial designer: I grew up in San Diego , project manager: Did you really ? What part ? industrial designer: but yeah  La Jolla , P_B_ . industrial designer: But really  I last lived in San Francisco , I haven't lived in Cali well I haven't lived in southern California since I was eighteen . project manager: Going to s like North Carol I'm sorry you you just can't get a better burrito than what's available in the s in San Diego . 'Cause in San Diego th the tortillas are cooked on the grill and in northern California they steam them . project manager: Well it's it's i there's other things too there's you just can't place it marketing: Ah . project manager: like I when I went to school in the U_ in Santa Barbara which is central California the Mexican food is okay , it's just not good like and yeah it's like two bucks , industrial designer:  . industrial designer: Close t  do you know where Clare de Lune coffee shop is , project manager: Yes . industrial designer: Cafe Forte project manager: Yeah it's actually like literally half a mile from my house . project manager: a little bit introductions we talked about some of our C_D_s industrial designer: Wow . user interface: project manager: and things we like about the city you know , I think we'll user interface: project manager:  right so marketing: project manager: moving on to not fun stuff  project finance . user interface: project manager:  basically what we're trying to do is sell this remote for twenty five Euros . This is what the finance department has told me , the C_F_O_ but I don't know , I'm not sold on this , it's pretty dear ,  twenty f that's like you know forty bucks for a remote . project manager: what we can maybe work on that a later but we're gonna make a lot on it , the profit aims to make fifty million Euros on it . So  one of the things I I was gonna mention to you  you guys the designers is that  it m we probably need a rever it needs to be a universal remote control probably . project manager: something that could do N_T_S_C_ as well as PAL as well as various other formats like if it's gonna control D_V_D_s marketing: Makes sense . project manager: I'll leave that to you guys but that's something that i i it is gonna be an international sold thing .  s right so  just to close up , I'm not sure how much time I've used  next time right Project Manager , sorted . Is  we'll meet in another half an hour or so  and I'd like the  Industrial Designer to get ge think about what needs to be done , like what the basic function of it .  U_I_D_ well yeah you right g your assignments are up there and you'll also get s assignments from in your email as well more spec specifics on what do do . project manager: So actually in a way you guys c maybe in our next meeting chat a bit about what the user's gonna want and what the user can have , you know like  so marketing: And negotiate that . project manager: yeah well it is and we'll discuss the trade-offs in between  so yeah specific instructions will be sent in your email . But I think that that is more or less a good place to start for now  and as more things come up we'll have meetings and you'll get emails and so forth .  any questions , before we get started ? user interface: I assume that we're building a stand alone  remote control , we can't kind of build it into other  products . project manager: You mean to like user interface: For instance like a mobile phone or something like that . user interface: Or or you know can we produ can we sell a remote control phone for twenty five pounds or less ? project manager: Well , have a think about it . project manager: I'm I'm certainly op it seems like yeah it it seems like it's certainly do-able marketing: W yeah .   or if we can't have a full mobile phone maybe a remote that has some other kind of useful function . We'll see what see what industrial designer: Maybe a remote with changeable faces , like the faces that you can buy for phones . That's true , I guess we we probably have some time , maybe we should brainstorm a bit like what we wanna do , go back to  I don't really have any . user interface: Now are we also discussing kind of our initial ideas at all here ? project manager: Yeah yeah let's do it , let's do . user interface: S does anybody have any initial ideas ? project manager: I'm gonna go ahead and take notes on this too 'cause marketing: Good idea . marketing: right , we decided that already and it may be functioning for other things , as soon as you said that I was thinking like all the other things you could get a remote to do , like your microwave or your front door industrial designer: Yeah . marketing: or like to have everything on one thing , project manager: marketing: but then , I've never been a fan of those huge remotes that have like a million buttons , project manager: user interface: But I'm thinking I'm thinking kind of P_D_A_  design marketing: Yeah . We want it to be munt multifunctional but at the same time if you get it to do too much you're not gonna be able to tell them apart , industrial designer: Yeah . project manager: of  so you like maybe like an L_ like a touch screen type of remote ? user interface:  I don't know if there's such a thing out there , I guess we could do some  do some research on or one of us could do some research on it about whether or not there are  multi-format like  you know PAL , N_T_S_C_ , region one marketing: Right . user interface:  I I have a friend who has a P_D_A_ project manager: Okay . user interface: that he just points at his telev any television he wants marketing: That user interface: and it'll figure out the the specifications of it marketing: Yeah . I li I'm liking that idea , this idea of a touch screen remote with multi-format features . industrial designer: I think , making it out of a nice material would be very important , because so many of those remotes that you see , these universal remotes look so cheap and low quality . And I don't know , like , there's such a problem with losing them , project manager: marketing: that adding this whole like P_D_A_ pen business is only one more thing to lose , industrial designer:  . marketing: Just something like keep in mind when we start actually dealing with this stuff but that would be really cool . industrial designer: user interface: In in marketing: Fi b like what are they called , those face plate things ? project manager: Think they're just called face plates ? marketing: Isn't there a name for them ? project manager: I don't know . industrial designer: I think , it wouldn't be such a bad idea to have a like a locator device , maybe a simple button that you have on your television to help you find your remote . user interface: If you're not doing that then we can have something that just kind of rings from either marketing: True . project manager: Cou could we not do something where like just a little lit like literally just a very small kind of thing that comes with the remote that you could place something else that you press and it makes the remote page . Kinda like how on a lot of   cordless regular phones , you have a page button and it goes , user interface: Th marketing: Right . project manager:  yeah I think this material quality as well like I guess what we can think about what kind of   you know Apple 's been really successful with this surgical white kind of business or this sleek kind of marketing:  . marketing: And that titanium the new silver sleek ones that's last couple of years , very much so . project manager: We do have the minimum am amount  we were talking finances I dunno , selling a a forty Pound remote would h or a forty Dollar remote , twenty five Euro remote would be pretty you know it's pretty expensive marketing: Right . Without without getting into that whole like you know go down to bargain store remote you know bargain store universal remote marketing: Right . project manager: But  have a think about what we can do , have a think about what we want to do , how we're gonna sell it marketing: Yeah . project manager: and  marketing: Or if you our users in mind , like these grandmas are not gonna be into this whole new let's design , no it's they're used to the buttons so we'll have to be careful of exactly who we're marketing this to , industrial designer: Yeah . marketing: But user interface: We're talking twenty five Pounds or twenty five Euros ? project manager: Twenty five Euros . project manager: They serve  right they sa tha s they will sell things overseas so you can buy stuff in America marketing:  . Right so  let's go ahead and wrap that up here for now , I'm gonna put these initial ideas that we've got in the  project documents , so if you guys wa need a reminder about what we've talked about  the different you know kind of trade-offs that we've got and the other ideas , you can consult them at your leisure . Let's just  head back to work on what we were talking about bef  goi h h getting into


So  basically I'm just gonna go over real quickly  some news I've just got from the board on how we're supposed to do with this  remote control . And then I'm gonna turn over to you guys to make brief presentations  on what you've found and then we'll have a bit of discussion . So basically  what I've just found out from the board I dunno if you guys got this email as well but it needs to be television only . So no we're not doing D_V_D_ , we're not doing anything else , marketing: Okay . And it has to have the slogan , case you guys forget the slogan it's , we put fashion in electronics . I'm not sure what teletext is but I'm assuming you guys do , so we don't wanna include that  in this particular design . So basically  given those guidelines which will have some effect on how we design we'll discuss it later  'cause it's television only we'll be able to change our   well we can s sacrifice more function for a better television remote . So I'm gonna turn over to the Industrial Designer  to go ahead and make a presentation on industrial designer: Okay .  sends message to another system , so there's an energy source involved in that like a battery or solar power , something along those lines , there's an integrated circuit , which is the microchip ,  and that actually compose the messages and usually the way a a remote control works is it sends infrared bits to another system . A user interface controls the chip , basically that's the casing and the buttons and  accordingly the messages as well . So my findings ,  I just did a preliminary study here and  I found that too much metal in remote design could potentially cause interference with the ability of the remote to send commands .  too much metal is used sometimes and people pick up radio signals and the like , and there's also the possibility of the remote catching on fire and injuring the customer , just think of those lawsuits , that'd be really bad . Just some ideas that I had , energy source , it's kinda hip to be eco friendly so I thought maybe we could do something with solar power with an alkaline battery backup .  the user interface , I was since we can't use metal I was thinking maybe a high grade recycled plastic . industrial designer: The chip , silicon based chip I don't really see any way around that , we can't really be different in that respect .  , the sender well I'm thinking infrared 'cause it is the industry standard , multi channel , that's a word I made up , I don't really know what it means . marketing: industrial designer:  PAL and N_T_S_C_ compatible and  probably a two hundred foot range .  personal preferences , I really think that we should use plastic as opposed to metal , the company simply can't afford this kinds of lawsuits marketing: Fine . industrial designer: which adm admittedly is gonna come at the cost of a certain aesthetic value , project manager: Is is there a way that we can use  modern types of polymers , or mo modern types of plastics industrial designer: 'cause we were thinking project manager: that maybe do have some kind of aesthetic value  like if a white like if we talk about like well like on the lapt on these laptops and other ones they use a a pretty nice , industrial designer: Right . project manager: you can do i is there some kind of nice colo der quality plastic that we can work with ? industrial designer: Yeah that shouldn't be a problem .  for example the plastic they have on your laptop there is something that's perfectly possible for us to do .  if next we can have the  User Interface Developer go ahead and make a brief presentation that'd be great as well .  we n basically need to operate an electronic device , it needs to be universal  and possibly  operate several different types of devices although we now  find that  that that's no problem .  that would be any number of different things  such as switch on the television ,  switch to the next channel , that sort of thing , I think we're all quite  quite  intelligent and know know what a normal remote control does .  now some of the other things I found is a a complicated remote control sorry that we can't quite see my red there very well project manager: Oh yeah look at that . user interface: but  this remote control has many functions  so it can do a lot of things but it  it is quite complicated project manager: user interface: and most users will find it  find that they won't use most of the functions because they don't know how to use them and don't wanna take the time to learn how to do it . Another remote control , slightly different , it's a simpler remote control  many less buttons but  has many fewer functions ,  m much easier for the user to manipulate and use .  so attain the functionality of a complicated device but use a simple formatted display  for the user to to work with . project manager: 'Kay marketing: Does that mean I'm up ? project manager: yep that's you .  basically I was looking through some marketing reports that we've got and we had a usability test where we were actually sort like watching a hundred people use T_V_ remotes and see what it is that they're using and then they filled out a questionnaire about what they like and what they don't about their general T_V_ remote control practices .  pretty much through testing we were finding out that most of the time , everybody's used to using changing the channel , turning it on , using the volume , m the majority of the time that's all that's going on , the other functions happen , for some people they're important , but the primary uses are really really basic .  and so big complicated remotes like one we saw in the last presentation are really not the general public's use , they're not using a lot of it , they don't need it , they even find it frustrating when there are all those buttons that they don't know what to do with . And  we also found out that  fifty percent of our people , their the worst thing about a remote is how often they lose it . So I think what we were talking about with a pager or something , will really come into play with a lot of these people .  there's also a survey about what they liked about remotes , industrial designer: marketing: and pretty much they all think they're hideous and not very useful , and the younger demographics are all really interested in voice recognition options . I don't know if that's something we're ready to look into technically , that's up to the design people , but it is s something worth thinking about , especially since the younger demographic's obviously the one that's gonna keep growing , so if that's the direction we're headed in it's something to think about . So  marketing: Need to unplug this ? project manager: yep I'll just  switch that back here . project manager: I'll finish up with just a bit of discussion plan on for the next phase . project manager: Right so I think we've covered most of these important questions through this  through you guys's presentations  we've got  y the Industrial Designer suggests  or pretty much emphatically suggested that we need to go with plastic .  Sarah , she's recommended that we go for simpler functions , so fewer functions  but we need to decide who are we selling this to , you s your stats suggested that seventy five percent of people under thirty five wanted , thought about voice control , marketing: Oh right . project manager:  so do we wanna go for that , or do we want to go for an older demographic , and my thought is  we've got w if we're gonna go for a sleek look  we are putting the fashion in electronics  . marketing: We're not catering to the pensioners of the world I don't think so . project manager:  we need to wonder ah h about how we make it better and smaller and faster  think we're constrained to plastics very well , we've got this idea , Ron was saying we need to think about  revolutionising the way it's looking  , marketing: Right . project manager: which might be easier given that we're going for simpler function and that we're only going for a telly . How th this voice operation thing is I think is a good idea  assuming that it's doable ,  at least for the basic controls , maybe we can balance it that way , you know we can see . project manager: Okay you can't say record alias tonight at seven P_M_ industrial designer: project manager: but we might be able to say  volume up . marketing: Is that only gonna be within our two hundred foot range then ? industrial designer: Oh yeah I think that's very doable . project manager: The difficulty wh would be in  I think like i you couldn't speak into the remote that you're trying to find . project manager: If it's hidden under the couch but then again you have this wee this wee thing you know that's just a little chip or whatever that has the page button , maybe that could be voice activated too . user interface: finds your marketing: K project manager: Or an isolated magnet or something like , or you know something that wouldn't interfere I don't know that'd be the technical thing marketing: Yeah . project manager: but yeah I like that , I like that , the voice recognition for the paging system . user interface: The other thing is we might be able to handle the simplicity of a remote control and kind of put the more complicated things into a voice control . user interface: And the younger market could use kind of the voi voice control method and the older market might might k marketing: Making it just an option ? industrial designer:  . user interface: exactly and might consider the older market could use the simpler design with the traditional buttons and what not . The  if we're gonna do this touch pad screen thing , it would be still , do we know if that's an option technically right now to that ? project manager: marketing: 'Cause it seems like an interesting option especially because then you could have like your primary screen just be these you know four or five basic functions , you can have project manager:  . marketing: menu options or something to have all these other complicated voice recognition , settings , things that you're not gonna use every day and that a lot of people aren't gonna use but it is an option there for this hi-tech market that sort of re is the sleek thing we're going for . industrial designer: Gotta wonder though , if we're adding so much technology to this one remote , are we still gonna be able to meet out twelve pou our twelve fifty Euro you know goal for selling these things . user interface: industrial designer: It seems like , we're not gonna be able to handle all these functions with just one microchip .  'kay  well yeah I guess we'll cross that bridge  in a la slightly later stages of development  but yeah I know , that's perfectly viable question .  'kay  so I'm seeing that we're gonna just basically focus on this young demographic group , aim it at them , but then in a sense that its bells and whistles are available for anybody who wants them but basically we'll make a sleek simple functioned   remote control . project manager:  I think this voice recognition thing is a we've got a market for it  I don't think there's too many , marketing:  . project manager: we'd more or less be cornering the market on it as well , we don't have many  . Right  we don't have many people or there's not very many competitors out there that do that so cool . The thing with I see would there not be a we'd have to maybe sacrifice the face plates for a touch screen ? user interface:  I'm not sure that's sincerely correct , project manager: Okay . user interface: I think if you kind of take the example of a mobile phone that  trying to pass a portion of the device is not interchangeable whereas the surrounding portions are interchangeable . We have to ask whether we're going to include a certain number of face plates with the package ? That's something I w for say we're including three or four face plates , it's gonna drive the cost up . industrial designer: And the other question is , if we do include them are we really in a position to evaluate that market ? marketing: Yeah . industrial designer: Off the top of my head it sounds kind of like a gimmick that wouldn't really go anywhere . project manager: it's not like with cell phones like where you have a you know Nokia model X_ and then ten people make face plates for it , we'd be just our model of pho of t remote control . marketing: Well in the publicity of a face plate on a phone is you have it out and around , it is sort of emblematic whereas you're just sit at home , project manager: user interface: Well hopefully some people have people coming t over to w to hang out at your house project manager: industrial designer: marketing: True . project manager: Alright well we can we can discuss that one further when we think about  whether th when we do costs and so forth ,  . project manager: True , if plastic is dead cheap and if we're making the whole thing out of plastic anyway  yeah we'll cross that bridge later  but yeah we will have to evaluate what's most important .  I think we've had a bit of discussion already on this thing , n s there any other questions comments that came up in these presentations ? user interface: Well have we confirmed that we're gonna go ahead with a  touch screen  project manager: Yeah yeah okay . Let's based on what sh on what you guys have all said to me let's go for a plastic built or  b plastic cased 'cause tha tha that's easy on the cost , try to look for some kind of high quality recycled plastic as you recommended and I think that's a great idea .  And we'll yeah tha let's provisionally let's go for a touch screen one with several submenus  for possible extra stuff that one basically put the channel and the on and off switch on the touch screen .  do we have  wait a minute it occurs to me that if we have a touch screen people are going to have to recharge their remote controls . marketing: industrial designer: user interface: So these new lithium batteries they last twenty years even with the touch screen ? project manager: Do they ? Okay . industrial designer: Can we afford to include one of those ? marketing: Can we afford that ? user interface: marketing: And will somebody buy it if we don't ? industrial designer: project manager: Well I I don't think yeah I can't see anybody buying a lap a remote control that they have to plug in so we'd have to see some kind of new battery technology . project manager: Okay so let's go with a  touch screen with  some kind of you know with with some kind of cutting edge battery technology marketing: For twelve Euros ? user interface: project manager: Yeah well hey you know well it's it's worth looking into , if not we can always default to just doing a a well presented plastic simple marketing: It is . project manager: you can put the we could I I dunno  I suppose we could put the the basics on the centre easiest you know , you know people know the channel and volume function make them large and easy to get at and then the the other the other bits and bobs you know go through menu  w we'll do the aesthetics . project manager:  it's th  with this voice recognition option as well  just as for the simple functions the  the on off , channels , volume ,  industrial designer: Right . Even if you can't do voice recognition for the paging you know just some kind of simple button that's just a I guess another infrared signal to the remote control and while to emit some kind of paging . project manager:  right so any comments ? Thoughts before we break into go into the next round of individual work on this . industrial designer: Since we're doing  touch screen , do we wanna look into the possibility of people being able to input different types of skins for the you know the actual interface part of it and things like that ? Or is it just gonna be one touch screen for everybody . industrial designer: What what would be on that touch screen ? 'Cause you said earlier that we have to think about company colours and  marketing: And oh . project manager: W it's my understanding that if you were going to do a skin you'd need to have some way for people to download or import skins into the remote control . marketing: Right , and then you're dealing with ports and cords and project manager: Yeah I think perhaps industrial designer: 'S too much . project manager: I think that that one m might just be  and they just yeah I think that one might just be out of the range for this particular marketing: For now . project manager: a P_D_A_ would they would makes a lot of sense for a P_D_A_ 'cause you're gonna be using it to connect up to things anyway but I dunno , what do you guys think ? industrial designer: Think we just need to come up with a nice black and red interface on the touch screen .  I I'm I'm in agreement with that , I'm wondering how we're gonna get  we put fashion into electronics onto this device . Well but if we're gonna use a touch screen where it's gonna come on like on your cell phone it'll have your your carrier provider name come up first like while it's loading project manager:  . marketing: Comes on every time you turn it on and then that's it 'cause it is a bit much to have it like engraved on the back or something I think . user interface: I'm hoping for a subliminal maybe half a millisecond as it turns on . Yeah I know I d it seems like it would suffice to have just the R_R_ on there . industrial designer: People aren't gonna want their remote to boot up and to see flashing things come on .  and yeah that would help the battery life too and if it the remote they do have to press a button for the remote to turn on . Kind of if i user interface: Well all you have to do is touch the screen and it automatically goes on . Oh yeah I like that I like the idea of  putting the logo in the boot up screen , nice . marketing: We're good ? project manager: I'm gonna save th a copy of this in case you guys need any reminders . I'm gonna save a copy of this and the minutes that I'll do it in a second and put them in the shared folder for later reference