Dear colleague,
The management board of Real Reaction © electronics company has decided that
we should develop a new product: a new television remote control. You are
invited to take part in the design of this product. You will join a project,
consisting of four participants:
The project will be carried out according to a specific design method, which
will send to you by e-mail in a minute. In the appendix you will find your role
instructions and a General Design method. You can also visit our web site
company information.
Good luck,
Your account manager
General Design method
A general design method in three phases will be explained below with an
example of a coffee machine.
Phase 1 is called the functional design. This consists of:
User Requirements Specification: what needs and desires are to be
fulfilled
• Example: hot coffee, quickly made
• How: marketing research, interviews with future users, internet
search;
Technical Functions design: what effect should the apparatus have
• Example: change coffee beans and water into coffee
• How: get inspired by other, similar designs
Working design: how does the apparatus work to fulfill its
functions
• Example: electrical energy heats the water and grinds the beans; the
grinded beans fall in the water; a filter separates the beans residue from the
coffee.
• How: get inspired by other, similar designs.
Phase 2 is called the conceptual design. This consists of:
Conceptual specification of components, properties and materials
• Example:
• case (properties: solid; material: hard plastic)
• electrical cable (off the shelf)
• beans container (material: plastic)
• coffee grinder (off the shelf)
• electrical heater (off the shelf)
• coffee container (properties: heat resistant; material: glass)
• filter (off the shelf)
• How: get inspired by other, similar designs; be creative
Conceptual specification of user interface
• Example: on/off switch, on/off light
• How: get inspired by other, similar designs; be creative
Trend watching
• Example: pottery sells good these days
• How: do marketing research, get inspired on the web
Phase 3 is called the detailed design. This consists of:
Look-and-feel design
• Example: case in the form of a large beige pottery-like cup of
coffee
• How: prototyping, using clay for the form and material samples.
User interface design
• Example: a push button in the form of a coffee bean, with a LED in
it.
• How: make a selection from existing interface solutions, or create a
new one.
Product Evaluation
• Example: The coffee had the right temperature and was ready in
within an acceptable period of time.
• How: Collect the requirements and rank every requirement.
Team roles
The project manager coordinates the
project and is overall responsible. He should guarantee that the project is
carries out with the limits of time and budget. When a hard decision has to be
taken by the design team, he has a veto. The project manager will also act as a
chair of the project meetings and as a secretary by taking minutes of every
meeting. At the end of the day, the project manager has to deliver a final
report for the whole project. In this report is written what decisions were
made in every meeting and what the solution of the final design looks like. The
project manager can work on this report whenever he has time left between
meetings. After the last meeting, the project manager has 10 minutes to finish
this report.
The Industrial designer is responsible for:
• In the functional design phase: the working design
• In the conceptual design phase: the components concept design
• In the detailed design phase: the look-and-feel design
The user interface designer is responsible for:
• In the functional design phase: the technical functions design
• In the conceptual design phase: the user interface concept
• In the detailed design phase: the user-interface design
The marketing expert is responsible for:
• In the function design phase: the user requirements specification
• In the conceptual design phase: trend watching
• In the detailed design phase: product evaluation
It is very well possible that you lack knowledge and experience to carry out
your role. You will be assigned a personal coach who will guide you through
your work.
Role instructions Secretary
The Project Manager has to fulfill the secretary role. Here are the
secretary role instructions on how-to-make-minutes:
• Obtain the meeting agenda, minutes from the last meeting, and any
background documents to be discussed.
• Write "Minutes of the meeting of (exact association
name)."
• Record the date, time and place of the meeting.
• Write the names of people present if there are fewer than 20.
• Note people who arrive late or leave early so that they can be
briefed on what they missed.
• Write down items in the order that they are discussed. If item 8 on
the agenda is discussed before item 2, keep the old item number but write item
8 in second place.
• Focus on recording actions taken by the group. Avoid writing down
the details of each discussion.
• Distribute minutes to colleagues by putting them in the Project
Documents folder.