Dear colleague, The management board of Real Reaction (c) 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: 1. The project manager 2. The industrial designer 3. The user interface designer 4. The marketing expert 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 Appendix 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.