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:

  1. The project manager , email: participant1@ami
  2. The industrial designer , email: participant2@ami
  3. The user interface designer , email: participant3@ami
  4. The marketing expert , email: participant4@ami

The project will be carried out according to a specific design method, which will be sent 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 using the 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 the apparatus should have

  Example: change coffee beans and water into coffee

  How: take inspiration from other, similar designs

 

Working design: how the apparatus works to fulfill its functions

  Example: electrical energy heats the water and grinds the beans; the ground beans fall in the water; a filter separates the beans residue from the coffee.

  How: take inspiration from 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: take inspiration from other, similar designs; be creative

 

Conceptual specification of user interface

  Example: on/off switch, on/off light

  How: take inspiration from other, similar designs; be creative

 

Trend watching

  Example: pottery sells well these days

  How: do marketing research, look 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 within an acceptable period of time.

  How: Collect the requirements and rank every requirement.

 

Team roles

The project manager coordinates the project and is responsible for the overall outcome. He or she 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 or she 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 or she 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.