Sam now feels comfortable enough to illustrate for the class how to extrude handles on a vase using the Alias program. What comes next is the midterm project, creating a toy that uses the basic elements of the popular Japanese toy, the Tamagotchi pet, which was introduced into the United States in late 1997. The Tamagotchi consists of three buttons, a low-resolution LCD and a programmable microchip. It is a cyber-pet that needs to be fed, cleaned and nurtured to grow. If the pet is neglected, it flies back to its home planet.
Students focus on creating a similar electronic toy with an appealing storyboard.
To help the process, we ask for multiple preliminary concepts and urge the student to keep an open mind, explore possibilities and not take a single track. Design is done on-line and there is peer review and evaluation in several categories. Suggestions from fellow students are usually seen as objective and so the student designers listen to their peers, make modifications and end up with a better product. In the simplest context, it is learning how to make choices with certain goals in mind. Even if a student feels he will never actually design anything during his career, it is important that he has an understanding of the process.