A: Uh welcome back after lunch ,
A: I hope uh you had a good lunch
A: together .
A: For uh this meeting the main agenda okay uh to discuss about the conceptual design meeting .
A: Okay and the agenda will be the opening
A: and uh that's uh the product manager or secretary that's me
A: and uh the presentations from the Christine and uh Agnes and from Mister Ed .
A: And finally in this meeting we have to decide
D: A: and we are to take a decision on the remote control concept and uh the functional design
A: So we have forty minutes ,
A: I think it's uh little bit uh low ,
A: but I I hope we can finish it up A: so I'll handle to the the functional team ,
A: to the Christine , okay ,
A: to discuss about uh the components concept .
C: Okay .
C: So uh , if you could open the PowerPoint presentation .
D: C: I'm number two .
A: You're number two .
A: 'Kay
C: Components design ,
C: there we go .
D: C: So uh can we put it in slide show mode ?
C: Yeah .
A: The next one .
C: Right here ,
C: is that little C: that one ,
C: yes please .
D: C: Thank you .
A: C: I'll take the mouse .
C: C: So uh
C: we were looking he specifically at the components uh the following components ,
A: C: uh the case , the power supply , uh the means of communications with the television set .
C: In instance we had talked about using some sort of speech recognition ,
A: C: you have to have microphone C: well no you don't actually I haven't have to have microphone in the device ,
C: but um
D: C: maybe you do have it a a way C: it has to it has to hear the speaker
B: Mm-hmm .
C: and um ,
C: so it could be in the television set , could be in the device ,
C: but somewhere you have to put the microphone ,
C: um
C: and a w a way of making beeps or sounds so you can find it when it's gets lost .
C: Um so the other w thing that we So .
C: Our method for going about this is we've looked at uh the histo hi historical record , what's worked , what hasn't
C: and then we also um we wanted to evaluate some new materials
D: C: and we contacted manufacturing for their input
C: because , course , we m might come up and choose the material that then manufacturing didn't have the technologies or capabilities to offer us ,
C: so uh
C: this is the approach that we took during our um our research .
D: C: So um for the case , um we told we were making a specifica specific assumption that it would be curved in design .
D: D: D: C: Course , you know , I wanted it to be expandable and shrinkable ,
C: but um that uh doesn't seem to b be one of the choic non-option we can uh we can really seriously explore ,
B: C: so then we were thinking about um rubber ,
B: C: but um unfortunately that's been eliminated because of the heat uh factor
B: C: and th um there might be some problems with the m uh how it's  uh goes with the board .
C: Uh and uh then th plastic also has this problem of melting and it's brittle it gets brittle after a while ,
B: C: so um we still had titanium and and wood available ,
C: but um unfortunately uh uh titanium's also been eliminated uh ,
B: C: the m people in manufacturing said that you couldn't make d curved cases out of titanium ,
C: although how Apple did it with th PowerBook I'm not su quite sure
C: but uh
C: nevertheless um they've eliminated all of our options except wood .
D: B: At least it's environmentally friendly . C: So , this is our finding .
C: And a as she said , it's an environmentally friendly uh material ,
C: so we're we're currently uh proposing ,
D: C: uh we'll get to all my personal preferences in just a second .
D: C: So then there's this other matter of the chips and um well we could use a simple design on the board ,
B: A: C: uh these simple chips , but that's only works for the bu you don't get very much um intelligence with this simple one .
C: And um then there was the regular which C: I regret that I've forgotten exactly why I'm eliminating that one .
C: Uh the other option was this advanced chip on print ,
C: and uh we liked th we
C: we found that it it includes this infrared sender ,
D: C: which w 'member the beam was that was an important component of finding the right chip .
D: C: And uh manufacturing has told us that they've um uh recently developed a uh a sensor and a speaker that would uh be integrated into this advanced chip on print ,
C: so uh we we uh
C: now jumping right to our personal preferences
C: um I I'd really think we should , you know , use some of uh some really exotic woods , like um ,
B: C: you know uh , well you guys come from tropical countries so you can kinda think of some trees and some nice woods .
C: I think that people will might really want to design their own cases ,
C: you see , they could do sort of a this um three-dimensional design on the internet ,
C: and then they could submit their orders , kinda like you submit a custom car order , you know ,
C: and you can choose the colour and the size of the wheels and the colours of the leather and things like that ,
C: and then I uh think we should go with the solar cells as well as the um microphone and speaker on the advanced chip .
C: So this is the findings of our research
D: C: and my recommendations um for the new remote control w um would be to have um have it be made out of wood .
C: Do you have any problems with that ?
A: Can you go back uh one slide ?
C: I'm not sure , how do I C: Oh , I know , let's see .
B: Thank you . Yeah .
C: Let's go back up here .
A: Yes , uh A: question , uh , what's mean exactly , advanced chip on print ?
A: What's the meaning of that ?
C: I think it's um um a multiple uh chip design um C: and it's uh maybe printed on to the circuit board .
B: D: A: Mm-hmm .
C: Uh I could find out more about that uh before the next fi next meeting .
A: Yeah ,
A: is it means it's on the yeah
A: is it on a micro-proc micro-processor based or uh C: C: I don't know ,
C: but I'll find out more at our next meeting .
A: Okay , tha that would be great ,
A: so if you find out from the technology background , okay ,
D: A: so that would be good .
C: Sounds good .
B: Why was the plastic eliminated as a possible material ?
C: Because um it gets brittle , cracks B: Mm-hmm .
C: Um
C: We want C: we expect these um uh these remote controls to be around for several hundred years .
C: So . C: Good ex  Good expression . B: Whic
D: Wow ,
B: Which D: good expression .
D: Well after us . B: C: I don't know , speak for yourself , I'm planning to be around for a while . B: Although I think  D: B: I think with wood though you'd run into the same types of problems ,
B: wouldn't you ,
B: I mean it chips , it if you drop it ,
C: D: C:  B: uh it's I'm not su A: So so you're not convinced about the the wood , yes .
D: Actually , I'm ready to sell it .
B: C:  you're what ?
D: I'm ready to sell it .
B: I think if you re if you use really good quality wood , then it might work ,
C: You think ?
C: And you could you could sell oils with it , to take care of it .
D: No y no no no ,
B: but you can't just use D: the o the only w the only wood you can use are the ones that are hard , extremely hard wood ,
B: Yeah , exactly , yeah .
D: but there are some very pretty woods out there .
C: Well I'm glad you B: D: That's actually very innovative idea .
C: C: Okay , good .
B: C: Sorr having a hard time keeping wi control over my face . D: D: Well , it's actually a very innovative n different idea that uh you know you can choose your colour of wood , your type of wood .
C: C: Mm-hmm .
B: The stain .
D: I mean it's each person is gonna have their own personalised , individualised speech recognition remote control in wood , that's not on the market .
C: Mm .
B: A: Yeah , so it it's looks good the the design the functional design uh ,
D: A: what about yo you ?
B: Um ,
B: in terms of comments on this or in terms of my own A: Yes , in t yes , in term in terms of comments first D: In turns of wow . C: B: C: She works in the cubicle next to me so she's uh she was already a little bit prepared for this .
B: Y yeah .
D:  C: Luckily Ed was not . B: D: Wood ? B: I think we can get the quality materials then it shouldn't influence the design principles too much , which you'll see with my presentation .
D: D: B: One thing we'd have to check though is what the users whether how quickly the novelty wears off of having uh C: C: Mm-hmm .
C: Yeah ,
C: you wouldn't wanna have to have splinters in your hand while you're using your B: Yeah , for example .
B: So ,
B: have to see how kid-friendly it is and and all that ,
D: C: It's really good if your dog gets ahold of it , they can use it  for teething .
B: but D: B: B: D: They do that anyway with the rubber and plastic ,
D: so , and chew 'em up .
C: Yeah , they do it with other materials as well , yeah .
D: And chew 'em up .
A: Okay then , uh , let's move to Agnes .
B: Sure .
C: Oh , I'm sorry .
A: S you're B: A: You are in participant three .
B: One point three , yeah
D: B: Uh , yeah .
A: This one ?
B: I think so , yeah .
B: Yeah , that's the one .
B: So , it's a very short presentation ,
B: 'cause I'm actually gonna draw you the layout on the board
B: so if you want to just go straight to the second slide ,
B: um , which basically shows , sort of D: B: I took the ideas that we were talking about last time um and tried to put that into the remote control so the things that y you can actually see on it are the on off switch , volume and channel control , the menu access button , ergonomic shape ,
B: which I completely agree with Christine's idea to have it sort of molded , so it's slightly more ergonomic and comfortable to hold than the r standard very straight remote controls .
B: And actually the other thing with the wood if we take your customising idea , is that people can actually do sort of quasi-measurements on their hand size ,
B: so if someone has larger hands , you have a wider remote control .
C: Right ,
C: my hand is uh different size than yours for example .
B: So , that's actually a really good idea for customi customisability .
B: Um , one thing I thought might be kind of interesting is to put a flip screen on it , just like you have on flip phones ,
D: B: so that you don't have this case where someone sits on the remote control or accidentally puts their hand on it ,
B: especially if you have little kids around , they're not pressing the buttons while you're trying to watch a T_V_ show and accidentally change the channel or turn it off .
C: Mm-hmm .
B: And also um you had issues with the batteries running out ,
D: B: so I thought maybe we could put a little battery life-light on it that kind of goes dimmer and dimmer and dimmer as your battery is starts to die .
B: And in terms of invisible features , audio and um tactile feedback on button presses and , like you said , speech recognition .
C: Mm-hmm .
B: So , in terms of what this thing would actually look like D: B: Despite working in interface design , I'm not the greatest artist in the world , so you'll have to forgive me . B: B: You'd have something like this with an on-off switch fairly big ,
B: sort of in the corner and by itself , so you don't accidentally turn your T_V_ off while you're trying to manoeuvre other buttons .
B: And then you have sort of one of those toggle displays for , oops , channels and volume , sort of for surfing channels and then volume ,
B: so the volume would be the up and down , 'cause volume goes up and down and then channels left to right .
B: And then here you'd have your sort of standard , telephonish number pad .
B: And then on one side you would have an access to the menu on your T_V_
A: B: and on the other side a way to turn off the voice control .
B: So that if the user doesn't want to use their voice , they can just turn it off and you don't have the remote control accidentally changing things on you .
C: Mm .
C: Mm-hmm .
B: B: Um , so again you can have a little L_C_D_ light somewhere , the flip thing and B: Have I forgotten anything ?
B: I don't think so .
B: So , as you can see , it's a very very simple design ,
D: No . A: B: which is one of the things I really wanted to keep , is keep it simple , not have too many buttons , not have too many functionalities thrown into it .
B: Think the design can pretty much carry over to everything ,
B: although with the wood the flip screen might have to do something slightly different .
A: C: A hinge .
C: Be like a copper hinge or you know .
A: B: Yeah .
B: But you also have to d start watching out for the weight ,
B: 'cause depending on how much the the flip screen will add to the weight of the remote control , you don't want it to start getting too heavy .
C: Mm-hmm .
C: Mm .
B: But that's the general layout with the general functionalities , if we come up with something else .
B: As you can see , there's still lots of space on the actual remote control
B: and if you do it customisably , you can make this thing fairly small or fairly o large , depending on personal preferences .
C: Mm-hmm , mm-hmm .
C: D: Hmm .
B: So , that's pretty much all I had to say ,
B: I mean , everything else in terms of design issues .
B: Um the centering of the key pad and the channel is just depending on where your thumb is
B: and you tend to use the the volume control and uh the browsing more than the actual number pad ,
C: B: so that would be sort of in direct line of where your thumb goes when you are holding the remote control ,
C: Mm-hmm .
B: the number pad a little bit lower 'cause it's used less frequently .
C: Mm .
C: Mm-hmm .
B: So once we decide exactly what we want , then we can figure out the exact positioning ,
B: but more or less I think it should go along those lines .
A: A: So what's your , uh , the comments or uh s
D: Simple design .
D: It's what consumers want .
A: Okay
D: It's almost like , Houston , we have a product here . C: B: C: D: Problem is obviously gonna be cost .
B: Mm-hmm .
D: Okay ,
D: I also have a f very simple presentation ,
A: Mm-hmm .
D: because for the marketing point you have to see what the consumers want .
A: Yeah .
B: Yeah .
D: I also have uh copied a different type of remote .
D: If you can find me , where I'm at . D: There should only be one in here .
D: trend watch .
C: Sure .
D: It's being modified .
B: D: They're stealing our product .
D: We've been giving simple questionnaires in different areas
D: because th obviously we have to see what the com consumers are looking for today ,
D: 'cause uh trends change very very quickly .
D: In six months maybe this idea is already gone out the window , so it's gonna be a question how fast we can act .
D: Uh they already erased the rest of mine , huh .
C: No ,
C: f go to findings .
B: No , no .
A: D: No no , no no .
D: 'Cause I had another comment there .
D: Uh the market trend . This is what we know from the last uh from the questionnaires from the the all the p surveys we've done ,
D: fancy and feel-good , that's what we've been looking for ,
D: something that feels good in the hand , that's easy to use .
D: Looking for next generation of innovation ,
D: because all the remotes out there now , they're all very similar , they all do the same thing ,
A: C: D: we have to have something completely different .
D: Okay ?
D: Easy to use , has always has become has become another major interest that uh ,
D: with the whiteboard we can see that it's a remote that's easy to use .
D: And I think this is another thing that's interesting is the consumers actually willing to pay the price for exciting tel technology .
D: So even if we have a product that may be more expensive , if it comes out right , if they look it looks and feels good and has technology .
D: The second two , you can see the last one is a very easy simple design . D: The second one , there is about uh forty-five thousand different buttons on it , which makes it fairly hard to read , uh very hard to use .
C: B: D: The first one , I see that they put in a display .
D: Now there's something else uh with the little flip-up , now we're adding all kinds of things in ,
D: but with the little flip-up , if you have a little display on the flip-up that when you close it everything is locked .
B: Mm-hmm .
B: Yeah .
D: Maybe the display also makes it easier to use ,
D: because sometimes when you're looking for buttons , maybe if you see a display B: C: Context-sensitive instructions , depending on what the tel what mode the T_V_ or the D_V_D_ or something else is in .
B: Right .
D: Okay
D: Because I've seen mostly the standard ones ,
B: Especially you might need something like that for training the speech recognition and
D: yeah .
D: Now you have it now you have one with the very simple also .
D: The idea is simple , but with a display , so you can see what you're doing .
B: Mm-hmm .
D: So maybe if we can incorporate the easiness of use , trendy , fancy , feels good , uh with a display , wood , designer wood , designer colours
B: Mm-hmm .
C: B: A: C: You know , maybe what you could do is when somebody orders the device id you could send them like um a uh uh b some sort of a foam rubber um ball ,
D: , we might've B: Oh yeah .
C: and then they would squeeze it , and it would take the shape of their hand .
B: Yeah , so it's really molded to to your specific C: To t an
D: Mm-hmm .
C: and then you would know like um what the geometry of their hands would be and uh A: A: D: How hard they squeeze ?
C: Yes B: D: Resistance resistance , right . C: you'd know what kind of wood to get .
B: But th for that you'd also have to do sort of an average across families and things like that if unless everyone has their own personal remote .
C: That's right , that's right , you wouldn't wanna go too far down that .
C: Oh that that actually would uh increase the um the revenues we could expect , yeah . B: The sales , yeah . A: The A: Yeah .
B: A: I hope so .
D: No , but incorporating the three uh obviously it'd be something totally new on the market , totally different
C: B: Yeah .
C: D: and from B: Well , already the customisability is a really good sort of new gimmick .
D: D: Although , what it was it uh D: it was uh Nokia that came out with this changeable colours .
C: Mm-hmm .
D: Right , you take it apart , and put on another face , take it off and put on another face
B: Yeah .
B: Yeah .
C: C: Right , mm .
D: and then they sold millions , millions .
B: And that took off , yeah , yeah .
D: So .
D: So say with the f with the findings , with the research , easy to use something totally new .
B: Mm-hmm .
D: We have to come up with something totally new that is not on the market .
C: We'd also have to wor um consider that uh who we were gonna get to make these custom cases in terms of manufacturing processes ,
C: we might wanna um learn about um labour laws .
A: C: You know in different countries and stuff wher so we can do it cheap ,
C: but you don't wanna exploit uh labour in um third world countries .
A: Yeah .
C: So actually you could turn it y turn around and say that you're uh par the reason the cost is high for the device is because um you're paying a a working wage to the person who made the device .
D: A: B: Mm-hmm .
A: Yeah , but we can get a production in , uh , countries like , uh , India
C: Cost of living is low .
A: yes , yes ,
A: countries like India or China or Malaysia ,
A: so you can go a better features and better price and you can sell more .
A: So C: Good ,
C: well th that'd be something that manufacturing would have to um explore more
A: Yeah , yeah , so
B: Mm yeah .
C: and to where A: Yes .
D: Where w Where it would be manufactured is is another step .
A: So A: Yeah , so C: Yeah
D: We're here to design , come up with a nice product . A: Yes uh ,
A: but uh that that we can that we can talk about the production later , okay , depends on the the quantity , okay .
B: Mm-hmm .
C: Mm-hmm .
A: So we don't need to have our own uh fabric factory or something ,
A: so we can have a tie-up with who the do the fabric , okay , for the different uh electronics items ,
A: then we can have a business tie-up and to get to cut the cost , okay , to sell more .
A: So ,
A: but uh le let's decide first about the components concept and uh interface concept , okay ,
A: if is acceptable for both of you , what uh Ed was talking .
A: And your design whether you want with the display or without display or just a simple , so
B: Mm-hmm .
B: I think it depends ,
B: I mean I think it's a good idea ,
B: but we need to really think about how useful it's gonna be
B: because theoretically with the T_V_ you already have a big display right in front of you .
A: Yeah .
C: Hmm .
B: So , if we're trying to keep costs down , then maybe sacrificing the display is a way to go .
C: Hmm .
B: I mean it depends on how much putting a display costs and what it would be used for C: Hmm .
B: very specifically what it would be used for ,
C: Mm-hmm .
B: 'cause if it's only used for one little thing , then putting in a big display case or a big display that's probably expensive just to do the training on the chip for the speech recognition or whatever , may not be the most cost-efficient way to go ,
A: B: but that's just sort of speculation , I mean .
C: What do you think Ed ?
C: Do you C: he liked the display in one of the concepts that you showed ,
C: um ,
C: do you know how much it costs , um , to to add a little display like this uh ?
D: D: No . No
C: C: Do you wanna take an action item to go find out ?
D: no p spec D: It's 'cause we have to find out cost on it .
C: Okay .
C: Sorry about that .
D: Um , no that's no problem .
D: I'm here for the pushing it after it's made . A: Yes .
D: I will market it . C: D: Once we get a price on it then we can market it .
C: C: C: So the the advanced chip on print is what um what we've we've deci we've determined
D: C: and the uh engineering industrial design is the recommendation ,
C: and um I think we've kinda come to some agreement regarding um this concept of a wooden case .
A: A: B: Mm-hmm .
C: A customisable and B: D: Nice beautiful mahogany red wooden case . B: What about the buttons , would Would the buttons be wood too , or C: C: Uh I don't think so , no ,
A: I don't think so .
C: I think they could be rubber like they are now ,
A: Yes .
A: Yes .
C: so you have that tactile experience of A: Don't looks nice uh .
A: Yeah , so uh
A: what we'll do is , uh , we will stick with the the simple design for time being
A: until uh th Ed find outs about the how much it's cost to the extra , in case we go for the display .
B: Mm-hmm .
A: Okay . So
A: maybe what you can do is uh , both of you , you can come up with the the prototype , okay , the model .
B: Okay .
A: Okay ?
B: Sure .
A: B: C: So um
C: are we done with this meeting ?
A: A: Yeah , I hope ,
A: if A: is it okay if uh they will come up with the prototype design , okay .
A: Then they can show you how it looks like ,
A: and then we can uh submit to the  A: I will submit to the management .
A: Okay ?
A: Then meantime you can come up with the price , how much it's cost as extra for uh the display .
C: C: And a marketing strategy .
A: An and the marketing strategy , that's very important , okay .
D: And marketing strategy , thank you .
B: C: B: A: Yes .
A: How much you can D: Fired . A: how mu how much how much you can sell extra .
B: C: A: Of course you'll make money too ,
A: so it it's not only pay-out , you make money too , your commission .
D: B: B: D: A: Okay , so , any questions ?
B: No .
A: So , by next meeting , so , please come up with the the prototype , okay ,
A: then uh , then we can proceed from there .
B: Okay .
A: It's okay ?
B: Mm-hmm .
A: So thanks for all your uh efforts and coming for the meeting again , and see you soon then .
B: Okay .
A: Okay ?
A: Thank you .

Summary: The Industrial Designer gave her components concept presentation, which presented the components that will be used and how they will be integrated into the functional design. She announced that their only choice for casing material was wood, so she suggested an idea of having customizable wood cases. The User Interface Designer gave her presentation on the user interface concept for the product, and gave a basic layout of the remote's key functions. The Marketing Expert presented the marketing concept and discussed including a display to facilitate use. The group discussed the unique, custom design of the remote, and quickly talked about finding a manufacturer that could make the custom cases cheaply that still paid fair wages. The group also discussed whether or not to incorporate the display into the design, and decided to wait until the cost of adding that feature was known before adding it to the design. The Industrial Designer and the User Interface Designer were instructed to begin building a prototype, and the Marketing Expert was instructed to work on the marketing strategy as well as research the cost of the display component. The Industrial Designer and the User Interface Designer will design the prototype of the remote control. The Marketing Expert will find out how much the display component costs and will present his marketing strategy at the next meeting. The group decided on the features that will be included in the final design of the prototype. The remote will have customized wood casing and ergonomic sizing, voice recognition, a locator function, rubber buttons in a simple arrangement, an advanced chip, and a battery life indicator. The group discussed including a display on the remote, but the prototype will be designed without a display until the Marketing Expert finds out how much it would cost to add it. The group decided to contact another company to manufacture the product that could do it cheaply yet still paid fair wages. The number of options for the material used for the casing was restricted; the group was left with one material that could be used for the product. There was a lack of information on how much certain components would cost.