Marketing: Okay , um , I'm going to look at the functional requirements from the marketing point of view and uh obviously our starting point with marketing is always market research . Um , so that's where we started , we used our our usability lab , the company's usability lab , we did our usual selection methods to get a cross-section of the general public , male and female , all age groups from fifteen upwards and um we observed them in the lab , just their general use of the remote control , you can see we had a hundred subjects there . Our findings , lots of findings , I've just summarised some of them here . The overall thing which I've I've got at the top there in italics is that users dislike the look and feel of current remote controls , so it has obvious design implications there . Um , we found that seventy five percent of users find most remote controls ugly . Eighty percent would spend more money when a remote control would look fancy , we were quite surprised by that finding , but um that's quite a high proportion of our our , you know , international target group are prepared to spend more money for something that's a bit nicer looking . Um , current remote controls do not match well with the operating behaviour of the user overall . For example , you can see below there , seventy five percent of users zap a lot ,
User Interface: Yeah .
Marketing: so you've got your person sunk back in the sofa channel-hopping . So again there's power implications there . Um , fifty percent of users only use ten percent of the buttons , so again a big design issue there . Um and possibly we can also cut back on cost if we don't have so many functions actually on the remote control . Um the biggest frustrations that people found with regard to personal preferences were um something that you you mentioned earlier , uh remote controls are often lost in the room , it's a slipping down the back of the sofa type of thing , uh fifty percent were were particularly frustrated by that . Uh thirty four percent of people take said they take too much time to learn to use and I think that ties in with the um the previous finding of people only using ten percent of the buttons , they just can't be bothered to learn about the other functions . Um , um slightly more than a quarter of people said it was bad for uh repetitive strain injury . You know those small movements of the remote control can lead to kind of shoulder and elbow problems . Um the vast majority of the thirty five and under age group would like um a liquid crystal display and speech recognition , again that was to aid I think in uh when they've lost the actual remote control , some kind of speech recognition . Something we didn't put to them , but which I'm thinking of now is um even if perhaps the lost control can give off a bleep every now and again til you find it or a flashing light , possibly . Um , that trend reverses in the older age groups . So thirty fives and unders who would like those two features , that kind of evens out thirty five to forty five and in the older age group it kind of reverses , they're not so bothered with this . I had marvellous tables and things that I could show you ,
User Interface: 'Kay .
Marketing: but I think I'll just keep it simple ,
Industrial Designer: Marketing: if there's any more information I can email you extra details ,
User Interface: That's fine .
Project Manager: Okay . Yeah .
Industrial Designer: Okay .
Marketing: is that okay ?
Project Manager: Right , um
Industrial Designer: Huh .
Project Manager: we have new project requirements , um we're not going to be using teletext ,
User Interface: Okay .
Project Manager: um apparently the consumers consider it outdated with the internet now . Um our control is only going to be for T_V_ , it's not going to be a combined control , which limits you know all of the different things that  it limits the cost for us ,
User Interface: Mm-hmm .
Project Manager: but it also makes it easier to understand for the consumer .
Marketing: Mm-hmm , so can we not programme a video with this remote control ?
Project Manager: It says for T_V_ only , so looks like it's just Marketing: Just channel-hopping .
Project Manager: yeah , I think maybe Sky things like that might be incorporated into it , but I don't know , what do you think ? It just said , for T_V_ only . But I mean , general T_V_ controls do do video as well .
Marketing: Would that imply video use ?
Industrial Designer: T yeah yeah . I d well I dunno 'cause uh the w if you've g
Project Manager: I mean you bu well som you get com you get combined T_V_ and videos don't you ?
Industrial Designer: Yeah . If yeah Marketing: Mm-hmm , yes .
Industrial Designer: and if you got if you got a Sky box , they have one of those plus boxes , you can record straight off the T_V_ anyway so on to on to like the T_V_ hard drive or so .
Project Manager: Mm . I think we assume that it's still got play and stop functions and programming .
User Interface: Anything about that on the market research or something like regarding whether people want a combined something like that ?
Marketing: Yes .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: Um we didn't really look into that but remember we found that finding that most people only use about uh ten percent of the buttons ,
User Interface: Ten perc
Project Manager: Mm .
User Interface: Mm-hmm .
Marketing: I think th th those do tend to be the basic channel-hopping things and on and off for the video , fast-forwarding , so on
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: and I think it's sort of general knowledge that people do find programming their videos a nightmare User Interface: Okay .
Project Manager: Hmm .
Industrial Designer: Ju um just as an idea on the uh speech recognition thing that pr it'd probably be quite expensive to incorporate an entire speech recognition thing
Marketing: Mm-hmm .
User Interface: Pens
Industrial Designer: and they're not that great anyway .
Marketing: In fact I've just called up that table there ,
Industrial Designer: Alright , okay .
Marketing: we asked those two questions , the table relates to both questions , so we didn't differentiate . Would you prefer an L_C_D_ screen , that's multi-function remote and would you pay more for speech recognition in a remote control ?
Industrial Designer: Alright , okay .
Marketing: So you can see how the the yes no sort of varies across the age group there ,
Project Manager: Mm-hmm .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: and a substantial number of don't knows in the older age group , I think that's just general fear of new technology .
Project Manager: Yeah ,
Industrial Designer: Yeah but um on on that again I just thought 'cause you can get those key chains now and you whistle and then it'll let off a loud noise to let you know where it is
User Interface: Mm-hmm .
Project Manager: bu
Marketing: Oh yeah .
Industrial Designer: so I thought that could be quite a Marketing: Right .
Project Manager: We do have a budget limitation that we can't control ourselves , so I think when we can take a cheaper option which still does the same kinda thing
Marketing: Mm .
Project Manager: um because it is something I it needs to be the thing that you use to find it needs to be something that you don't lose , you were saying whistling ,
Industrial Designer: Yeah . Yeah .
Project Manager: maybe on the T_V_ you could put like a pack on the T_V_ or something so you can't see the remote , you go and press the button on top of the T_V_ and it beeps
User Interface: Okay .
Project Manager: and you're like oh okay it's over there , something like that ,
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: Yes . That's a super idea .
Project Manager: but that's that sounds a lot cheaper to me .
Industrial Designer: Hmm . Yeah .
Marketing: Yeah .
Project Manager: Um the third thing was that we have to make sure the corporate image is very much incorporated into the handset . Um so we want logo , we want um fashionable , trendy , I mean what you were talking about with the marketing . Um , people paying more for it to look good . Um , we need to focus on that as well .
Marketing: Yes , further market research will be needed to kind of focus on what that is , it's gonna be different for a fifteen year old th for somebody who's sixty
Project Manager: Yeah .
Marketing: and also across the world if we're aiming at the international market . What is um attractive to a trendy New Yorker and what is attractive to a retired South African , I dunno ,
Project Manager: Mm .
Marketing: you get the idea . It's it's gonna vary around the world . At the end of the day , th the engineering design is one thing , it's the user interface design that may and th the sort of you know fashionable aspect of it we might have to change for different markets round the world .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
User Interface: So are we talking of a single model or maybe five , six designs ?
Project Manager: Yeah .
User Interface: Sure .
Industrial Designer: Well y yeah you could you could have a number of different designs
User Interface: Alright .
Industrial Designer: I mean inside they'd be essentially exactly the same .
User Interface: Right .
Project Manager: Mm-hmm .
User Interface: The features could be same and the body could look slightly different .
Industrial Designer: Just Marketing: Yeah .
Industrial Designer: yeah , yeah .
Marketing: Mm .
User Interface: So Project Manager: What about you were talking about the buttons ,
User Interface: Yeah .
Project Manager: um the controls that are coming out now have kind of big , rubber buttons , not tiny little one , big , rubber buttons , but what about , I mean , 'cause we got to make it original , what about um you know with the touch screen computers
Industrial Designer: 'Kay . Yeah , yeah that's what I was just yeah .
Project Manager: yeah ? Um so you it's like a little panel that you touch rather than a button which shouldn't wear out as much either , not sure about the User Interface: Industrial Designer: No , well no 'cause you wouldn't have to you don't actually have to press them you just Project Manager: You don't have to press it , you just have to put your thumb onto it .
User Interface: Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Project Manager: Um , think that might appeal I'm thinking kind of Japan , I'm thinking uh young , um office people ,
Marketing: Mm . Mm-hmm .
Project Manager: trendy kind of a thing .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: Yes it will appeal to sections of the market def
Project Manager: Um , but quite , um , easily labelled so that anyone can oh yeah that's obvious what that's for
Marketing: Mm-hmm .
Project Manager: and it's not daunting to maybe the older generations , um Marketing: Mm-hmm , mm .
Industrial Designer: Mm . But also er ergonomics as we're saying with the different designs , ergonomics uh there's sort of physically different things 'cause um if you've ever seen the X_ Box they had to make two different sized controllers because people in Japan wouldn't buy it because the controller was physically to big
Project Manager: Were too big .
Industrial Designer: because um they're c uh just generally Japanese people have smaller hands
Project Manager: Mm .
Industrial Designer: so they couldn't get round the controller which is uh so if you I don't know what 'cause you obviously you can have bigger buttons for some countries or something and smaller ones for others .
User Interface: Yeah , uh maybe to as uh it it was indicated that uh uh risk uh of uh repeated use , the injuries , maybe a touch screen could be a better option for that .
Industrial Designer: Yeah . Yeah .
User Interface: So , a bigger b okay so y you're dividing designs based on not only segment age groups , you're desi uh dividing it according to the countries also , the market .
Marketing: Mm-hmm .
User Interface: Maybe for U_S_ and all you can have a slightly bigger remote control
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
User Interface: and maybe in Japan and all you need to have a small , yeah .
Project Manager: I think we have to design one product
Industrial Designer: Hmm . Huh .
Project Manager: and then the company can take it wherever they want to uh
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Project Manager: in the sense that they can make it smaller , or they can make it bigger or they can change the features slightly , um .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: Mm-hmm .
User Interface: Mm-hmm .
Marketing: Th the internal d engineering design has got to remain the same , yes , absolutely .
Project Manager: It's gonna be the same , so we need to focus on just one thing , not get bogged down in lots of different um possibilities , um .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: Mm-hmm . Mm-hmm . I'm concerned , when you read the the R_S_I_ issue again , repetitive strain injury , I don't think just moving your finger around on a small screen is going to deal with that enough , I think that is still a kind of a question mark issue how we deal with that . Um , R_S_I_ tends to be caused by repetitive small movements .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: I'm j I really can't get my head round this one ,
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: this may have to be postponed to a future meeting but it's something we should think about .
Industrial Designer: I yeah I was just thinking about how you could combat that 'cause without without doing something where you have to move your arm around to change the channel
Marketing: Mm . I know , and it becomes ridiculous , yes I know .
Industrial Designer: and it becomes Project Manager: Or a speech recognition ,
Industrial Designer: yeah . Yeah , speech recognition ,
Marketing: Yeah .
Project Manager: which is extremely expensive ,
Industrial Designer: but Project Manager: I think that's the only way that you kind of avoid that kind of issue .
Industrial Designer: yeah .
Marketing: Yes . Mm-hmm . Do we have to initially um , you know looking at the findings here , focus on a younger age group initially and then broaden out the market later . Do we really have to go for everyone right away ? Um .
User Interface: We could focus on the biggest market .
Industrial Designer: Mm .
Marketing: Mm .
User Interface: If say people between age group of twenty to thirty five are the biggest market ?
Industrial Designer: Ge uh Marketing: And when we've been throwing up our ideas we're automatically talking about business people , young people , trendy people .
Project Manager: We are we're talking about um the type of company that we're working for as well . That they want um it to be fashionable ,
Marketing: Project Manager: they want it to be trendy and you wouldn't automatically assume associate that with the older generations .
Marketing: Mm .
Project Manager: Now with the baby boomers , the older generations are actually larger , they have a greater population than us young people ,
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
User Interface: Mm-hmm .
Marketing: Mm-hmm .
Project Manager: but I don't think we're focusing on that , I think we are focusing on a sort of mid-range um , business kind of class type people .
Marketing: Mm . Mm . I'm just thinking of budgetary issues too , for when it does get to the sort of broad scale marketing stage , we want to , you know , not waste money , not be profligate
Project Manager: Mm-hmm .
Marketing: and uh you know focus on where the idea will be taken up , first it's most likely to be taken up first of all where the main purchasing power is coming from for a product like this .
Project Manager: Okay , so the remote control functions . Um we've got the T_V_ ,
User Interface: Mm-hmm .
Project Manager: we've got the video , now there's um I can't remember what it's called , the little code at the end of programme details ,
Industrial Designer: Video plus .
Project Manager: yes . We could use that as an alternative to programming in times , things like that , is that Industrial Designer: Yeah yeah .
Project Manager: I always found that really easy when I discovered it , um
Marketing: Mm .
User Interface: Mm-hmm .
Project Manager: because you've got your general record anyway so if you there's a programme on you want to put record on , that's fine , but if you do want to tape something in two days time and you're not sure if you're going to , you put the number in
Industrial Designer: Just whack in the number .
Project Manager: and it's just a number , it's not a date , it's not a time , it's not a channel , it's not when it finishes , it's not anything like that ,
Industrial Designer: And you w Project Manager: it's just a number .
Industrial Designer: yeah . And you wouldn't you wouldn't need uh a whole host of extra buttons for that ,
Project Manager: No .
Industrial Designer: you just need one 'cause you've already got all the numbers there anyway ,
Project Manager: You've already got the numbers for typing in anyway .
Industrial Designer: yeah .
Marketing: Right , I've not come across that function but it sounds wonderful .
Project Manager: It is
Industrial Designer: Project Manager: after um if you look in the newspaper , T_V_ guide or any T_V_ guide there's a five , six digit number afterwards
Industrial Designer: It's not Yeah .
Project Manager: and that's the number you put in and it's recorded that it's going to be on on Tuesdays at ten o'clock on the seventeenth
Marketing: Ah , hmm .
Project Manager: so you don't have to worry about dates and you don't have to worry about times ,
Marketing: Right .
Project Manager: um and it has been around for quite a long time .
Industrial Designer: It's been been around for a long time it's just it's not very well advertised as to how to use it and things .
Project Manager: No it's not um but I think if awareness was kind of brought to the forefront about that Marketing: Superb . Mm .
Industrial Designer: Mm .
Marketing: Yes .
Industrial Designer: Though if y if you've got something like Sky anyway you can just click on it you can just press the button on the programme once and it'll record that programme when it's on
Project Manager: Mm .
Marketing: Right .
Industrial Designer: and you press it on it twice and it'll record the whole series .
Marketing: Excellent , mm-hmm .
Industrial Designer: So that yeah .
Marketing: Mm .
Industrial Designer: But just to have that function would be would be really good .
Marketing: Right .
Project Manager: Okay so Marketing: Can I just run this past you while it occurs to me , I don't mean to quickly jump from one subject to another , but just discussing the different age groups and targeting the different age groups it occurs to me , to produce our own mobile phones , that that's kind of what led us on to comparing T_V_ remote controls with with their design features , um , chain companies like Carphone Warehouse , you can pop in anytime with a phone that you bought for them w if you've got any problems with it and they'll fix it ,
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: they'll phone the company , you can use their telephones .
Project Manager: Mm-hmm .
Marketing: Is it worthwhile with with our retail outlets having a a similar um kind of service so that if older users were deterred from buying this , if they know they can just pop into one of our high street outlets , th you know , which button is it I press for this ? Th as free as a free aspect of our service , would that not make it more attractive to them ?
Industrial Designer: Mm .
Project Manager: Industrial Designer: But the only problem is that with a mobile phone you signed for a contract so they um the companies who uh who you deal with have actually they've they've got an obligation to to help you out
Marketing: Mm . Mm-hmm .
Industrial Designer: and also I mean it's it's fair enough to have some sort of help service but I I'm not sure how much the cost would be of having Marketing: Right .
Project Manager: The functionality of it in the sense that you're sitting there , you're pressing this button and your T_V_'s not doing it . Taking your T_V_ and your control and saying look this is what I'm doing , it's not working , what should I do ?
Marketing: Alright . Yes
User Interface: Marketing: If it was something as simple as you couldn't change the channel ,
Industrial Designer: Marketing: but I mean for if there were any more or are we absolutely definite it's only gonna be for T_V_ and video ,
Project Manager: I think so .
Industrial Designer: Yeah , I mean Marketing: we're not gonna put any  okay , just a thought .
Project Manager: Um Industrial Designer: I mean instru instruction books I feel c I reckon can cover that .
Project Manager: Instruction manuals . But I mean they're there's customer service ,
Marketing: Okay .
Project Manager: there will be a customer service number thing that you can phone up and speak to
Industrial Designer: Yeah . Department , yeah .
Marketing: Mm-hmm . Sure .
Project Manager: and that way there's no call out charge , there's no extra , t the person has to walk to a shop on the high street , um .
Marketing: Mm .
User Interface: Right .
Marketing: Yeah .
User Interface: I think it will be too much of an effort for a person to for a phone maybe he might walk down the street ,
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
User Interface: but for a remote he will just refer to the manual and all that .
Industrial Designer: And they're Marketing: Not for such simple functions
Industrial Designer: yeah , they should be f yeah .
Marketing: because we're focusing on that ,
Project Manager: Mm . But we should focus on making the manual as user-friendly as possible
Marketing: yes okay .
User Interface: Simple .
Project Manager: because a lot of them are just tiny little writing and lots and lots of pages .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: Mm .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: Puts people off reading them so they just do the obvious , yes .
Project Manager: It does ,
Industrial Designer: It's the uh Project Manager: you just put it in the drawer until something goes wrong
Industrial Designer: yeah .
Project Manager: and then you try and search through it , so that should be something we think about .
Marketing: Sure , okay .
User Interface: Mm-hmm .
Project Manager: Um , what other functions ? We need I'm not sure if we need a design um decision now , but we should think about c 'cause you've got the dilemma between oh batteries , that's what I was thinking about . Mobile phone batteries , what kinda battery is that ?
Industrial Designer: Um they're they're specially made for the for the mobile phones , but they come with a charger , I mean you could you could bundle a charger in with it but Project Manager: Well they la they they last quite a long time ,
Industrial Designer: Mm-hmm .
Project Manager: and if you had uh when you th the thing that you get with mobile house phones , you sit it in its charger when you're not using it or t at night or something ,
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
User Interface: Mm-hmm .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Project Manager: but it doesn't really matter 'cause it never really runs out 'cause it lasts a long time once it is charged .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Project Manager: Um , something like that should reduce the size of it .
Industrial Designer: Yeah and if yeah if you if you had if you had one of those uh just coming back to your other point about pressing the button and setting off the bleeper in the room that could uh Project Manager: Yeah it could be on that yeah , okay .
Industrial Designer: Yeah on that as well so .
User Interface: So are we talking of a concept of a rechargeable something on the remote ?
Project Manager: S
Industrial Designer: Yeah
Project Manager: Yes .
Industrial Designer: some sort of docking station or User Interface: Mm-hmm .
Project Manager: Rechargeable with a docking station .
Industrial Designer: yeah .
Project Manager: So the rechargeable which would be your field .
Industrial Designer: Yeah yeah th yeah that that'd be fine ,
Project Manager: Okay .
Industrial Designer: and also that would mean they wouldn't have to go out buying batteries all the time .
User Interface: Right .
Project Manager: Yes ,
Marketing: Mm-hmm .
Project Manager: which it is cheaper in the long run as well .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Project Manager: Um , th the shape you got trendy . I don't wanna big box with lots of things , you don't want a tiny sort of little thing either ,
Marketing: Mm-hmm .
User Interface: Mm-hmm .
Project Manager: because then you have got the repetitive strain injury no matter how many  how much you try and make it simple ,
Marketing: Mm .
Project Manager: um Marketing: And we don't w I mean so many remote controls look absolutely identical ,
Project Manager: They do .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: these long , brown things with the same coloured buttons all crammed in on the s the surface . We definitely an ob an obvious thing , a very simple thing is to get away from these brown rectangles , we don't want that .
Project Manager: Okay so we've got a flip-screen .
User Interface: Okay .
Project Manager: Um User Interface: What I was thinking of a design which Nokia h uh came up with almost six or seven years back . Basically we have a flat one it it looks like a box , like a chocolate .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
User Interface: That's very strenuous because your thumb is slightly up , so they came up with something like this , curled up , so here ,
Marketing: Mm-hmm .
User Interface: and you don't have to you don't bend your thumb too much , so it's like uh you can say a banana shape kind of thing , curled up like a boat .
Marketing: Slightly curved , curved .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Project Manager: Okay .
User Interface: G uh so what happens is you don't have to press your thumb too down like . So it's already curled up so your thumb doesn't
Marketing: Mm .
Project Manager: 'Cause it's kind of moulded to your hand anyway .
User Interface: y yeah so we can have a s like you know moulded according to your Marketing: Mm .
User Interface: the way you h hold of it's kind of semi-circular in the bottom , something like that .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Project Manager: Okay .
User Interface: I wouldn't say exactly semi-circular but yeah smooth .
Project Manager: Can you look into the company logo ? Um , things that are associated with the company in view to trying to incorporate that into the design of the product .
User Interface: Current .
Project Manager: I mean for example , if it was a C_ or something like that , you could have it in a vague C_ shape that opens up kind of like a shell , or something ,
User Interface: Mm-hmm . Mm-hmm .
Project Manager: um something along those lines to be able to incorporate it quite um obviously into the design ,
Marketing: Project Manager: while also making it quite different from anything else that's there .
User Interface: We could look in at that but Mm . What we were talking is to make it more rather than like sea-shells ,
Marketing: I mean look at the mobile .
User Interface: logo could become as you could put a logo in the corner of uh the model , rather than you know , trying to make it like a sea shell or whatever you were ta telling like .
Project Manager: Well we need to think about how it's gonna look different .
Marketing: I think that's  that sounds a really attractive idea ,
User Interface: A sea shell ?
Marketing: I've not come across anything like that before , if it kind of yeah and that opens out into your flip-top .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: Then it's nice t to h you can make it lightweight plastic , nice to hold in the palm of the hand and just because you're having to actually insert in between the two covers , that's gonna take care of some of the repetitive strain injury trying p prevent a lot of that I would think . I think it's a really nice idea
User Interface: Yeah we could look in at that .
Marketing: and plus you can get  you know even though we're using plastic , you can still I mean think of the designs you can get in plastic , we can do a nice conch shell or scallop shell exterior .
Project Manager: Or you could do um different , like you get with mobile phones , different fascias . You could have different kind of casings .
Industrial Designer: Mm .
Marketing: Mm-hmm .
Project Manager: So you could have like psychedelic ones for younger people and sleek ones and Marketing: Yeah . Mm-hmm . Less chance of it being lost too , it's not like a chocolate brown lozenge that's gonna go down the sofa
Project Manager: Yeah .
Marketing: and people might want to put it on their mantelpiece or whatever as a ki if it looks attractive enough as a kind of ornament they don't not gonna lose it so much either . It's easier to bit nice to handle .
Project Manager: Mm .
User Interface: Yeah maybe we could come at some say five , six des designs and then choose which are whichever appeals the most like ,
Project Manager: Okay .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: Mm-hmm .
User Interface: that could be the most common design .
Project Manager: Okay .
Marketing: Okay .
User Interface: But we can like think of five , six designs .
Project Manager: Okay . Right , I think we have to round it up , um 

Summary: The market research presented by Marketing implicated that the remote control design was expected to be more stylish and less complicated. Project Manager added that an ideal model would be for TV only and have a corporate logo incorporated. To meet the requirements above, Industrial Designer recommended a touch screen panel. Marketing suggested that the remote control size could be adjusted due to physical differences among international users. The team gave up speech recognition, for it would cost a lot. An alarm would be incorporated for detection in case the remote control was lost in the house.