Project Manager: Mm-hmm .
Industrial Designer: Mm yeah .
Project Manager: Okay . I g yeah . Time is it ?
Marketing: Fourteen twenty six .
Project Manager: Okay . Lovely to see you all again . Um it's our conceptual design meeting and it's starting at approximately fourteen twenty five and so we have forty minutes for this one again and so we'll go just after three o'clock . Um okay our agenda , we're gonna do an opening , I'm gonna review the minutes of the last meeting , then we'll have your three presentations um and then we'll have to make a decision on the remote control concepts , and finally we'll close . So
Industrial Designer: Okay .
Project Manager: opening . Um these are our minutes from r the functional design . We decided our target group is the focus on who can afford it , because we have international appeal and we said it's for all age groups , different um functions of it . Our main objectives were simplicity and fashion . And s um in specific functions are something to keep the remote from getting lost , large buttons for the essential functions , a possibility for extra functions , like a sliding a sliding piece and a long-life battery or a charging station . Okay , now three presentations . I'd like to do it in this order , first do the conceptual specification of components , properties and materials um and then the conceptual specification of user interface and finally trend watching .
Industrial Designer: That would be me .
User Interface: Yep .
Industrial Designer: Alright . Well .
Project Manager: Mm . 'kay . Function F_ eight it . There we go .
Industrial Designer: Alright . Um I'm very excited by this one actually guys I uh had a lot of fun doing it . Components design . This is where you look at what does it take to make a remote control and what should we make our specific remote control out of . Um . So , we need to examine each element separately , but we're designing a full thing , so you wanna keep it integrated as a whole . The main elements of remote controls in general , and therefore ours as well , are the case , the buttons , the circuit board with the chip and the battery . These are all things that we had sort of addressed before , but I'm gonna take each one a little bit separately here as we figure out what they should be made of and what they should look like . The case , uh the options that I've gotten from headquarters about what we can do , um there's there's the shape of a case , we could do a flat sh a flat case , a curved case or maybe even a double double-curved case . I haven't seen any pictures of what this exactly looks like yet , just keep that in mind , but these are the options that we have from manufacturing and we can make our case out of plastic , the m the main base will be plastic , but we have all these sort of fashion and technological elements we can add in , wood , latex , titanium , rubber or other coloured types of plastic . That would be our case . Um buttons , for buttons we have um pushbuttons , which is what Real Reaction uses the most often , but we also have scror scroll wheels ,
Project Manager: Mm .
Industrial Designer: which can have integrated pushbuttons , or we could go all high-tech and have an L_ L_C_D_ screen . Um circuit board and chip we can have a simple one , a regular one or an advanced one , depending on what our other needs are . And then battery I think is where things get most exciting . We're talking about long-life batteries here . Um we can we can have your sort of basic double A_ batteries , but we also have these options of um using a kinetic battery , like are used in high-tech watches , where you just have to move it a little bit to get it to power up . Um so simple movements like pushing buttons would recharge the battery . Or a solar battery , although there are slight um complications with solar batteries as in we can't use a latex case if we have a solar battery .
Project Manager: Hmm .
Industrial Designer: Or um something they only described as the type of battery you find in torches from about fifty years ago , flashlights . Not quite sure what that is , but that's the description that I received , so that's what I'm passing on to you . So those are our options . Um personal preferences that I was thinking through here's what we've been talking about all through , fashion and simplicity . So if we're going for fashion in our cases , I think that what we're gonna wanna look at is a curved or a double-curved case , probably with a variety of design elements . Maybe titanium , maybe some wood . We're gonna have to investigate that better when I get specifics of the actual materials , but that's sort of what I have in mind . And we wanna go for simplicity . Probably pushbuttons , but I'm sort of intrigued by the idea of a scroll scroll wheel , if anyone has anything
Project Manager: Mm .
Industrial Designer: any ideas on that ? I mean I know the iPods and things right now have touch scroll um buttons which are exactly like what they're describing , so that might be something we wanna look into . And I'm really intrigued by the idea of a kinetic battery . Solar I don't think would be such a good idea , because how often are you sure that your remote control will get a certain amount of light .
Project Manager: Industrial Designer: But this idea of the kinetic , that you don't have to replace , and that a simple just shaking it around will make it work , I think that that m would be a very interesting thing . But I think we'd also wanna go for e a simple chip or regular chip to keep our costs down . Uh we really only need a regular or advanced chip t if we're gonna start using an L_C_D_ . So I think we want to be aware of not making things overly t technological if they don't need to be , 'cause that'll keep our manufacturing price way down . That's what I have for options . Um I'd appreciate anyone's input , but that's what I'm seeing for the future of the the look of this thing . Marketing: Is double-curved like would be like two hands kind of thing ?
Industrial Designer: I'm not sure . I haven't received any specific
Marketing: Okay .
Industrial Designer: visuals of this yet .
Marketing: 'Cause I'm imagining like double-curved is like , you know , like two sides that curve
Industrial Designer: This is what I'm sort of Marketing: and then like one curve would just be like a single vertical-ish kind of looking thing ,
Industrial Designer: Yeah . I'm not sure ,
Marketing: but I've no idea .
Industrial Designer: but I'll let you know as soon as I get any pictures .
Marketing: Sounds good .
Project Manager: Yeah , I wonder Industrial Designer: I know if we do have a double-curved case , it can't have any titanium in it . But the titanium , they were quite they're marketing quite hard to us as being used in the space programme , so that could be quite interesting .
User Interface:  Industrial Designer: Space-age remote .
Project Manager: Mm-hmm . Just an interesting marketing kind of element .
Industrial Designer: Just all things to keep in mind . Yeah . That's about all I have to do , guys . I hope I didn't go through that too quickly .
Project Manager: Uh just a real quick question um the weight of these different elements , have you Industrial Designer: Yeah , n
Project Manager: no idea , okay .
Industrial Designer: no idea , no idea . Um I'm assuming that a kinetic battery isn't gonna take up that much weight ,
Project Manager: Mm-hmm .
Industrial Designer: and that a tita titanium is very light , I know ,
Project Manager: Mm-hmm .
Industrial Designer: um but other than Project Manager: Industrial Designer: that's really basic , I mean , that's all I have gotten so far . Project Manager: Okay .
Industrial Designer: Alright ? Any other questions ?
User Interface: Uh-huh . Don't think so .
Industrial Designer: No ? Okay .
Project Manager: Mm 'kay .
Industrial Designer: I have save this in the uh shared projects , if anyone wants to look
Project Manager: Thank you , perfect .
Industrial Designer: and I have c considerable notes on the topic as well , if anyone needs any more information . Uh Marketing: Thanks .
Project Manager: Um if you made notes yourself you can put those on our um underneath our oh , uh in your book ,
Industrial Designer: Just in my notebook ,
Project Manager: then don't worry about that .
Industrial Designer: but if anyone has any specific questions , don't hesitate to email me or something . Alright ? Uh I guess I can Project Manager: 'Kay now we're um concepts concepts of user interface . Marketing: Project Manager: Yeah , um . This one's so much tighter than the other one .
Industrial Designer: I know .
Project Manager: Okay . Nope . There we go . Here you are .
User Interface: Jess .
Industrial Designer: G oh , geez .
User Interface: Alright , so I'm gonna describe the the concept of the user interface of this des device . Um we've talked about uh the two essential properties of the user interface . We want it to be simple and we want it to be fashionable . Um other we've also got to remember that this is a device that serves as a useful purpose . Uh we want people to be able to use it s as a remote control , so we need to determine what the essential functions of the d of the device are and make sure that we include that we've included all of those and that we actually end up with a device that is going to be useful to people . We have a number of different choices for a design concept um and s that's that's something that that I'll show you some examples of um , but essentially we need to choose how how is this device going to work ,
Industrial Designer: User Interface: how how what kind of model is there going to be for user interaction with this device . Uh once we've chosen a a concept for it , we can then design the features around the concept , making sure that we get all the essential functions in the device and uh the extra functions and the more advanced features . And of course we also have to make it look cool .
Industrial Designer: User Interface: So basically ,
Marketing: User Interface: that's what we don't want . M we don't want lots of buttons , uh complicated features . We want something that looks nice and simple .
Industrial Designer: Hmm .
User Interface: Here's a a fairly simple device . This is an an iPod from Apple . Um I think the main thing to notice about it is it just has four buttons . It's very minimalistic in its design . Uh you use these four buttons to m to move around a range of settings on the small L_C_D_ screen . Um the thing I like about this is that it's very very quick to access the main features . Uh you can just about make out uh that the button three buttons are uh previous track , next track and play pause . They're the main the main features of the iPod , the things you will use a all the time . Um then if you want to do anything more advanced , you go into the little menu on the L_C_D_ screen and you use the buttons just to scroll around and and find the more advanced features that you want . So I think that's that's a good a good kind of model that we could have . Um here's a another example . This is uh it's an interesting idea and I think i it looks pretty cool . Um it's certainly got novelty value .
Project Manager: Mm .
User Interface: Uh it's nice and colourful , it's nice and bright . Uh it's also something that you can kind of feel your way around . The buttons are are different shapes and and you can sort of yeah if you're watching T_V_ in the dark or whatever , you can work out which button's which and basically , yeah it's ith it's fun . So I I like I like this idea of just having buttons for the features that you use most often . So you'd need a few buttons to select your favourite channels . I mean most people , when they watch T_V_ , they have two hundred and fifty channels on their T_V_ and they watch of 'bout four of them at the most . So , you have buttons for your favourite channel , changing the volume , which is something you do all the time when you're watching T_V_ , and the button to switch it off , in case you get bored . Um other features , things like adjusting the brightness , tuning the T_V_ , uh I don't know what else you do with a T_V_ . Um but these are these are all necessary functions . Uh you can't have a t there's no point having a television that you can't tune or that you can't set the contrast , so we need to find a way of including these somehow . Um and one other suggestions I'd make is to in is to include in a menu system , a bit like on the iPod . So we'd either have a small L_C_D_ display on the device itself , or uh have a dis a menu display that comes up on your television and can b be controlled through the device .
Industrial Designer: Hmm .
User Interface: And that would allow you to access access the advanced features uh whilst keeping a very small and simple set of buttons for the features that you use most often .
Project Manager: Okay .
Industrial Designer: So you'd be advocating an L_C_D_ then ?
User Interface: I think that's that's one way to go , yes .
Industrial Designer: Okay .
User Interface: Um I mean there are there are advantages and disadvantages if you if you have an L_C_D_ display , it's it's nice , because it's it it lets you just sort of sit there and st and control your television from your armchair .
Industrial Designer: Mm-hmm .
User Interface: There are disadvantages , an an L_C_D_ display would have to be quite small , 'cause we're we're I Industrial Designer: Right
User Interface: well we're I assume we're gonna be making quite a small device . Um it would also have to have uh a kind of backlighting in it , 'cause you ten you tend to watch T_V_ in the dark ,
Project Manager: Mm-hmm .
Industrial Designer: Right .
User Interface: but you need to be able to see your L_D_D_ L_C_D_ display . The alternative is to have a an on-screen display on your television that you control through your remote control . Uh a bit like a bit like how they have these um digital boxes where you you press the buttons and it comes up with your this thing of watch lo what's on each channel .
Project Manager: Mm-hmm .
Industrial Designer: Okay .
User Interface: I mean that that's also a good idea . It's it can it does have it's problems as well , if you've got a small T_V_ and you're sitting on the other side of a room , it's hard to read the little text that comes up .
Project Manager: Mm .
Industrial Designer: Mm-hmm .
User Interface: Uh but that's a that's a design decision that we can make .
Industrial Designer: 'Kay .
Project Manager: I do think that um one of the important features for a remote is seeing a menu and seeing what's on .
Marketing: Project Manager: Um and so
User Interface: Yeah .
Project Manager: like favourite channels is is applicable , but I think th that you do need to have some kind of function where it's um you have t you can see the title of the show or possibly a description of it .
Industrial Designer: Well Are you are you tak
Project Manager: Like I I know I use that often enough .
User Interface: Yeah .
Marketing: Wait , but is that separate from what he was saying ?
Project Manager: Well
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Project Manager: if it if it was a L_ L_C_D_ on th on the remote , I don't know that you could f that you'd be able to see a Industrial Designer: No , I think I think we're talking menu like contrast and tuning the V_C_R_ or something if I've understood you correctly , rather than menu as what's on .
Project Manager: Okay .
User Interface: Yeah , that that would be one of the features , yes .
Project Manager: Okay . 'Cause that would be more specifically a digital box ,
User Interface: But it's it's it's something to bear in mind is that if we put a display on the remote control the c uh communication is one way ,
Project Manager: mm-hmm .
User Interface: so you can't have the televisions and information back to the remote control , at least I don't think you can .
Industrial Designer: Oh , good point .
Project Manager: Mm .
User Interface: Um I'm not sure .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Project Manager: Okay , now we're moving on to market . Marketing .
Marketing: Should I plug that in ?
Project Manager: Marketing: User Interface: Is that going on ? Okay .
Marketing: Maybe it's just not User Interface: Uh that should be alright , actually .
Marketing: Is it on ? Ri What F_ do you have to press ,
Project Manager: Eight .
Marketing: five ? I just keep pressing lots of 'em . Well , I don't know how relevant all of this gonna be . If anything , the that they gave me .
Project Manager: Oops , it's not plugged in , quite in well enough .
Industrial Designer: No signal .
Marketing: Alright .
Project Manager: There we are .
Industrial Designer: Oop , there we go .
Project Manager: Mm 'kay .
Marketing: Oh yeah . Okay , so we're gonna look a little bit at trend watching . Basically , I was given um an executive summary that was a market investigation on remote controls that was recently conducted , and then also some fashion watchers in Paris and Milan commented on some things that are gonna be going on this year .
Project Manager: Marketing: So first um they had people they ranked um the important aspects of r remote controls , and right now i d they're saying that currently there's a functional look and feel preference , but that really , over the next year it it that's gonna be switching to fancy look and feel remotes , so that just goes back to the whole desire of our c Real Reaction company wanting to focus on fashion and so , even though we're stressing , when we're talking , we've all been talking about this like simplicity and easy to use idea , they're sort of wanting us to remember that the number one thing for everyone is that it's fancy look and feel . And as these are ranked , the top one is doubly important to the second one , which is doubly important to the third one ,
Industrial Designer: Okay .
Marketing: so just to take that weight into account . The second thing that was mentioned as important was the technological innovations . That would be like if we use something like the space material or the L_C_D_ screen , things like that . And then ease of use was the third most important , whi so really , no matter what , we need to focus the most on fancy look and feel , according to this . I don't know how much we agree with that . And then the fashion watch talks about that this year's top trend for clothes ,
Industrial Designer: User Interface: Marketing: shoes and furniture is fruits and vegetables and tha that there's a preference for spongy , tight material .
User Interface: Project Manager: S sweet .
Marketing: And so that brings us to my personal preferences . Who wants a spongy remote or one with fruit and vegetable padding .
Industrial Designer: Project Manager: Marketing: Personally , I don't really think that I want one that's gonna go out of style or go stale , excuse the pun , um in a year , so
User Interface: Marketing: even though this is coming from us as , you know , trend watch , market research , I don't know how much of it we necessarily wanna take away .
Industrial Designer: Marketing: Also , considering that the d research b has been carried out by Real Reaction , I'm a little hesitant as to like , how these questions may have been worded , and if necessarily this whole fashion to technology y edas ease of use is necessarily the right ranking . Personally , like I might reverse it , but if we're working for this company then I guess no matter what , we have to stress fashion the most . But it doesn't necessarily need to be a spongy material . Industrial Designer: Mm . User Interface: Industrial Designer: That there's all kinds of scope for imagination in that one though .
User Interface: Marketing: Yeah . I don't have a lot of notes to share if you want them ,
Industrial Designer: User Interface: Marketing: that pretty much sums it up . So yeah .
Project Manager: Okay , do we have any s some questions for this , let's see um .
Marketing: Yeah , what can I possibly enlighten on ?
Project Manager: Um do you have any ideas how to possibly use these ? Um how to how to use a fruit or vegetable or um or the spongy material at all ?
User Interface: Project Manager: Like could we make a s like could we make a spongy remote ? It would be easier on the hands .
Industrial Designer: If it's latex if it's latexy Project Manager: It's kind of and then it Industrial Designer: Um , mean Project Manager: we would have to find a way to protect like the chip and all that ,
User Interface: A kind of thing that Project Manager: I dunno . But Industrial Designer: An uh I if th my understanding of a latex case is that it's in fact hard to protect stuff inside ,
Project Manager: Mm-hmm .
Industrial Designer: but that it's covered with the latex , which is spongier and softer on your hands . It's there's something to be said , I mean we we got that thing earlier from you about um not wanting it to R_ R_ repetitive stress injuries and things
Project Manager: Mm-hmm .
Industrial Designer: and and User Interface: Yeah .
Marketing: Mm-hmm .
Industrial Designer: Yeah ,
Marketing: Yeah , so something , m m instead of a necess
Industrial Designer: something grippable , I mean we don't we don't we don't wanna go spongy , maybe . Marketing: yeah , grip , I'm thinking grip more than like sinking into your hands ,
User Interface: Yeah . Yeah .
Marketing: you know , i and I think I'm envisioning more like , you know , the material that you have when you sit on like a bicycle ,
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Project Manager: Mm-hmm .
Marketing: so that it doesn't hurt when you're sitting down for a long time ,
Industrial Designer: Mm-hmm .
Marketing: like I'm imagining that sort of thing , I don't know what th that material's called .
Industrial Designer: Yeah , I think that given the list of materials I w I was forwarded it's that seems doable . could we go in fruit and vegetable colours ? We could colour-co-ordinate them ,
Project Manager: F for sure , or maybe like
Marketing: Industrial Designer: li
Project Manager: um couple main ones being like , I dunno , lemons or strawberries or something .
Industrial Designer: The buttons could be fruit-shaped .
Project Manager: Could they be smelly ?
User Interface: I Is it supposed to be shaped like a vegetable ? Uh like uh I dunno , like uh carrots or something .
Industrial Designer: Oh well
Marketing: Oh God .
Project Manager: I don't know .
Marketing: Project Manager: Or carrot shaped ,
Industrial Designer: it's quite easy to s shape thing like carrot
Project Manager: mm .
Industrial Designer: isn't it ?
User Interface: Maybe ,
Project Manager: Like large button ,
Industrial Designer: Or maybe the buttons could be shaped like different fruits .
User Interface: or Project Manager: that's what I was thinking of , yeah .
Marketing: What about the idea of like a round remote ? Instead of like a vertical up and down one . Like in terms of holding it . Like that's a f shape of a fruit .
Industrial Designer: be  User Interface: Kind of like a potato .
Industrial Designer: yeah .
User Interface: Yeah .
Project Manager: Might Industrial Designer: It'd be harder to f bu uh buttons I think .
Project Manager: would you think you you do you think you'd be able to hold it ?
Marketing: Just to tie it in a little .
Project Manager: 'Cause I think the reason they're long is yeah .
Industrial Designer: It'd be harder to press button .
Project Manager: Harder to push .
User Interface: Depends . When you when you use a remote , do you press the buttons with your thumb , usually ? Or your fingers ?
Marketing: Yeah .
Industrial Designer: Um Project Manager: I usually hold it in one hand . Maybe Industrial Designer: I User Interface: Or maybe you want something that's shaped like a mobile phone , so you you hold it in one hand , and you press the buttons with your thumb .
Project Manager: But then the buttons would have to be very small .
Industrial Designer: Yeah , that's ts how I tend to do it .
Project Manager: Don't you think ?
Industrial Designer: No
Marketing: Yeah ,
Industrial Designer: just thumb-sized .
Marketing: 'cause otherwise your fingers can't move around .
Industrial Designer: Jus
Project Manager: But I mean in order to get to all of them ,
Marketing: But I like i
Project Manager: you know .
User Interface: Yeah .
Project Manager: They would have to be within a certain amount of space with each other .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
User Interface: Maybe .
Industrial Designer: That's true .
User Interface: But if you've only got like four or five buttons anyway , then it's it's not so much a problem , perhaps .
Industrial Designer: Right . I When I'm when I'm pressing buttons on my iPod , that's how I do it , hold it and press the four . Yeah .
Project Manager: Mm-hmm .
User Interface: So you hold it in one hand and you press you press the buttons with your thumb
Project Manager: Mm-hmm .
Industrial Designer: Yeah , or in and use my thumb or my pointer finger on the touch scroll wheel .
User Interface: and And you find that works quite well ?
Marketing: I love the idea of the wheel like the iPod .
Industrial Designer: Yeah
Project Manager: Mm-hmm .
User Interface: Is that Marketing: 'Cause th
User Interface: The button on an iPod , is it what is it , is it just four buttons or is it li more like a scroll thing ?
Marketing: It's like five ,
Project Manager: It's a scroll , yeah , it's a wheel .
Industrial Designer: It wel well Marketing: 'cause there's one in the middle .
Industrial Designer: yeah , it would I mean each version of it has been a little bit different ,
Project Manager: The one I have doesn't have the four on i like around it , I don't think .
Industrial Designer: but Oh yeah , you had one of the in-between ones , when they weren't doing that anymore . Ts and you press the centre button ,
User Interface: Right .
Industrial Designer: that's that's your all-purpose select button right there .
User Interface: Oh , I see , right , yeah . Oh , okay .
Industrial Designer: Since it's the one in the centre that's not marked , yeah .
User Interface: Yeah , that's quite a good design .
Marketing: I think why it would be good for us is 'cause like you could have the same wheel sort of effect for like channel flipping and then the other one could be like for volume .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: Like just the idea of like those Industrial Designer: Uh uh
Marketing: so few buttons for main things ,
Industrial Designer: t
Marketing: but then how you could go back to the menu and like , I dunno if we would want it on the screen there or on the actual T_V_ . I kind of am wanting to say on the T_V_ ,
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Marketing: 'cause if you're changing the brightness , don't you wanna see it happening , kind of ?
Industrial Designer: Hmm .
Project Manager: Mm .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
User Interface: Yeah .
Marketing: And then you could still have that available .
Industrial Designer: Yeah , I think an L_C_D_ screen might be good in theory , but not as useful in practice .
User Interface: I think it could be difficult in practice ,
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
User Interface: yeah . Also z yeah , 'cause you would be z looking down at the L_C_D_ screen , than back up at your T_V_
Industrial Designer: Right .
Marketing: Mm-hmm . Mm-hmm .
User Interface: and people don't wanna do that .
Industrial Designer: Um 

Summary: The first presentation mainly covered component design. Industrial Designer introduced what should be the case, the buttons, the circuit board with the chip and the battery made of and what they should look like. The second presentation was about properties and materials. User Interface advocated an LCD with backlighting in a small device. The third presentation was trend watching given by Marketing. So Marketing suggested space materials or the LCD screen because they stressed fashion, simplicity and technology innovation. Also, Marketing didn't suggest that spongy material was necessary.