Project Manager: Alright . And we'll turn to the next presentation . I think she said we don't need to screw it in , just stick it in . And then press , what ? F F_N_ and F_ eight . Next to the control button on the bottom , and then F_ eight at the top .
User Interface: Yeah , press them .
Project Manager: And then w be patient . User Interface: Yeah , here we go .
Project Manager: Tada .
Industrial Designer: And if you want it to go into slide show mode , it's that little button there .
User Interface: Can I not just uh do each one in order ?
Industrial Designer: I you can if you like , it it that that just sets it up to do a p a p
Project Manager: There we are . Yay .
User Interface: That ?
Industrial Designer: no that one , that one there .
User Interface: That ?
Industrial Designer: Left , left a bit , left a bit , that one , yep .
User Interface: That ? Right , technical functions design . Uh well I think first off , basically I do agree with what Sarah has defined as as uh your personal preferences,yeah . I think we need uh a more streamlined volume with no extraneous functions . So my method was to look at the existing remotes and what functions they have . And what we all need to discuss is whether we want these functions uh pretty much the same as what existing remotes have . If we can build on this with the speech recognition , that's not something I'd thought about at all , but it's also something we can discuss .
Project Manager: Okay .
User Interface: Um and and I presume we can miss out the functions really to to a video or D_V_D_ remote control , if this is only gonna be a , you know , satellite , cable , T_V_ remote control .
Project Manager: T_V_ only .
User Interface: So these are two models of existing remote controls . Uh the one on the left seems to be a fairly uh standard universal remote control .
Project Manager: Ugh .
User Interface: It has fast-forward , stop , play , all relating to movies . It also has seems to have channel up and channel down , which is which is more what you'd expect from a , you know , like a Sky or cable remote control
Project Manager: Hmm .
User Interface: where you've got hundreds of channels instead of a merely terrestrial one . Uh but I think we should be looking more along the lines of the one on the right , which has it also has play , stop and pause and everything , I don't think we need them at all . I think we just need channel selection , volume up , volume down and I think an an enter function where you can access it's not like teletext , but along the same lines , access things on the screen . Uh not related to the internet one that you mentioned , because that'd be far outside our budget and what we want this to do .
Project Manager: Mm . And exceed the requirements they're expecting of us .
User Interface: So it really exceed the requirements , 'cause the requirements really are just want to be able to change channels and functions , which is more a text on the screen thing than uh than actual buttons
Project Manager: Okay .
User Interface: o I was thinking something some smooth , sleek , little remote control with big user-friendly buttons and uh a menu that you can access .
Project Manager: Alright .
User Interface: Uh but then I do think we need to discuss the speech um recognition possibility .
Project Manager: Okay . Any uh thing else you wanna add ?
User Interface: No .
Project Manager: Okay .
User Interface: But we could go back to the pictures of the uh , what're they called ? The pictures of the remote controls and possibly discuss what we think about them ,
Marketing: Or if User Interface: but maybe should hear what Kate has to say first .
Marketing: Yeah .
Project Manager: Yeah . Let's hear what Kate has to say .
User Interface: Okay then .
Marketing: Maybe afterwards we could do a uh whiteboard with that your the one on the right as a as a basis .
Project Manager: Hmm .
Marketing: Whiteboard session .
Project Manager: I think the white that one on the right is , as well as less cluttered ,  Marketing: Mm-hmm .
User Interface: Definitely less cluttered and I mean but still it's Project Manager: It's there
User Interface: Sorry
Project Manager: but it's User Interface: I was just I'll just uh resume something else I was gonna say .
Marketing: User Interface: The the style of these is terrible .
Project Manager: Yeah .
User Interface: I I I really think we need to uh not only possibly even materials , like the type of plastic used , but everything including size and shape of buttons , positioning of buttons , the actual shape of the hand-held device , colours , just every e yeah , everything to do with this has to be revolutionised . Marketing: The ergonomics , the way it fits in your Project Manager: Hmm .
Marketing: Yeah .
User Interface: But Project Manager: User Interface: So that's that for now .
Industrial Designer: Cheers . Mm , I haven't actually got a display on my screen .
Project Manager: Okay .
Industrial Designer: Still , I'll do without that . Okay um , now I wanna bring us down to earth again I'm afraid and talk about the actual practicalities of how the thing needs to work . Um oh and this is the methodology I used in preparing for this meeting . Um basically I've been doing a little bit of web-based research , and if I had a design team , I would've been discussing my ideas with 'em . But the the net result is that I've come up with a first cut for the working design that I'd like to discuss with you . So , let's go back to what the basic function of a remote control is . It's for sending a message , um typically um via infrared . And the the basic components we've got to build in for our twelve Euros fifty are um an energy source , the user interface and which will um in incorporate um an integrated circuit that actually composes the message um based on what the which buttons the user presses , we turn that into a message , um and then we need a sending mechanism to send it to the receiver . Now I would have hoped I think that's my only slide actually , yeah . I would have have hoped to um do you a pretty PowerPoint slide of um my first cut design , but unfortunately the technology defeated me , so if you'll bear with me I'll do it on the whiteboard . So we want an energy source which is there . And we've got to think about what that might be .
Project Manager: Hmm-mm .
Industrial Designer: Uh we obviously don't want wires on this thing . Uh typically it would be a battery , but I'm open to suggestions . Um and then we have the the user interface . Oops . And the main components in there are the the th the chip that actually has the intelligence of the machine that translates button presses into a message , which it then transfers to some sending mechanism , which encodes it and sends the message to the receiver . So those are the basic things that we've got to get in for our twelve Euros fifty . Thank you .
Project Manager: Hmm . Okay . Right . But those things as long as we can get those components , the block , that that rectangle for the user interface , is where the user comes in of what what does it look like ? What do the buttons look like ? Uh what does it feel like ? That's where the user interface is really coming into its own .
Industrial Designer: Mm-hmm .
Project Manager: The technical end is what's actually gonna be in there , but also it has to be easy enough to change or repair if something goes wrong . For example the battery energy source or um what if the chip , for whatever reason , breaks down after a certain amount of time , do you just replace it ? Um is there any um because it may be in the same area with several other user interfaces , like for D_V_D_s , movies , whatever . Um does it have to have a a way of being segregated from the others , in a different frequency or something ?
Industrial Designer: Well I may be wrong here , but I'd been thinking of this device as being a a cheap mass-produced device . We're trying to sell four million of 'em ,
Project Manager: Mm .
Industrial Designer: um that's that's , you know , that's almost one in every tenth household or whatever it is . Um and I hadn't thought of it as being a reparable thing ,
Project Manager: Okay .
Industrial Designer: you just if it goes wrong you chuck it out , and that's why I'm a bit concerned . I like the idea of speech recognition , that's a great idea , but I'm not convinced we can put it into this box for the price that we need gonna need to hit .
Project Manager: Okay .
User Interface: Whoop .
Marketing: Do we have um ki some idea of how much it would cost to create a device that has these basic elements ?
User Interface: Isn't that your job ?
Marketing: Because then Project Manager: Oh .
Industrial Designer: Marketing: No ,
User Interface: Oh right .
Marketing: the chip composer marketing . Oh no , the chip composer sender .
Project Manager: Mm . What they cost .
Industrial Designer: Um , I'm I'm I'm hoping that my personal coach is gonna give me some advice on that , if you're asking me ,
Marketing: I I don't believe I know , um .
Project Manager: Okay .
Marketing: Okay .
Industrial Designer: but  Marketing: Be because then we would ha ha figure out how much we had to play with in terms of user interface and this look and feel idea .
User Interface: Yeah . Project Manager: Mm .
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
User Interface: It does it does seem as if we're just to do something really simple and mass-produced , the which is pretty much the same as these existing models ,
Marketing: Mm-hmm .
User Interface: just maybe a little bit more inspired ,
Marketing: Inspired ?
User Interface: but basically just the same .
Marketing: Mm .
User Interface: Although what what uh suddenly came into my head is , you know how they always take two A_A_ batteries which which is really not very efficient at all . Could it be possible to have uh , you know , like a rechargeable internal battery , like , well , like an M_P_ three player does ? With that you could jus or a mobile phone or whatever .
Marketing: Mm-hmm . Mm-hmm .
User Interface: You could you know , you just plug into a power source for a couple of hours , and then it's recharged for ages and ages and ages , and you don't have to worry with replacing A_A_ batteries ,
Marketing: Well
User Interface: which are Marketing: that has another element , which is if every time you're done using the remote you put it on a charger , then you then it has a place .
Project Manager: Mm .
User Interface: You'd never need uh batteries would y uh yeah .
Marketing: Yeah , but it also has a place ,
User Interface: And it's not stuck down the back of the sofa .
Marketing: so exactly .
Project Manager: Mm .
User Interface: But then again I d I don't know if this is within our price range or not .
Marketing: That's a really good idea .
Industrial Designer: Well I uh think that's a very interesting idea , but um I'm not a very good industrial designer and I don't know much about what these things cost . I'll do some research for the next meeting .
Project Manager: Okay .
User Interface: Marketing: Well it's better than my idea about solar , probably . Project Manager: Uh yeah .
Industrial Designer: Well solar may not be so good when you're watching T_V_ in the night ,
Marketing: Yeah , yeah .
Industrial Designer: but Project Manager: Mm .
User Interface: Well it is just so annoying how Marketing: Depen
Project Manager: It would have to sor store up the energy
Marketing: Mm . Yeah .
Industrial Designer: Yeah , I guess .
Project Manager: and then use it . Solar can do that .
Industrial Designer: We may be talking quite heavy then .
Project Manager: M yeah , that would be too heavy
Marketing: Yeah .
Project Manager: and it'd cost too much .
Industrial Designer: Mm-hmm .
User Interface: No , but just a rechargeable internal battery would probably I mean it might cost more to at first to develop and to install ,
Marketing: Mm-hmm
User Interface: but for long-term use it'll be so much more convenient and economic than fiddling around trying to replace chunky A_A_ batteries and not having any in your kitchen drawer
Marketing: Mm-hmm .
User Interface: and
Industrial Designer: So do you think we might make that a selling point if it was something that we found we could afford to develop ?
User Interface: you know f
Marketing: Definitely ,
Project Manager: Mm .
Marketing: 'cause I'm thinking in terms of um uh the loss and breakage of um remotes , how much of that is is to do with it not really having a uh a home , a um a nest , a place to live ,
User Interface: Mm .
Project Manager: Mm .
User Interface: Sort of have its little dock that you could put it in .
Industrial Designer: Marketing: exactly .
Project Manager: Yeah .
Marketing: So if you can dock it , um you know , you could s argue that this is Project Manager: And the dock could look very fancy and that could be your inspiration of having it looking decent .
Marketing: Exactly .
User Interface: Still I don't know if it's quite within our price range .
Project Manager: Hmm .
Marketing: Mm . 'Cause you are talking about another component , like another piece of hardware .
User Interface: Yeah .
Project Manager: Yeah . Okay .
Marketing: Mm .

Summary: User Interface argued that they should discard the existing standard, and only keep the basic and user-friendly functions like channel selection, volume and enter key. Then they talked about the conflicts between technology and price. The application of some high technology such as speech recognition and solar energy would add to the cost. Therefore, to ensure the low price of the remote control, they had to think it over when deciding whether to use speech recognition. It was also difficult for the group to select between solar energy and charger. Although solar energy was fancy and environmentally friendly, the cost was much higher than using a charger. Finally, Marketing suggested making the remote control a dock to place it.