project manager: Right w welcome to the the first meeting of  Real Reaction's   development meetings for our our new television remote control .  this follows our very successful entry into the the consumer market over the last year or so  which we want to to build on , taking advantage of the  the the latest developments in in technology and the  the latest   feelings in in consumer design and and demand and  we want to make this the the very best product th that's possible for everybody ,  one that everybody wants ,  at a good price for the consumer and at a good price for the company . project manager:  I'll just go round th the table , Andrew , marketing ,  m Kendra with the   designing the the the User Interface   and Kate with the the industrial design . What's  the the th th project is is here to do , is is to to get this this project up and moving , ev everybody is is free to  say wh whatever they want ,  everybody has a contribution to make and  everybody feel free to interrupt me at any time to to say what you want to say .  in in terms of the immediate meeting the   everybody knows everybody else , everybody's worked for the the company for a while , if if an anybody feels that they need to say more about themselves please do , if if if anybody wants to b briefly give their their background so that everybody's quite clear what everybody   everybody's experience is please do so .  in fact I'd I'd I'd welcome anybody to  say something briefly about themselves , in fact we will do that by by going round the table quickly and and saying what what contribution you you're looking to make . marketing: Oh my name's Andrew I'm a I'm the Market Research person for this  for this meeting and this  project for creating this new remote control and  yeah I'll be  presenting information statistics on what people want to want to  get from this new design , what people want to like and from a fashion point of view and the practicality point of view . user interface: I'm Kendra and I'm the Us User Interface Designer and  I haven't had a whole lot of experience in this kind of thing before but I'm m so I'll be working on the design . project manager: Right at least means you haven't got any preconceived ideas so . industrial designer: I'm the Industrial Designer and I'll just be I guess presenting about the the inter workings of our little remote control and  yeah . project manager: Okay , very very quickly ,  this I don't want to make this meeting too structured because the the whole idea is that it's a  you know a think tank . Everybody says what they what they want to say ,  and we don't want to be constrained by  kind of convention or   slides on screens or or anything else  but  briefly  th th this is what we want to do . The the remote control needs to be original , there has to be something about it that  other remote controls don't have so that as soon as people see it they think  yes that's different ,  I want one ,  and that goes along with being trendy ,   you know the I want it  scenario . User-friendly as as we all know , remote controls can be   very user-unfriendly so we want to make ours one that people can pick up marketing: project manager: and think oh yes that's it's obvious how that works ,  and they also want to look at the price and think oh yeah that's something that I may not need another remote control but  it's such a nice one I'm gonna have one . And last but not least , or indeed first of all , it it must make the company money , and we make the company money by producing what the consumer wants . The  the further work to be done is i the  the functional design ,  what it  what it must actually do , the  conceptual design ,  how we actually present that to the consumer and th the the detailed design i is  how we get that into production .  now th the main design tool that we have available to us at the moment is is the white board and   let us very quickly do what i what it says in the in the in the prompt slide here ,  In fact I suggest to avoid everybody untangling themselves from the  the the wires , that we don't do that ,  So I I everybody knows what whiteboard is so we'll   we'll do a virtual drawing on the on on the whiteboard of of your your own   favourite animal , but le let's go round the table , your favourite animal . project manager:  and why ? marketing:  it's it's got nice contrast with black and white and  project manager: -huh . marketing: I feel they're underdog kind of status project manager: Oh right marketing: and they're , the project manager:  my my wife says my beard looks like a badger's arse 'cause of the the white streaks in it . user interface: I just I li I like the way they look and they're just nice animals and I like how they can fly or swim or walk around or whatever . user interface: project manager: I'm not sure that I've got any favourite animal to be quite honest , I think homo sapien industrial designer: project manager: because of their their  overall ability to   user interface: marketing: Make mobile phones and T_V_ remotes project manager: Sorry ? industrial designer: marketing: to make T_V_ remotes . project manager: Indeed absolutely yes , industrial designer: project manager: tha that's  Okay and  w we need to keep in mind here that the  we want to sell this for for twenty five Euro  , we want to m make an overall profit for the the company of fifty million Euros so we're we're looking at selling a lot of these  ag across the the entire planet and and we're looking at a gross profit of fifty percent .  so we're not only looking at a a very trendy original product , we're looking at making it at a very good price .  , okay ,  would anybody like t like to to start by giving their o  sort of quick views of of current remote controls . user interface: Well I think I find a lot of them really complicated to use with all the different buttons and  it's handiest when you have one that works both the D_V_D_ player or whatever and the T_V_ as well .  , but that it's easy to if you can switch back and forth instead of having to press a bunch of different buttons project manager: No . user interface: and so I think it's is best when they're clearly labelled and you can see which buttons you're supposed to use , you know . project manager: Any any thoughts about buttons or any oth other way of approaching the p the  the problem ? Or anybody else , strong feelings about remote controls ? Are there you know , bad ones they've used or good ones they've used or ones that they've lost and never found again ? industrial designer:  I think it's important that you should be able to when you when you press the buttons it'll actually pick up the signals from kind of anywhere and you shouldn't have to like contort yourself and twist your remote control to get it the T_V_ to actually pick up the signal . marketing: Think a lot of the time , remotes that come with T_V_ players and T_V_s and D_V_ players , like they aren't industrial designer:  . marketing: like an area that's put a lot of effort into , they're very boring , very plain . marketing: Like it's very a very like  making a a stylish remote control would be a very like Easily put us one step ahead of the current competition . project manager:  what so wh what's in in what particular style features are you thinking about ? marketing:  . industrial designer: marketing: So if you want , something that looks like  something that makes you think oh what's this ? Like this pen doesn't really look like a pen , project manager: -huh . project manager: d no  do you think there's a risk if it doesn't look like remote control , people won't see it as a remote control  and  marketing:  I suppose suppose that's up to the marketing to to make make people aware of the product . Any other thoughts about  th the physical appearance of a of remote controls ? user interface: I think something that's comfortable to hold because sometimes you get the remote controls that are just those big , rectangular things industrial designer:  . user interface: and  they're kind of awkward to hold onto , marketing: user interface: so something that's more comfortable that fits in a person's hand better . project manager:  th the thing that i immediately comes to mind is computer mouses which   y you get all sorts of shapes in the shops industrial designer:  . project manager: some from personal experience which look nice industrial designer: project manager: but aren't particularly comfortable . marketing: Well from the mouse idea you could , remote is a piece of plastic with the big rubber buttons sticking out of it which you press , whereas if you want could all be flat and the buttons are very kind of almost subtle that instead of being raised out of the device  you push into device you see , like a mouse button . project manager: Yes ,  the only thing is if if you're watching television in a in a a darkened room  you need to be able to  industrial designer:  . user interface: But maybe they could be concave instead of sticking up to have them be kind of down so you could feel them industrial designer:  . project manager: Yeah , that's  must admit I don't think I've ever seen one with concave buttons , that's  certainly be different .  do we need it to  I can't think of any re remote controls that I know of that actually light up at all . So , Andrew have you had any thoughts yet about how we might market something which there are already millions out there and that we want to    t take over the entire  the planet with ? industrial designer: user interface: marketing: - ,  especially if we try to sell , what two million of them . Oh sorry , four million of 'em , but  I think if w if we market it as as not as not well this you c you could either market it as the point of view we could have the two we could have parallel marketing s schemes where you've got one where it appeals to people that want to have the new device that looks cool , is fashionable industrial designer:  . marketing: and like you just it's it's like  it's one that rather than ra I wan I want rather than a kind of a need relationship with the device , project manager: marketing: but that might considering the act what the device is for and the nature of some people might not like respond to having a device that they just looks nice , therefore they want it so make it practical at the same time . I think it's this is gonna have to appeal to people that want device that can enhance their living room project manager: Okay , yeah , yeah , well marketing: So  , I dunno we'll have to decide which which angle we're gonna go to or both . project manager: I d I think an any  any facets that we identify w we aim need to aim for for all of . industrial designer: Oh I think it's it's remote controls are kind of a unique object 'cause it's you depend on them so much , but you don't i i it's you sort of just assume they're always gonna work , you don't think of them as a comp like a computer can break down and you're kinda like oh well fair enough there's all these complex things going on , it's gonna something's gonna get messed up eventually . They they just need to be very very dependable because people sort of take them for granted and then if your remote control breaks it's God forbid you actually get up and manually change the channel project manager: Indeed . user interface: marketing: industrial designer: it just it needs to be very effective , very always dependable .  I don't think we should make it too small I 'cause I think it needs to it can't be too big like you were saying big an and huge and  awkward , but also if you make it too small kinda like you know how mobile phones are getting smaller and smaller  , it's just gonna end up under a couch cushion somewhere and  yeah . project manager: Okay , and  colours , materials ? Kendra , anyone ? user interface: Well , most I think most of the remote controls now are either just black or grey , project manager: . user interface: so maybe we should go with something different or be able to I was just thinking of  what they're doing with mobile phones now how you can get the different  what are they called ? Like the face-plates project manager: Yeah . user interface: that you change so we could have maybe I don't know if it would be feasible to do something with that , where you can change the face-plates or have kind of a variety project manager: -huh . Have it kind of look how they want to , different colours , things like that , project manager: Right . Okay that's  Again I don't think that's ever been done before , user interface: project manager: it's  the sort of the sort of thing that would get people  thinking yes that's something that I haven't got and  might need so .  Andrew , any thoughts about  how we might market interchangeable fronts on on the remote control ? marketing: well we could either market it together by getting control in a set colour or with like you buy it with several  like you ge you get the f  the face-plates with it when you buy or as a separate thing , but  maybe thinking of that , it's considering the nature of the device , maybe a second thing like a second campaign to market new facials for your to your might go a bit astray industrial designer:  . marketing: since it is the kind of thing where y you generally get one and then forget about it . marketing: Unless you were trying to project manager: I think industrial designer: Well you could come up with like novelty ones , like they've done with the the mobile phones , you can get like different you know scenes from different movies and stuff on the remote control marketing:  . marketing: Oh industrial designer: and sorta stagger the release of them marketing: it's that's a that's a good idea . industrial designer: and get people like oh I want that cover on it now and that'll keep them spending money .  then we'll we will reconvene in in thirty minutes and try to get some of these ideas   more formalised