project manager: Okay , is everybody ready ? industrial designer: Yeah ? marketing: Yeah I'd to just put on my microphone here and I'll be right with you . marketing: Okay ? project manager:  I take it you all have received instructions as to what you were supposed to do industrial designer:  ? user interface: Yes . project manager: marketing: Well , could you  put my slides up 'cause I think it might be helpful if  we looked at the slides at the same time . marketing: so the functional requirements are is is part of my goal but why don't we pass right to the second slide . Right well  since I'm in charge of trying to figure out what we should put on this thing since I have to try to sell it . marketing:  I thought that the method I should follow would be gather suggestions from everybody , and th the reason I just put that there like that is that  in the init in the initial stage I think I should just be open to lots of suggestions . You know you can say anything you want no matter how silly it sounds you know it should run your car , it should heat up your motor if should  turn on your C_D_ whatever you want it to do industrial designer: 'Kay . marketing:  and then as we go on what we'll have to do is accept and eliminate these suggestions according to  design and budget feasibility . So I'll be coming to you  frequently as the Industrial Expert to tell me how hard it's gonna be to add a feature or how expensive it's gonna be or if your time , if it takes five years to develop this it's just something we can't do . marketing: So in the beginning just have a big puddle of things that we anybody can th throw anything in industrial designer: Yeah . marketing: and then just weed things out that can't be done for one reason or another , and then the things that seem the most attractive that to  to a customer we'll try to then prioritise those . marketing: So that was  what I meant there , and as I said on the slide there consulting the Industrial Engineer about that and the other thing is timing is really gonna be as important as money , because if we're gonna sell this thing , I think the best time to sell it is as a Christmas present . Twenty five Euros makes a nice little present , and we want it to be an impulse purchase , industrial designer:  . marketing: we want somebody to see it and think it's , gee I just gotta have that . So it's gotta be really attractive and it but it's gotta go to market by September , 'cause anything that you don't already have out there in September showing it around , isn't gonna sell for Christmas . marketing:  and then I'll be coming to you as the User Interface person to try to tell me from your point of view what are the most friendly features that we could put on it and try to prior help me with that prioritising of  of the features and of the the look and the colour user interface: Okay . marketing: and I'll be coming back to you to help weed out those suggestions from that point of view . marketing: So I'll be coming to you for how much is it gonna cost us and how long is it gonna take you , industrial designer:  marketing: and I'll be coming to you to tell me what's gonna make somebody take out their wallet you know , user interface: What features . marketing: what what's what's gonna really be what they call a sizzle , user interface: S sellable . industrial designer: marketing: A lot of times the thing that works the best from an engineering point of view isn't the thing that somebody's really just gonna take out their wallet and buy for Christmas for for their child or for their husband or whatever . marketing: Okay can we go to the next slide please ? Alright I I already did a little bit of research after our first meeting where we threw out some ideas and it looks to me that within the budget that we're looking at the  the whole house idea really isn't gonna be possible . So I'd like your suggestions to come back to the other slide where I was saying we we could suggest anything . project manager: marketing: I'd like the suggestions to be really specific , so that we'll have a list of things we can cross off , not something like you know whole house control what'll be And then I found on the internet from from my research that some extended electronic entertainment control should be possible . At the budget that we're looking at and at the price point we're looking at , we should be able to make it work the T_V_ , the V_C_R_ , the stereo set  maybe something else cute like a coffee pot or one other appliance or maybe a lamp . project manager:  okay , can can I at this point interject  something ? marketing: I have to wind up ? Yeah , sure .  the one thing for example something to eliminate maybe that's the teletext , marketing: Okay . project manager: and according to to higher management the it should only control the T_V_ , marketing: project manager: mostly because they feel that it's too comp complex a task to  to to include other things , industrial designer: Complicated , yeah , of course . project manager:  and the marketing: Okay , so that's something project manager: and the third thing that they wanna make sure  that their that the corporate image is being maintained , and that the corporate colour and design are being used on the product , so that it's easy that that that they can be easily identified as a product of of of the company , and that there's no mistake that it could be somebody else who is bringing this out . project manager: So I just wanted to interject this here so we're not getting too much off track here with  with the things we wanna look at . These were instructions from higher up so we have to eliminate  these things , so it's only gonna be T_V_ , marketing: Okay so project manager: but the one thing maybe that could be  eliminated is the teletext  idea .  alright now other things that I found out on in my research is that the complaints that people have about the remote controls that are out there now . 'Cause a lot of them take too much time to learn how to use , and that was thirty four percent but even more important the thing that we did address in our last meeting that frequently it's lost somewhere in the room .  so those are two things that we definitely do wanna address ,  we wanna s make it as simple as possible , we wanna make it  obvious and intuitive to use , and then the things about finding it we talked about the a light emitting thing as well as  maybe a beep , and I think that those are things after my research that we definitely wanna try to incorporate . 'Kay can we go to the next slide please ? Okay , so , my personal preferences in this  project are really have to concentrate on the sizzle .  because once there's no be-back , well in sales they always say you know , be-backs don't come back . industrial designer: marketing: If somebody says , oh I'll come back and get it next week you're dead . You've gotta make it attractive enough so they buy it now now now w now is a big word in in my book for selling this thing . And , in order to make it really sellable we've gotta shorten the learning curve , make sure it's really intuitive and easy to use . We have to have as few buttons as possible , because more buttons is more confusion , so that's why I'm saying , simplicity is good . Finding it's important , obviously you can't use it if you can't find it . So we've gotta concentrate on the features that help you find it , and I've already said this several times but I put it down in writing here , it should be an attractive impulse purchase at twenty five Euros . So it has to have enough value that when somebody looks at it they say ,  twenty five Euros I'm not gonna take that .  and then maybe a motto , like we put fashion in electronics might be something we can use in our marketing campaign . project manager: And you are number three ? industrial designer: Number two , project manager: Number two . industrial designer: The metal is like  in a remote controller you have a chip integrated circuit which is like a brain of the remote controller . It takes the power from a battery say a battery it it can be a elec an electric supply like you have to  like  switch connec connect connect your remote controller to  power supply from the you know electricity or something like that . It should be a battery because   remote controller should be like you you you should take it t to wherever you want and then   th marketing: industrial designer: this integrated circuitry takes energy from the power source and whatever like if you press a button it's like a input for the remote controller and it takes the input and it it transforms into a infro infrared bits and it sends it into the device , like a T_V_ or a air conditioner , something like that so . If you want to design it for multiple devices then you should make all the devices compatible with the frequency like  th the remote controller it sends some bits some  waves like with a particular frequency the device should know what the frequency is . It should re re recognise the  waves which are coming from the remote controller and it should take the action like if you press a button channel or something like that then  the remote  remote controller will send a send a se send a signal , marketing: Signal . industrial designer: and the T_V_ it should translate that into like change the channel or something like that , change the volume control user interface: Receive . project manager: Yo and it's marketing: Yeah well that's already been eliminated by management , so we're off the hook . So  user interface controls the chip and accordingly the messages like there should be a user user in interface like you know switch pad or something like that buttons should be there . So  you can control whatever you want , you want to change the channel you want to control the volume you you want to  mute  mute the  T_V_ or you want to have a child lock or you want to do some operations there's a there should be some device to tell what to do to the  in  integrated circuit so that the integrated circuit can s send the signals and T_V_ can perform the actions . industrial designer: So I I just would like to  add some extra features to the remote controller  I think these are the very simple features and  they don't take much   much of the   investment also , marketing: industrial designer: it's like el the text or buttons which  which are there on the  remote controller they those we can make   like fluorescent  they'll be like light emitting if it is dark so that you can find your remote controller if it is dark . industrial designer: And ther there should be a beep if many buttons are pressed if suppose a child is playing with the remote controller and a and she she or he is pressing the buttons all at the time then there should be a beep saying that it's this this is not a a you know a a action , there can be no action taking to that so . And there should be a child lock , like   you should be able to lock your remote controller so that   whatever buttons are pressed by a child they can't be like y you i you if you have ki kids and all then they'll be pl playing with the remote controllers so can lock the remote controller . If make it useable for more than one device it's a it's hard but I think it's possible project manager: Yeah well yeah well that has been e that has been eliminated , so that's that's unfortunately a moot point now . And  different shapes that we can do like  we can have you know a all animals shapes or you know comfortable  whi which can fit into your hands project manager: industrial designer: and  so that  marketing: Now that's good from a marketing point of view , the fun the fun shape . industrial designer: Yeah , yeah , yeah and colours also , different colours , and project manager: Yeah I user interface: - colours . marketing: And that you you say that won't add too much to the budget ? industrial designer: No no no , it won't  I don't think it will be like , marketing: To d the shape is  industrial designer: you can have you know for  if you want ther there to be more project manager: It just build a mould basically and  you know . project manager: As the budget we're looking at if you build one mould I don't think that's going to make a big difference whether it's gonna be square or industrial designer: Yeah . marketing: Do you think there's any chance of  having ser in having basically the same machine with the same buttons but maybe several different shapes ? industrial designer: Yeah that is also possible I  yeah I I yeah . project manager: I think we will have to look at the budget on that industrial designer: Yeah that will be project manager: but I think in principle that that would be that would be kind of fun , you know . marketing: Because we had something sort of sexy for adults and we could have something sort of industrial designer: marketing: silly for children project manager: Like an animal or marketing: or a little animal shape or in a or a little elephant so they can remember where it is . industrial designer: And and the butto buttons also I think if you want to have more features in your remote controller then there should be more buttons . If you have less features then your remote controller won't be attractive , so I think  we need to make some buttons which are which are like   f in  in intended for two or three operations , like if you press one button in one mode then it will change the channel , if you press the other button in another mode it will change the colour . So if you want to have less buttons we can have that option but I think it will complicate the matter more I think so . Well , I think I think that that's something that we'll have to discuss  with the User Interface person user interface: Yes . marketing: because I think there's a lot of argument to be made for one button for one feature . Because I think one of the things were complaining about in my what I found out in my research is when they complained about how hard it is to learn a new one . marketing:  you and I , all f all four of us we work with computers all the time , industrial designer: Yeah . marketing: changing modes is nothing for us , but people who project manager: Yeah , a little elderly , a little arthritic hand you know , marketing: N and project manager: and and it's a small button and and it they don't press it exactly industrial designer: project manager: you know something else happens n not their favourite channel comes up but something else industrial designer: Yeah , yes . marketing: And that's and that's the kind of thing people learn by feel , and  you don't feel the mode change . marketing: You know , like the a triangle is for the volume and a square is for changing channels , so that people can  develop a tactile sense of it . industrial designer: yeah , and also text should be very clear so that there there won't be any ambiguities and  marketing: That's right , yeah . project manager: industrial designer: And  display clock i if you want more features then we can display a clock it I I don't think it will take any money extra money because anyway we have an integrated circuit I think we can just definitely fit that feature into the circuit so it's marketing: Yeah , that's that's a good that's a good one , project manager: - , industrial designer: Yeah , and then you can just see your remote controller yeah yeah yeah so project manager: Yeah you're sitting there already or maybe you have no other  user interface: Yes . marketing: and Yeah , and a lot of time there's not a clock on the screen , and you have to go somewhere but you just wanna look at the news for a minute . industrial designer:  components  the main components we need for  it ha like buttons and  underneath that there should be switch . Like  we can have a bulb like whenever we are operating a remote controller or  whenever the T_V_ is on suppose , user interface:  . industrial designer: Then it will be like if you switch on your T_V_ through anoth another source , not from through a remote remote controller and you you lost your remote controller maybe you can find with the light . industrial designer: chip which is like a brain to the remote controller which does all the operations , project manager: And   of course there should be a case where we can keep all the things and , you know different shapes or whatever it is there should be a case to put to give a shape .  I have referred the site  the homepage of the  our website ,  from where I have   I got s few points . marketing: So it  we should visit this site and have a look at  what's up there ? Or industrial designer:  . industrial designer:  it's not like that , I have referred the page to get new ideas or like what can be the working design to how it works and all and so and so . Could you go back to that slide where she had that  s slide up Betsy ? industrial designer: it's actually there now , there on the screen . Would you want it full full screen ? user interface: I can make it full ? Yes yes yes . As  User Interface Designer I did a little research to find out what are the features which a user would like to have on their remote . user interface: So I found out that  but  the main purpose of a remote is to  f control the function of a television at a far off distance at remote distance . Now for that ,  a remote controller should have a switch on off button by which a user can sit anywhere in the room in front of the T_V_ and he can control the functionalities different functionalities of the T_V_ . user interface: There should be a signal  something like a radio wave or a infrared light or a LED which can be used to change the different functionalities in the television if the user wants to  change the channels or increase the volume he can change it . user interface: Now there should be some timer to set for viewing a particular a particular programme or switching on and off a  a particular programme according to the user choice . So if if he want to view a particular programme at say nine o'clock he can set the time , and the T_V_ will automatically it will switch on at that particular time . user interface: So he can use that kind of   properties of features and then there should be a child lock system if a particular channel is not to be viewed by a particular  for a certain age , then the parents can lock that particular channel so that the ch children cannot view that channel . user interface: And  the  the  and the one of the feature a user would like to have is the compactness of the co remote . user interface:  t the remote should be compact and it should ha it should have as many buttons as possible for controlling different functionalities of the T_V_ television . And   as   this is my personal preference that it should be in the shape of a T_ in alphabet for more compactability . user interface: And  and  and it is one more point which I noted it down , like  the material which which which is used for remotes should be human friendly it should not cause any skin disease or something some al allergy to either children or to  ad adult person . user interface: And it should have an  it can have an alarm clock a a person if some if somebody wants to get up at around eight eight P_M_ then he can set the time and it can be used as an alarm clock , industrial designer:  . user interface: and I don't think it will cost much to set an alarm clock inside a remote . user interface: and as John Reece said the buttons can be ,  can me we can use the fluorescence to light up the buttons so different  buttons will glow differently . So in even in the dark the user can know what buttons to use to switch on a particular channel . And   the design of the   remote should be in such a way that there should not be any sharp projections so that if a child plays with a remote , he  he should not be harmed in any way . user interface: And findings ,  I found out  y  on different sites that  there are different remotes which can be used , there are remotes which use the infrared for controlling the different functionalities , there are remotes which use the radio waves to control the functions and there are  So  there you have different  types of remotes for different light source which are used which can be used for controlling the different functionalities of a television . Not ,  no  like it can it can be used as a T_V_ control as plus an alarm clock to set an alarm a timing and it should have a child lock , and then to save electricity  there should not be  much s move  lots of circuits and all that . And if a person if if if parents wants the television to be switched off by ten o'clock then it should be switched off ten o at ten o'clock automatically , so that nobody else comes later and use it . industrial designer: It's like a t okay , it's like a timer it's like a lock to the television . project manager:  okay , now I have On my slide show basically we already we have already done the agenda , and  on the closing  basically there will be lunch break and all that . project manager: Yeah , and I think today there are probably not many people who don't have a T_V_ . Now , talking about the target group which is in a sense everybody , but I think within the target group we have subgroups . We have we have earlier it was mentioned about  for example elderly people who have limited function with their fingers and hands , user interface: project manager:  then we have just the nervous people who can never press a little button on anything  unless it's really very clear . project manager: And  I don't know how much we want to cater to children's use . project manager: So this these are just some thoughts I have on it , and  I dunno what you feel about whether we can just say we have one target group and for this one target group we're gonna design this one thing marketing: project manager: or whether we're looking at what we like we we talking about different shapes , whether that different shape also includes maybe different  buttons  for different groups . marketing: So if you've designed something that's very attractive to children  the mummy please mummy please  you know we want it now we wanna go to the store and see it  that has  a lot of marketing pull . user interface: project manager: That has a lot of that has a lot of appeal but I think  I'm I'm talking about the functionality now on it whether we're looking at different groups . project manager: You know , like you make it nice and pink , fluorescent , banana colour or whatever you know user interface: Different colours . project manager: Do we look at one target group ? And with the twenty five Euros you know can we can we afford to have  I'm asking the technical people here whether  to look at sort of subgroups with maybe different buttons for each group how much would that throw us out of the cost we are supposed to respect ? user interface: marketing: Respect . No  generally we can we can design a remote which is mainly for people with  f age from ten to  forty project manager: Right . user interface: and and then we can add on  specific functional buttons for children as well as the elderly people or the people wit with who have nervous problems , yes . industrial designer: We can design different remotes for different people , like for aged people there will be big buttons and you know . project manager: Well that's that's user interface: But in a family in a family there will be a aged person , children and a middle aged but they cannot buy three different remotes . user interface: They would like to buy just one and  just one which can be used all the three  industrial designer: Yeah of course that we can do , but specifically if y if like elderly people want big buttons then you can't really make a bi big remote controller so maybe specifically you can design a big con remote controller for elderly and for children , like in a different you know . marketing: What about the electronics ? That's not really gonna change much , is it ? project manager: Yeah . project manager: No marketing: That that w that won't change much , will it  ? industrial designer: Yeah . project manager: The the quest the question to be addressed here is only who is the target group and how will it function , marketing: I d I wouldn't think so . project manager: and I think the how will it function is probably the question of the buttons you know , within the target group or subgroups . project manager: The question is only whether our budget will allow to have more than one design in a sense . project manager: but the question is how much will that set us back if let's say  forty percent we make large buttons and the rest we make regular buttons for example . project manager: So that remains to s to be seen but  the target group as a whole is is basically everybody with a T_V_ . marketing: and can we can we is it even feasible to make one one remote control with something for everyone , or would we have to use the same electronics and make three different shapes ? project manager: Yeah , well that's that's the question . marketing: And in that case we could probabl moulded plastic isn't all that expensive is it ? industrial designer:  no . marketing:  you as an industrial person ? project manager: Well maybe there's there's an idea you know t the new for example new portable phones ? marketing: project manager: They have like removable plastic cases , so you can have a striped one or you can have a fluorescent blue one , or whatever , marketing: Yeah . project manager: that in each package you know you have you you have you have for example  you have let's say a fluorescent blue on it but then you have  another colour or stripe whatever that already comes in a package . project manager: You know , industrial designer: Yeah , like for mobile phones we have  different you know covers , like designs and all so that w we can have that . project manager: and but like if if then everybody is is is tired of the fluorescent blue and of the striped or whatever they have as another one in the package , marketing:  yeah . project manager: then they can go to the store and for a few  Francs or Euros whatever they can buy industrial designer: Yeah . user interface: But  yeah I I have a doubt like will it be cost wise effective if we if we design a remote having all the  different features for different people or designing three different  remotes for three different categories of people . project manager: Well I think I think the idea here is to  to to d design one remote industrial designer: Yeah , but  marketing: Well I think we can only aff , yeah . project manager: the functional functional cosmetics if you want to put it that way , user interface: Okay . project manager:  having maybe larger buttons or buttons that light up or buttons that are slightly differently shaped for people  either for children  user interface: user interface: industrial designer: marketing: Well we may have to come back to one or two of these points at our next meeting but  industrial designer: Yeah , maybe , yeah , yeah . industrial designer:  yeah , project manager: Do we agree , do we ? industrial designer: I think maybe seventy percent is a unique   remote controller and thirty percent is yeah it's sort of like yeah . marketing: Okay but we have to l project manager: Do we agree on on that in principle , like money will tell whether we will be able to do that or not