Week 11 - Concept Resolution 2

Week 11 - Delegation and Concept resolution

Overview

Before class this week, a message was put out on facebook which outlined a few goals that we needed to achieve in this upcoming session in class. Key to this, was resolving a few key issues regarding the concept, and locking them in. I identified that in our group think sessions, we were trying to solve 5-6 issues simultaneously. It wasnt getting us anywhere, and we were starting to go in circles. This week there was a little more structure to our session. We tackled each issue one at a time - and in an order which made a little more sense.

Design Process + Concept Development

The first thing was giving everyone an oppurtunity to do a 2 minute 'pitch'. Basically summarising there ideas, and getting everyone on the same page. It was quite successful, and from this we could get an idea as to what area each team member was interested in. After this, we started finalising the inputs/outputs - and chose the most appropiate. What we came down to was;

summary of 2 minute pitch ( mine blank - as i was recording ) 

INPUT
Heartbeat
Voice Message
Warmth from Hand

OUTPUT ( in order )
Vibration
Audio Message
Light

We wanted to keep the concept elegant, clean and simple - whilst facilitating the most meaningful, and emotive experiences to our users. We definately felt like we achieved this - and everyone was quite bouyed by the level that our design has gotten too.

Going Forward

Before this week, i saw a need for us to be a little more structured in our approach to this assignment. As from now on in, we are all going to be doing alot of work individually, i thought it was important to form a design schedule which outlines key tasks and deadlines. We have also distributed work to each person in areas that they are the strongest. And weekly, we will all set goals to achieve before we meet again in class.

Myself
Form a structure for the project + plan it out so that key dates and milestones are recognised.
Also focus on the video element & scenarios around the concept.
by next week, i am going to formulate a project timeline, outline 5-6 scenarios which our product will be used in, and start planning how to represent this in an emotive video.

Niall
Niall has some great visualisation and problem solving skills, so he has taken up some of the responsibility of solving some of the more 'pure' industrial design.
by next week, niall is going to aim to have the form resolved, or at least a few variations of the form. He will also start piecing together a few manufacturing thoughts, such as materials, cost, etc.

Teresa 
Teresa is going to basically collate the work as it is completed, and add it into a report. It will also be Teresas role to pick up on any inconsistances amungst all our work, and help everyone resolve those issues.  by next week, Teresa is going to formulate the basis for the report. Including key headings, and identify all the areas which we will need to report on. 


Michael
From the earlier project, we identified that Michael had fantastic skills and knowledge of electical components & engineering. He natrually is going to be given the sole task of realising what will be quite a complex prototype model. We feel that a working protoype that correctly expresses the experiences we intend to create is vital to this project.
 by next week, Michael is going to put together a schematic which outlines the way in which the protoype will work. he will also do some basic costing, and work with niall to replicate the intended form as closely as possible.

Week 10 - Concept Resolution

Week 10This week, we have moved ahead with our concept pitch from last week. Our group has had some trouble being able to meet as regularly as we would like. So in order to keep work moving ahead, we have started posting alot of working on facebook. So far this is pretty successful, as it allows ideas to be generated and critised quicker than waiting another week to meet in class.

Our Concept Development
 This week, i have tryed to look into adding more meaning, and value into our concept. At present, we have established that it is designed to be a 'precious object' which users who are geographically seperated can send and receive messages.

"neck worn device - dean johnson"

I have been looking into deepening that connection through the transmission of something else other than messages. One idea, was vital signs ( such as a heartbeat ). I have been researching some of the spiritual practices which cultural & religious groups. Some interesting practices have got me interested in the idea of replicating a deeper spiritual connection through the sending and recieveing of a heartbeat.

The traditional hindu practice of tantra is often mis-concieved. it actually originates in a meditative practice in which a user connects to spirits internally through deep focus on there breathing, and heartbeat.

Nialls idea for a head matt

Niall looked into a different direction. Once comment which was made after our presentation was that we need to consider the more extreme user groups. For example, used in a war scenario - a user my not have use of arms, hands, sight or hearing. Micheal has been looking into the tangible interactio part. He is looking at what interactions are most appropiate for the design in order for it to fulfil its intention.

I think its good the different directions we are all naturally taking with our brainstorm. We are however aware that the design needs to be finalised soon. We are aiming to finalise the design by next tuesday so we can then go onto the prototyping stage.

I have already considered the roles we will take moving forward. Since Michael has great electrical engineering skills, i think it would be great if he solely focuses on the electronic component of our protoype ( with some help from others ). I am going to look at the non-electronic component of the design with Niall.

Further to that, we also need to look at the presentation component, and the report.

Overall a successful week, where the breadth of our ideation certainly grew.