Product Interface Design – Session 5

Vanmiki and Balaji have been progressing well on the Mosquito repellant 3D modeling activity. Vaan to understand the concept had done autocad 2D layouts.

Today Narayanan also joined in the discussion, Vaan asked a few doubts regarding the detailing of the mousquito repellant, explained them.

Asked Suresh Mohan to prepare a list of skill sets required for doing the Interface design activity, map it against the individual skill sets and where people are lagging we should give training.

About 22, 23 and 24th August, for 3 days planning to have the interface design project started and be ready with presentation by the end of 24th evening, We would be having close to 25 astonishing designs, if everyone puts in serious effort to do this exercise fruitfully.

Advised the team to work as a team work and asked Narayanan to guide the team on block modeling or foam modellling to assist in the visualisation of the product in 3Dimension.

Have given them deadline as tomorrow evening to complete the foam model, 3D model and the photo realistic renderings. Its is a feasible task if they split the work correctly , distribute the responsibilities and work as a team.

There are a number of international competitions coming up – allocated teams for them to design bicycles, furniture, etc.,

Product Interface Design – Session 4

Balaji and Vaanmiki came up with interesting ideas and documented them on A4 sheets.

Ideas mapping

They were entered in to the Mindomo online mindmapping software and was uploaded.

Suresh Mohan went on a pilgrimage trip to Tirupati and absconded for the next two days for giving prasadham to his parents, Balaji was busy with his passport. So with Vaanmiki I started exploring further on the designs.

With the ideas clubbed together we had come up with 3 themes to work.

1. A Mosquito liquid repellent combined with a pad vaporisor

2. A Thin liquid repellent, with minimum components on the product.

3. A highly sophisticated product with autocutoff, hours adjusting, night lamp in to the product.

The first concept was explored further and additional ideas were added as we progressed.

Initial Idea Sketch

The idea sketch was refined further to incorporate reality – we thought about materials, manufacturing – detailing of how the components are going to be fitted to each other. Without loosing focus on the primary ideas of improving the user interface and giving it new looks.

Vaanmiki had developed for his understanding a 2 Dimensional layout with dimensions, to make the product close to reality. They are working on the visualising the  product in 3 Dimension and detailing it for presentation .

Product Interface Design – Literature

There is lots of literature connected with product interface design, some information from the net.

1. the interface is the product

User Interfaces and — any product Interface — is very difficult to build.  How do you design eating utensils for people with arthritic hands?  Answering that question is not easy — the physiology of arthritic hands is complex; designing objects that hands with arthritis can grasp, hold, and use is a difficult problem.  That’s just an example, but the point is this: The face of any product is the product.

Here’s a revealing experience from Erasmus Smums:

I don’t know what percentage of our time on any computer based project is spent getting the equipment to work right, but if I had a gardener who spent as much of the time fixing her shovel as we spend fooling with our computers, I’d buy her a good shovel. At least you can buy a good shovel.

Erasmus Smums

I’ve always been fascinated by man-machine interactions, as well as man-product interactions.  I was influenced early on by someone whom I consider a master ethnographer who taught me that humans’ non-conscious interactions with machines or products or the world around them reveal much more than anything uttered.

Currently I’m re-reading The Design of Everyday Things and The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems and also studying case studies on product development and ethnography.

Incidentally, while Toyota doesn’t use the term “ethnography”, they do in fact employ this method in how they build cars.  The term “Genchi Genbutsu” means spending time where value is created or “Go and See”.  Toyota engineers are notorious for spending time driving Toyota cars and learning about how it handles and how to improve it through using it.  They also watch — sometimes for hours, days, or weeks machines or other items that are performing strangely.  They watch; they observe; then they improve.

The Interface is the Product

For most people, the thing they touch, whether it be a graphical user interface, the screen of your blackberry, or the face on your microwave oven, or the jar of jelly that you used to make peanut butter sandwiches for your children’s lunch — that thing that you touch and interact with is the product to you.  The buttons you pushed on the Microwave IS the microwave to your consciousness, not the metal or other electrical gadgetry inside the microwave.  Granted, there is much more to the product; but, by and large, the thing that you interact with consciously becomes the product in our minds.  The key, then, is to create an interface such that is accomplishes the objective in a humane and pragmatic way.

Setting Some Goals

I want to be more observant in my interactions with people, processes, and things.  I want to watch, observe, and then they improve.

2. Integration and Communication – Teaching the key elements to successful product Interface – An Acrobat file will open in a new window.

3. Cooking product interface related to aging population – A masters Thesis

4. DSGND - Design, Information Visualizing and Prototyping – Graphic Design Interfaces

5. Good and Bad Product Interfaces – Examples

6. Bad Design Examples

7. Successful product Interfaces

8. Applied Ergonomics and Design – At TU Delft course structure

Product Interface Design – Session 3

Idea Geneartion :

For every problem, ideas were genereated and documented using the mindmap software.

MIndmap ideas for mosquito repellant.

These ideas are now, puttogether from a jigsaw puzzle in to an intersting over all product idea.

3 concepts are being worked out.

Product Interface Design – Session 2

As the continuing part of the design exercise, myself, Suresh Mohan, Balaji and Vanmiki had a second sitting, to continue the exercise late in the evening from 7:30 to 9:00 PM.

I had asked vaan to find products, he brought a Vernier caliper. I rejected it basically since it is too much an engineering product and the product, I felt is complicated for the first exercise. Then, I suppose with Thulasi guidance they found the Mousquito repellant plug in device for redesign.

The context of this design exercise is USER INTERFACE DESIGN,

and the product is PLUGIN MOUSQUITO REPELLANT.

We had taken the reference of the already created design methodology and followed it step by step.

Brief Research:

First we noted down all possible information we had from using this product

a. The cost f the product varies from Rs. 50 to Rs. 85 in the market.

b. The refil cost alone is Rs. 45

c. Function : It repels mosquito’s by vaporising the liquid from the refill, by heating the liquid.

d. Simlar products available in the market are Mortein, Goon Night etc.,

e. Literature search from the net , similar products and literature on how the machine works are documented in an acrobat file.mousquite_lit_search.

f. Visual Documentation of the products are documented on a power point presentation. A brief write up of the literature search and the findings are documented.08tra01_moustorepllant

g. Look at similar products that are available – Car refresher works on similar giving out smell. It works through the air from the AC ducts channelized to the freshener tube. There is a minimum and maximum opening for the air to come out. Balaji went figuring out the mechanism in the freshner, they were so involved.

The next part of brief research is personal using of the product and documenting every actions, when doing this exercise look at all best and worst case scenarios of how the product can be used, like product in not working condition, think of worst case scenarios and then try using them in that cases, these will allow more involvement and internalization of the product when doing research.

The actions that go in using the product are

a. Remove the wrapper, to take the product out.

b. Fit the refill bottle by screwing on to the product

c. Hold the product to carry it to the lug

d. Plug it in to the socket and switch on .

e. After 8 to 12 hours switch off

f. To refill, remove the product from plug, remove the bottle.

g. Dispose the existing product.

Listing of Interfaces: the next area to concentrate during brief research and understanding the product is list of all the external and internal interfaces. Since this exercise is in product interface design, understanding of the interfaces is critical, and an interface is a means of communication, an in-between layer between two entities. When listing down interfaces , list down the element and its function that it is performing.

External Interfaces

a. Plug – to fix on the wall

b. Hole on top of the product – for vapour to come out.

c. Light inside to show the product is on.

d. Refill to be mounted in clockwise and and remove in anticlock wise

f. When inserting on the plug holder and taking out from plug – firm grip

g. When not on the plug, seated on a flat surface at the bottom of the product

Internal interfaces

a. Heating coil for heating the liquid

b. light for visual interface

c. Wires connecting the light , coil and the plugs.

d. Plastic panels – top, bottom and the plug planel.

e. Screws for mounting the panel.

f. plug fitments can be horizontal and vertical mounted.

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Problem Statement :

The next methodology is identifying the design problem statement to improve the interface of the product.

Take the complete list of interfaces, noted down in the previous work and try to find problem areas in them

a. Plug when rotated 90 degrees, comes back because of wire tension

b. When removed from the plug, the body slips, make a better grip , holding in design.

c. The product should not easily attract dust, the white color shows dust patches.

d. Holes for the vapour now points only on top, the ventilation holes to be improved to all room spreading of the vapours.

e. Forgetting to put of the switch off in the morning , a provision for autocut off with 8 and 12 hrs indicationfor adjusting timing of cutoff.

f. When light fuse goes off, we are not sure if the product is working, we assume that the product is not funtioning and discard the costly apparatus. An alternate provision for knowing the product is working.

g. The internal wire routing is done very randomly, a proper routing pattern to be given.

h. The refill bottle fitment to the product, no visual interface present how we are mounting, clock wise or anticlock wise mounting direction to be indicated.

i. The refill cap goes unused when fitting on the product, can it be reused in some way or can a provision for mounting the cap on the product be given or can be cap be eliminated all together.

j. The light inside the unit can also be used as a night lamp. Better visibility of the light is required.

k. A product with out screws to be designed.

l. The product hits the body and damages the product and hurts the person, so a compact product that very little projects out from the wall to be designed.

m. The product to be made very compact.

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Product Configuration

During the product configuration stage, study the existing product and document all the views by sketches, document both the internal and the external configuration.

Capture all the dimensions. Make quick sketches, and then later make layouts in any cad software. This phase is to capture all the information that is available to us as values.

When doing the sketches ourselves, we try to understand the different elements that goes in to the product and all those elements add to the visual appeal of the product.

The internal configuarion of how the different parts are linked and the exploded views of the parts are captured.

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Concept Design / IDEA Generation

Brainstorming is the best way to generate more amounts of ideas, when generating ideas we need to come up with quick thinking.

Idea generation phase is the most enjoyable phase in the full design exercise. Let your creativity flow and come up with out of the box ideas, wild ideas, workable ideas, obvious solutions. Document all the ideas in to this sheet as verbal formats.

The methodology of doing this is, put the product in the center, we have come up with 13 problem areas identified to improve the product interface of the product. Take each of the problem area and come up with 3 to 4 ideas to make it better. Do not limit your thinking by only a single idea, always the first idea does not work out to be the best.

After completion of this exercise you would be having about 30 to 40 different concept, for the problem statement that we have arrived at.

The interesting phase in the idea generation phase is putting it all together, to form an interesting product.

Design flaws in Framework of Design

The Design Flaws inputs gathered as photgraphs can be discussed and categoried as

1. Aesthetics

• • Trends
  • Style
  • Relationships
  • ProportionsColour / texture
  • Positive and Negative space

2. Humanfactors

• • Ergonomics
  • Human Interface
  • Comfort zones
  • Fatigue factors

3. Configuration

• • Relationship between internal elements
  • Posistioning of them with respect to each other

4. Manufacturing

• • Design for manufacturability – shrikage marks
  • Design for assembly
  • Design for Serviceability
  • Design for installation / packaging and transport

5. Functional Flaws

• • Every product is designed to cater to some basic funtion – if it does not do it

Product Interface Design – Session 1

At centroid, various activities in giving exposure to design has been started.

Some of the activities done are, every week a few people take a particular design topic and explore about them and present. Along with this activity the professional work done in that week is also shared so every one understands what goes in a design based exercise.

Every member of the team work on very specific activities like concept design, engineering design, prototyping or analysis. But every individual needs to understand the full process of design and undergo the process personally to appreciate the design, and allow him to have a clear understanding.

To aid this understanding – a series of design projects are being taken.

The Methodology adopted to design is briefed as follows after identifying the product to be designed.

1. Brief Research

Understanding about the product, finding information related to similar products in market, cost, method of working, usage instructions, material and process of manufacturing. Visual feel and trends in that particular category is researched and information is documented as an acrobat format file.
The second stage in brief research is personllay using the product – during use Observe , document and analyse. Document the observations through photographs and videos and capture them as flash or powerpoint files.

2. Define problem statement

Define the problem statement in a framework. The problem statement can be in the form of improving the aesthetic appeal, improving the ergonomics, improving the function, design a futuristic product – etc. The more clearly the problem statement is defined the focussed the solutions will be.

3. Product Configuration

Product configuration is the arrangement of the different elements of the product based on a certain pattern, arrangement in space. The pattern may follow any story line based on funtion, aesthetics, human factors etc.,

Study the existing products and document the product end to end, so we know where we are starting from and this also opens up lots of areas for exploring and getting intimate with the product and involved with the design.

The documentation process consists of
a. Drawing the layout of the existing product – An orthographic view of the product is documented with the required dimensions, bill of materials, – the layout of both the external and the internal configuration is documented

b. Listing Interfaces – list all interfaces like visual , tactile etc., and give specifiations for the interface elements. like the weight of the product should be x gms, because it has to be easy to carry. The size of the letters on the product should be visible from a distance of 1 feet when being held on the hand.
- List all internal and external interfaces, the internal interfaces consists of the internal packaging items that define the skin of the product.

4. Concept Design – Idea Generation

Brainstroming and generating various themes for development of the idea is the first stage in concept design. Use softwares for mindmapping. Convert these verbal ideas to quick visual sketches, showing different concepts – atleast come up with 20 concepts to begin with, let your creativity flow at this stage. The concepts can be as a whole product or for elements of the product. But each idea should have a story why it has been designed in a certain way.

Make 3 final concepts as sketches and draw the full product in different views, and possible 3D views if possible, so as many details that could be shown to highlight the design elements in the product.

Make block models, concept foam models the validate the interface design idea as a physical form.

5. CAD models

Generate 3 dimensional data of the internal and the external components. Generate photorealistic images and add text and graphics to the product using photoshop software. Make concept presentation sheets, to showcase the design – every individual needs to present 3 concepts for an individual product they are designing.

6. Preliminary Engineering

The preliminary engineering phase and cad model goes hand in hand, during this phase have an excel sheet with Bill of materials of the components, the weight, material, cost and process of manufacturing.

7. Detailed Engineering

Based on the material of the product, the engineering is done and details of fitment, fastening are added. A typical plastic product will have details like thickness, lip detailing, ribs and bosses – no or less sidecores in design, snap fitments etc., A sheet metal design product which is manufactured in CNC pressbrakes are to be done as sheetmetal development drawings with requreid notches at the corners and the other fitment details of welding indicated.

8. Engineering Drawings

Detailed engineering drawings are drawn on the respective softwares itself where 3D modeling is done. The engineering drawings will contain part drawings, assembly drawings and exploded view drawings showing clearly the design intent, and these drawings should be suitable for manufacturing the product.

9. Design report, documentation and presentation

The final stage is documenting the full contents to form a report, the 3D models are converted as animations as rotation in 360 degrees and exploded views creation. The final report will be submitted as a 2D animation in Flash format for documentation purpose.

Mind maps for Brainstorming

Mind mapping is an excellant tool for exploring our thought process
- organising them in an orderly way
- and aids in presenting them for better understanding.

Over the years there were many mindmapping softwares like Mindmanager, Mindmap etc.,

Recently found an online tool for mindmap www.mindomo.com, where you could create mindmaps and link them to websites and blogs.

I have created a simple mindmap for Brainstorming.

Enjoy MINDMAPPING.

10 myths on Creativity

Every individual when starting a design exercise, questions himself if he is capable of doing a creative act.

Find the 10 myths to be removed from your head when you are asked to be creative

1. I’am not Creative
2. That is a stupid idea
3. Creative people always have great ideas
4. Constrive criticism will help my colleague improve the idea
5. Need new marketing ideas – call marketing people ( assuming and considering people in that field as experts)
6. Innovation strategy – we need a review process for screening ideas and determining which one to implement.
7. That’s a good idea – lets run with it.
8. Drug’s help creativity
9. If it works well, dont tamper with it
10. I dont require a note book, I remember ideas

IKEN – Work Station Design Competition – Australia

Centroid participated in the work station design competition conducted by IKEN – Australia www.iken.com.au

IKEN – Work Station of the Future – Design Entry

Description of the Design Category: Sustainable
The future office environments are moving towards flexible work spaces, which are to be configured based on individual taste. The Nest workstation revolve around this theme and is designed as a modular system of units, which could be configured based on the layout, and the individual needs and functions.

Every unit in the NEST workstation serves multiple functionalities with respect to design.
Single Strut – Serves as a unit to hold the table, as a book rack, magazine shelf and configured for two and three seat and also be used for partitions
Center Strut – Used for three configuration unit, used as a display rack, center table with extensions
Table – Designed for stacking, and ease of packing and mobility.
Rack Shelves – The rack shelves can be inserted both on the sides and on the front of the struts, they serve as a rack for display, for keeping books and when inserted on vertical face will act as a direction indicator with letters on them.
Center table – Center table used for three seat configuration, gets locked to the tables with pegs in them, design for stacking design, and will also act as a center table along with the single and center strut.

The groove detailing enables, easy assembly and disassembly of the components. Since the whole units are divided in to simpler units, they are easy for carrying, dismantling and transporting.

The work place is easy to configure based on the individual taste, if he requires a transparent partition, then a perplex will be used, otherwise a opaque partition is used. The shelves can be configured based on the individual needs and if he requires a slant magazine shelf or a straight rack can be kept. On the bottom, the two struts can also be connected by a small bottom shelf.

The NEST is very airy, and provides itself sufficient breathing space between the panels, and is ease for cleaning.

The NEST – workstations are the perfect solutions for the future office environments, with every unit designed for long life and revolving around the theme recycle and reuse.