BlueHair: Interaction & Product Design

Category: Product Design

  • The delivery of the future (PART II) – An example of Vision in Product Design (ViP) being used

    vip_deconstruction_interaction_levelIn a previous post I discussed the very first step of the Vision in Product Design (ViP) process, the deconstruction at a product level. On this post, I’ll be showing examples of the next step, deconstruction at an interaction level, and how we handled it in our project to design the delivery of the future. If you havent read it, I suggest you read that one before diving into this one.

    But if you’ve already read it… let’s jump right to it!

    PART 2:
    DECONSTRUCTION – THE INTERACTION LEVEL

    The interaction qualities characterizing the relationship between the Combis and the different users involved with it was analysed though a brainstorming session where the team reflected, with a play role technique, the qualities which can be perceived from the interaction of these (more…)

  • Low-Fi prototyping: Cheap & easy, but damn good!

    Prototyping is an iterative process that allows you to test, evaluate and implement changes to your design during the developing process before arriving to a final solution, and experiential prototyping is no exception to this. The designer is thus encouraged to produce and test prototypes along the whole development process. But since prototyping can be very effort and time consuming, it is important to know what type of prototyping techniques are more appropiate at different stages.

    The concept of prototype “fidelity” is defined by the level of detail used in making it, and dus how closely does the prototype resembles the “real thing”. For example, in software and graphical user interface design, low-fi prototyping can be achieved with simple tools such as paper and colored pencils, with which a quick and dirty sketch of an interface can be drawn on different sheets of paper and be tested (and most importantly fixed) on the run before any code is written at all, and it allows people from other disciplines to be able to collaborate.

    low fidelity prototyping also adds the extra advantage of a quick and unfinished “look”, which will (more…)

  • Designing the delivery of the future – An example of Vision in Product Design (ViP) being used

    In a previous post I talked about the Vision in Product Design approach, explaining what it was about and the benefits of it.

    Since then, I’ve been applying it in a couple of projects I’m currently working on, and I found that the trickiest thing of this approach is to know exactly what it is that you are looking for with it and how to keep in track. So in this train of thought, I figured that it would be interesting and helpful for people not familiarized with ViP to go through each of the phases of the approach while having a concrete example of what should be done and what kind of results to expect from each phase of the design process.

    So as an example, I’ll be using the process that me and my team have gone trough during our Integral Design Project, which is a second year master’s course at the TU Delft involving team members from the 3 master directions (Strategic product design, Design for Interacion and Integral Product Design) working together on a project.

    In our case, our goal was to develop a new, more sustainable product for a producer of truck coachworks (known in Dutch as Combi’s), focusing on their current products for “delivery and distribution”. (more…)

  • ipNext: Usability testing and redesign of an office phone

    ipNext_thumb

    Relevant Keywords:

    Telecommunications, office environment, user research, usability testing, icon validity testing, redesign, office telephone

    Design Goal:

    The goal of this project was to evaluate the usability of the Alcatel-Lucent IP Touch 4018 office phone and to propose a re-design of the phone according to the findings of the performed tests. The team consisted of 6 Design for Interaction master students of the TU Delft working directly for Alcatel-Lucent, a global telecommunications corporation.

    Project duration and team:

    225 hours, 6 interaction designers (David Güiza Caicedo, Tine Lavrysen, Amine Rhord, Meike Mak, Steven Fokkinga, Marjolein Hartog)

    Methods Used:

    • Product analysis in terms of aesthetics and functionality
    • Online user survey & interviews with experienced users to understand how they perceived the current phone.
    • Usability tests of the current phone with novice and experienced users.
    • Online icon validity test performed with an international sample of people.
    • Interaction prototyping to assess the new interaction model proposed with the redesigned phone.

    (more…)

  • Bill Buxton: Product design by sketching user experience

    I assume that everybody at the TU Delft heard from the presentation that Bill Baxton (Principal researcher Microsoft – http://www.billbuxton.com) has done on monday (nov 19) at the Industrial Design faculty, entitled “Product Design by sketching user experience”.

    For those of you who missed this very interesting lecture, I recorded it and placed it on the internet for you guys to watch. Video quality is not optimal, but it’s more about the story being told than anything else, so for that goal it’s good enough.

    Click on the READ MORE link beneath to  see the video. (more…)

  • DreamWhipper: Complete product development of a hand powered cream whipper

    DreamWhipper_thumb

    Relevant Keywords:

    Product development, household, manufacturing, technical research, technical development, prototyping

    Design Goal:

    As part of a design exercise at the TU Delft, we were given the task to use a 1928 patent of a cream whipper as a starting point for our design case. We were to use the patent as much as we could and translate the design of the cream whipper into our days in terms of production, assembly, materials, styling and features.

    Project duration and team:

    250 hours, 6 industrial design engineers (David Güiza Caicedo, Wouter Drost, Roos van Rhijn, Erik Jansen, Marie-Louise Brantjes)

    Methods Used:

    • Product analysis
    • Technical research
    • Brain writing
    • lo-fi prototyping
    • 3D modeling and Rapid prototyping
    • User testing

    (more…)

  • Skil Caulkgun: A new battery powered product for Skil’s portfolio

    Skil Caulkgun_thumb

    Relevant Keywords:

    Product analysis, power tools, product development

    Design Goal:

    To make a design proposal for a battery powered caulk gun that can be added to the product portfolio of power tools producer Skil.

    Project duration:

    125 hours

    Methods Used:

    • Product analysis
    • Morphological charts
    • 3D modeling

    (more…)

  • Nuntius: A newspaper delivery tricycle

    Nuntius_thumb

    Relevant Keywords:

    Newspapers, delivery, product development, technical development

    Design Goal:

    As part of a design exercise at the TU Delft I was asked to design a human powered vehicle with the main purpose of transporting goods. I decided to develop a newspaper delivery trike.

    Project duration:

    150 hours

    Methods Used:

    • Collage making
    • Morphological charts
    • Technical detailing
    • 3D modeling

    (more…)

  • Baller: Concept furniture for children

    Baller_thumb

    Relevant Keywords:Hema

    Children’s furniture, design competition, plastic, conceptual design

    Design Goal:

    Design a piece of furniture for children to be produced in plastic and go along with the general Hema style:  simple, colorful products, with a high quality and a low price.

    Project duration:

    75 hours

    (more…)

  • Gothic Clock: Free formgiving exercise

    GothicClock_thumb

    Relevant Keywords:TU Delft Logo

    Goth lifestyle, wall clock, free form-giving exercise, clay modeling

    Design Goal:

    As part of a free design exercise at the TU Delft we were asked to research a specific lifestyle (goths in my case) and to design a daily use product that would fit the form language of the given lifestyle.

    Project duration:

    75 hours

    Methods Used:

    • Interviews
    • Sketching
    • Clay modeling

    (more…)