Major Studio Notes 09/23/10

Major Studio Lecture – 09/23/10

·               Research report due in 2 weeks - You don’t need to have all the answers but you should have asked the questions

·               Designing from the inside-out: find the problem and design to solve it

·               Designing from the outside-in: A problem/focus is given to you

·               Social Trends: generational trends, political issues, family/work/activity patterns, health issues, look at patterns/repeated use

·               Economic: political issues, recession, users’ budget, employment rates, product cost (issue for later on)

·               Technology: competitive/comparative products – what are people in similar situations using now? (Comparative products aren’t necessarily geared toward the same market or end user, but may complete the same sort of task, or use similar technology or techniques.

·               When you combine social trends, economic issues, and technological issues you find a perspective product

·               Anthropologic research is trying to see through someone else’s eyes

·               How do you develop innovation? Make the familiar strange. Innovation is a link between two conventions: the one it replaces and the one it becomes. Identify your product opportunity gap

·               Develop an argument

·               Use positioning maps? Low/high style vs. low/high technology. Make it better than what already exists

·               Task analysis: what are the steps in completing a given activity?

·               Product function analysis tree: how does a product complete its task? What are all the things it has to do and how does it accomplish those things, what components does the product have that help to complete the task? First level of this tree - Toaster – cradle the toast, lower it into the toaster, heat up the toast, raise the toast when it’s toasted to an appropriate level.

·               Life cycle analysis: where does the product end up at every stage of its birth, use, and disposal? What are the issues at each step?

·               Value opportunity analysis: what are the product values that are important to a given user?

Deliverables – preliminary research report due 10/07/10

·               Succinct problem statement – your product opportunity gap

·               Clear project direction – what’s the activity?

·               Significant issues – objectives, target user groups, market demographics, market size; competitive/comparative product analysis, ongoing contacts with manufacturers, external experts, and current users.

·               Conclude with a set of design guidelines, outlining features, materials, components, technologies, technical criteria, anticipated measures or criteria for success.

·               Graphic layout, visuals, sketches, charts

·               Turabian style guide

·               Social, economic, technology, users.

·               Breakdown for research: who was it, who was it for, what happened, where, when, why, and how.

Design Brief

Format with team logo, title, one-liner “elevator pitch” (very top of your brief), general context (what do you know?), introduction, background, opportunity, challenge, problem, user focus, SET (social economic technology) factors, competitive landscape, design specs, measures for success, and evaluation criteria (the last two are going to be with you for the year, how else will you know if your design is successful?)

·               Problem Statement

·               Project Definition

·               Project Objectives

·               Target user groups – demographics – market size

·               Competitive product analysis