2) Design a better remote The aim of the exercise is to learn how to use the str

2) Design a better remote
The aim of the exercise is to learn how to use the strategy of grouping to reduce the information overload and speed up decision and action.
Analyzing the layout of a remote is a great exercise to assess the effectiveness of the grouping strategy. Designers use grouping to arrange buttons by task. For example, if you’re watching a movie, it’s helpful to have the forward, backward, fast forward, fast backward, pause and stop commands at your fingertips all in the same place. Despite these efforts, remotes are typically overcomplicated and we end up using only a few of those functions and buttons.
(refer to files for picture of chart)
The grouping strategy is much more sophisticated than it may appear at first glance. It must not only take into account functional groups, but also support the execution of typical sequence of events. For example, the keys for play, fast forward, ect. are all next to each other because those actions are typically carried out in a sequence. If the recorder is in play mode, the designer can use the same key for the STOP function.
Questions and Instructions
The exercise consists of analyzing one remote that you have at home and answering the following questions:
1. How many functional groups are there? How are they differentiated? (color, size, arrangement, shape, etc.)
2. Verify which of the following Gestalt laws have been used or violated in the remote controller layout (see next table).
3. Suggest design changes to create a better remote based on the Gestalt principles (you are welcome to remove existing keys or add keys the are not there). Make a quick rendition (hand drawing, drawing software program, using cardboard, collage, etc.)
4. Submit your answer and remote design in a one page document
3) Apply Emphasis
Objective
This case study shows how the emphasizing strategy is commonly applied in the design of products for the youngest users: kids! Infants, toddlers, and even older kids see the world in a much different way than we do. We could superficially argue that their world is a simplified version of the grownups’ version, but, in reality, it is very complex because it is much more imaginative. How do kids explore complexity without making their life so complicated as we do? Where does this complexity instinct come from?
Case study: the call of the wild
One of the most popular toys ever invented is the Teddy Bear. The teddy bear owes its name to the US President Theodore Roosevelt (National Park Service, 2019). Roosevelt was a passionate hunter as well as a pioneer in environmental conservation. During a hunt, he refused to shoot at a bear that had been cornered and tied with a rope because the President deemed this too unfair to the animal. The story was captured by articles in several newspapers and Morris Mitchtom, a toymaker based in Brooklyn whose company made stuffed animals, had the idea to create a new bear and name it “Teddy”, with Roosevelt permission (fig.
1).
Figure 1: a Teddy Bear formerly owned by Kermit Roosevelt Links to an external site., thought to be made by Michtom, in early 1900s (public domain Links to an external site.via Smithsonian Museum of Natural History)
This story anticipates the use of animals as fantasy characters by Walt Disney, who created Mickey Mouse and a crowd of other animal-based personages, not always easy to trace back to real animals (what kind of animal is Goofy?). Teddy Bear and Mickey Mouse are not realistic representations of animals, but nobody would hesitate to recognize in them a bear or a mouse. Animal-based characters have nothing of the wild and sometime ferocious real-life counterparts. Quite the contrary, their features emphasize tenderness and playfulness such as the warm fur and soft consistency of the teddy bear or the big eyes and ears of Mickey Mouse. Threatening or otherwise irrelevant features such as claws, fangs or sexual attributes are carefully suppressed.
Despite these high unrealistic renderings of animals, kids have no particular problem to recognize a real bear and to see the teddy bear as a special case of bear cub. The emphasizing design strategy is fully visible in these representations. Some traits are emphasized, some other are suppressed or remodeled to serve the purpose, which in this case is to create a mild version of a tender play companion exhibiting both human and animal traits.
The combination of human and animal traits has very deep root in the history of humanity. Totemic figures combining the human and the natural worlds are universal and diffused and sometime deified in most human cultures. Animals are often attributed psychological traits that are typically human such as stubbornness (donkeys), curiosity and cattiness (monkeys), loyalty (dogs), physical and moral strengths (lions, eagles) or elegance (felines), as in Esopus or Phedro’s tales.
Figure 2: Rock paintings from the Cave of Beasts Links to an external site.(Gilf Kebir Links to an external site., Libyan Desert Links to an external site.) Estimated 7000 BP Links to an external site.depicting a hunting scene – Released by Clemens Schmillen in the public domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bestias11.JPGLinks to an external site.
Figure 3: on the left side the Wizard or Cuckold God of the Trois-Frères Sanctuary as depicted in Henri Breuil’s sketch – By Clottes, J y Lewis-Williams Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18927626 Links to an external site., on the right the representation of the ancient Egyptian god Ra – released by the author in the public domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Re-Horakhty.svgLinks to an external site.
It is perhaps not a case that graphic emphasis was also used by prehistoric artist in portraying animals and in shamanic figures with totemic features. Animals figures depicted in prehistoric graffiti are not very realistic but clearly emphasizes those key traits that a hunter would quickly notice when spotting a prey or a predator (fig. 2). After all, in nature animals move quickly, hide and use camouflage and we seldom have the luxury to contemplate all the details. Interestingly, one theory on the function of primitive art was that animal representations were also used to educate kids about nature (ref. ). This interpretation is substantiated by the very detailed depiction of hunting phases, especially when the capturing the pray would require high level of coordination and sophistication (fig. 2). Keeping up with our speculation, what if the lack of natural and scary details was the way to not scare young hunters and help them to get close to the animals without risking their life? In this sense, certain cave art would work as modern simulators and also explain why still today ferocious and ugly animals come into cute stuffed puppets that everybody loves. Totemic figures would instead be the product of imagination in the attempt to communicate with the spiritual nature of the natural world, to understand it from the inside, at the visceral and emotional level or for religious purposes (fig. 3).
Instructions and Questions
1. Visit an online or offline toy store and select a toy for toddlers that capture your attention
2. Identify which features are emphasized and how and make assumptions about why the emphasis is there and what it intends to communicate
3. Find inspiration to design a toy yourself, sketch the design and argument how and why you are using emphasis
Attach a file dressing question 1, 2, and 3. Include a picture of your toy design
4) prototyping quiz
Why prototyping helps teams to coordinate better and be more creative?
Why prototyping helps with affective and cognitive visualisation? Why are those important in the design of a new product?
Why documenting your prototyping activities is critical for the success of the project?