Tuesday, 23rd of August 2011

Presentation day review. Today we saw the group present their concepts. There were some interesting concepts that arose from the interaction research that the class carried out. Interestingly, in week 2 or 3 a group of us were in conversation with the tutors about the general direction that people seem to go in when these projects arise all seem to be roughly in the same direction, and that it takes some time to get away from that particular direction to really find an innovative solution - in this case the general direction was wristband concepts. Everyone seemed to want there input and output to be in a wristband form.

This brought into question other matters - should EVERYONE steer clear of the "wristband concept" or is it really a solution worth processing. This in fact brings an idea into question as to what the "wristband concept" really is. Metaphorically it is the meaning of the stereotypical, the generic and the normal designs that come out into the world after what it seems is much research and development of a product. So how can we criticize such products when it is clear that this seems to be what people want and seems to be what comes out of user research? The point of the matter is after seeing such an interesting and broad range of very innovative and excellent solutions to the brief, who is going to be the one that designs the "wristband concept" that the public seems to want at the moment? Who will design the toaster that looks like a toaster, sounds like a toaster and actually toasts bread?

Over the next couple of weeks we will be developing the chosen group product into an innovative interactive device.We will see next Tuesday the feedback from the tutors and decide which product we will be developing.