Mobile Phone Symbiosis

Self Assessment

This was an interesting and enjoyable project because of its relevance and its focus. Being a very up to date topic made it interesting and kept us focused throughout the project and having the ability to think futuristic about technology made it even more of an exciting project.

Ideas and Originality

When we got given the brief we were under the impression we had to think of a product, and then decide upon the persona and continue from there. Little did we know this was the wrong approach to take which is why we were struggling to start off with. Once we decided upon the persona it was easy to outline the problems and then design a product accordingly. We generated some nice and innovative ideas which had potential to take through to the development stages. As I did in my last group, I suggested to this current group and suggested we all decided upon what the functionality of the product is and then each go away and come back with designs using this specification. However we came back and more or less had the same designs as each other. I don’t think this is a bad thing though as it shows we all have the same ideas as to what we are wanting the product to look like in the end. Although the reason for this happening may be because we talked ‘too much in depth’ about the spec, we all then had the same ideas as to shape and form.

User Focus,  Usability and Usefulness

As mentioned in the above paragraph we had trouble when starting by conducting the project in the wrong order. However once we established our persona it was straight forward. We outlined the problems and designed for this, meaning we had a purpose for a product and it would not just become a ‘dormant design’. This then would then hopefully ensure that the product is successful because it aids the job of a doctor and so it would be beneficial to him to use.

Form and Aesthetics

Being for the phone the main issue is that it needs to fit the phone we had chosen so that was the first decision, which was technically decided for us. I personally felt the phone is very large in size, and so adding a case around that to increase the size even would possibly make it un-userfriendly and too big to hold like a mobile phone, therefore we aimed to make the case sleek and minimal to try to keep the phone user-ability. The aesthetics was less important because the function of the device is what we were selling rather than the brand/style/fashion side of things. Therefore a simple logo, and white with red cross design was used which keeps it plain and simple to keep in style with the LG design.

Modelling Visualisation and Communication

Modelling visualisation was a big advantage of our I felt because we had a member of our group (in David Forster) who was very competent with using Solidworks. We were able to produce a crisp and clear CAD model which represented our designs perfectly. I find it is hard to replicate the designs on a page into a model on the computer screen however it was done very well in this case. Using this we could then have clear and professional posters, justifications and designs for our presentations later on in the project. I also produced a 3D model from cardboard which was not on par. I was struggling to represent the curves of the design and the phone itself as well, therefore I settled with a squared off model, using 90 degrees for all corners but I felt that the model/prototype was just to show the concept and the function of the case. However  attempted to improve the overall aesthetics with colour and slight detail but in future, if I had more time I would produce the model from something else, maybe modelling clay or modelling foam.

Design Method and Practice

Having done the project previous I thought it would be good to use the same design method chosen back then, and all go away and design on our own then come back and present our designs to each other. This proved out well in the fact that a lot of drawings and sketches were produced, however as mentioned previously we all came up with the same ideas. Possibly we weren’t thinking outside of the box enough but this was not a bad thing as it showed we were all on the same path and aiming towards the same target. As before it was an effective approach and it makes sure we have a range of ideas to choose from right from the beginning.

Self Assessment

Overall I thought this was a good project and we achieved a good outcome. I enjoyed this project more than the last, maybe that can be put down to it being more up to date and current. I also thought I contributed well to the group during meetings and discussions. I may not be the most competent on all the CAD and Adobe software and so cannot really input as much as I would like to however, I do think I contribute during the designing and ideas generation stage because that is the area I enjoy most.  Like the last one, this was a group project and so I personally feel obliged to try to do all the work I can because other people are relying on it too. To tell the truth, I think I do more work in a project when its a group one rather than when it’s just my own because others people’s marks depend on them and I don’t want to let them down, that’s just my work ethic. The presentation in this project was very good I thought, especially the computer generated items like the video and the posters/CAD. The video looked professional and I could imagine it being a real life advertisement, all the information was concise and clear, all within a short minute and a half video. The product itself had a real purpose and with our justification posters I feel we pointed out the need for our product and how it would help the persona we had chosen. The only thing I would like to have improved on was probably the model, it didn’t really replicate the CAD design because it was very square and straight-edged, I would like to have made it out of another material and attempted to have made it with the curves shown in the pictures.