The traditional design process versus a new design methodology: A comparative case study of a rapidly designed information appliance

Abstract

This paper reports on the results of an exercise held at the National Centre for Product Design Research (PDR) which is based at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC) in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, and two UK Top Ten design consultancies, Alloy Product Design and PDD. The event was sponsored by the Audi Design Foundation and set out to cover the ground from briefing document to the full design and prototyping of an Information Appliance within 24 hours.

The exercise was undertaken by two teams, one based in London at PDD’s headquarters and comprising staff from PDD and Nottingham Trent, and another comprising staff from UWIC and Alloy Product Design, based in Cardiff. The latter team had access to an interface development methodology described in the paper while the former did not.

This paper will initially concentrate on the activities of the interface design team based in Cardiff, their design strategies and, in particular, their use of the prototyping methodologies developed at UWIC.

The paper reports on the structure of the "day", negotiations between the various teams, the consequent concessions and the integration of GUI and hardware aspects of the interface design process.

It then examines the results of the Nottingham Trent/PDD team’s efforts and compares the approaches and the results.

In conclusion it examines the UWIC interface development methodology process’s strengths and weaknesses, particularly through comparison with the more traditional design approach undertaken by the other team.