Context 1: Assignment One: The Design Process: Brief

Well, I have been so caught up in the design practices over the last few weeks, that I haven't had any time to think about context one (the deadlines are scarily approaching). I have had so many unfamiliar words, ideology's and theory's thrown at me, I decided it would be best to unload the information learnt from lectures and seminars here for future reference, before in evaporates in to thin air.

First of: Context One: Assignment One: The Design Process

This involves discussing and arguing two of the following four design methodologies

• Reverse Engineering

• Prototyping

• Open Source

• Market Research

I have to Research and find examples from each of my chosen two methodologies. My task is using the methodologies I chose explain how they influence the design process. The intended outcome is that by examining my methodologies, it should become inherently clear how they differentiate and also influence the design process as a whole, not just individually. At the end I should be able to come to some sort of conclusion on the design process, I already realise that some are unique to product and person, but all share some fundamental similarity's.

Here are some relevant books for future reference :

- Digital Creativity: Techniques for Digital Media and the Internet. Wands, B.
- Beautiful Thing: An Introduction to Design. Clay, R.
- Managing Multimedia: Project Management for Web and Convergent Media- Book 1- people and processes. England & Finney.
- Design for New Media. Interaction Design for Multimedia on theWeb. Barfield, L.


This is the expected structure for future reference:
- Front sheet  - Abstract - List of illustrations - Contents page - Introduction - Methodology One - Methodology Two - Conclusions - Bibliography - References - Appendices.

Firstly I thought it would serve well If wrote a short summary of what i already understood about each methodologies, and after a definition of  the word. This allows me to expand later on.

Reverse Engineering:

What i have came to learn about reverse engineering so far: It's the process of stripping down a product to its source, De-constructing it to see how it was made and how old methods can be used to construct your new product. The usual reason for this is to improve a product by either making it cheaper or by realising what made your product good or bad in the first place. I think of it as a sort of back to the drawing board process, where you can combine old ideas to meet the demand at the time. Good examples of reverse engineering I've came across in tutor session and seminars are the IPhones, its smooth rectangular shape has been imitated by so many other phones. WW2 tanks, where the German's commandeered one of our tanks, took it apart and re manufactured it from there. I believe it is illegal in many countries although I'm not to sure where they draw the line, I know many company's look at rivals products to make there own more desirable and workable, Allthough I don't know when reverse engineering changes into breaching copyright.

Definition:  

Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object or system through analysis of its structure, function and operation. It often involves taking something (e.g., a mechanical device, electronic component, or software program) apart and analyzing its workings in detail to be used in maintenance, or to try to make a new device or program that does the same thing without using or simply duplicating (without understanding) any part of the original.

Prototyping:

What i have came to learn about prototyping so far: Well just from common sense and existing knowledge I possess, I know prototyping is the process of testing your product to see if it meets with it's intended requirements. Prototyping is a way to improve or analysis your products strengths and weaknesses before releasing into the market, hopefully avoiding any problems that would of occurred without prototyping. I know many company's will prototype there products and It's not just a one step process, It can repeat multiple times, I believe it's called a iterative process, keep going back and altering.

Definition:

Prototyping 1. (Engineering / General Engineering) one of the first units manufactured of a product, which is tested so that the design can be changed if necessary before the product is manufactured commercially

2. a person or thing that serves as an example of a type

Open Source:

What i have came to learn about Open Source so far:  Ah, now this one is bit trickier, well for me anyway. The basic knowledge I have on open source is that it's a product that is freely available to the public domain, can be taken and modified and possible sold on as your own product. I think it derives from a term to do with coding, the open source. For example I understand that a HTML code that can be freely copy and pasted from the Internet is considered open source, you could alter it's values, change the colours, fonts, layout or anything you wanted freely. Another good example of open source I believe is Wikipedia, as it's content is freely available to be altered by the public, creating a mixture of different people's opinions. I defiantly know the least on this methodologies, thus I will properly chose it as tutors say it's best to chose the opposing methodologies.

Definition:

Open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology. Before the term open source became widely adopted, developers and producers used a variety of phrases to describe the concept; open source gained hold with the rise of the Internetsource codeSubsequently, a new, three-word phrase "open source softwarecopyright, licensing, domain, and consumer issues created.

Market Research:

What i have came to learn about Market Research so far: 

"It's just what it Say's on the tin" This is the phrase that has came up several times throughout University, and It's totally accurate. Checking the market, by using questionnaires, surveys, interviews and asking the target audiences what they feel is needed from a product. If similar patterns and requests arise, you are made aware of products that are non-existent and allows you to meet the market demands at the time. Secondly It can be looking at existing products in the market, analysing what you can produce that 's unique to the market or analysing what make existing products work.

Definition:

Market research is any organized effort to gather information about markets or customers. It is a very important component of business strategy. Market Research is the key factor to get advantage over competitors. Market research provides important information to identify and analyze the market need, market size and competition.

Samuel Dobson