Designing a design tool: working with industry to create an information appliance design methodology
Steve Gill, Gareth H. Loudon, Darren Walker · J of Design Research · 2008
This paper details collaboration between the Programme for Advanced Interactive Prototype Research (PAIPR) based at the National Centre for Product Design and Development Research (PDR) and three key collaborators: Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Alloy Total Product Design (a UK top-five design consultancy). These partners have been involved in trialling a design method centred on a deliberately 'low-tech' hardware product called an IE Unit developed to tackle the problems that designers face when designing information appliances without having the skills to produce working three-dimensional prototypes. The paper uses the IE System's deployment as a vehicle to draw out lessons that will be of use to a range of research groups tackling similar and overlapping issues.