Unit 61 Interactive media design

Task 1-

Research into design principles

Principles of Design

Aesthetics: elements that make a product nice to look at for the user, its good for reaasuraance and comfort for the userbility side of things. it is an important factor in making the product look professional and trustworthy, however usability comes before aesthetics, the elements must not take away from the product's efficiency at doing its intended job and should therefore be only applied around the usability functions of the design and making way for them rather than changing or altering them to improve the overall look of the product.

Colour: use of colour within design is very important, branching off from aesthetics, colour comes into its own standalone principle in how it can be used for not only pretty layouts. its important for a product to follow a sensical matching of colours, this is where the colour wheel and theory of colour are very important to be aware of. too many colours can give the wrong impression of the product in hand. colour can also be used practically in whereby it can highlight aspects of a design that is intended to draw the users attention.

Consistency: it is important for designers to keep a similar theme throughout their products, this could be in the form of aesthetics or level of quality that must be evident in very product designed. this reaasures users because it they know the product is of a professional standard. constant consistency throughout new products is also a trademark and can be used to distinguish a product to a user out of other similar competitor products.

Readability: it is important to have every informative or instructional aspect of your product/design clear and concise for others to view easily and comprehend, this improves on impression you give the user and gives a sense of a higher quality. if the product is particularly dangerous legal reasons come into hand as to why a product's readability must be clear for if an instruction is read improperly an causes harm ti an unexpected user, it can create health issues and legal lawsuits.

Simplicity: a product has to be simple in how its used or as simple as it can be without having it downgraded essentially from its original purpose. a user must feel comfortable at what they're looking at and what it is they are looking at, it give a sense of confidence that will make the user want to come back to it. not just disregard from the thought because of its complexity.

Usability: tying into other principles of design a little usability is how well a product connects with a user for example is it easy to use, quick to learn and pick up and is it generally satisfying to use.
analysts look in the general backgrounds of users taken from reports and research to allow them to understand what the average sky level is and how they should alter their product/design accordingly to match.

Discoverability: this is a principle that should be focused on when trying to get a product noticed by users, various techniques can include such things like size of the object, bigger is generally more noticeable  various design elements such as highlighting color can be used to draw attention to certain parts of a product eg a shopping site, having a checkout button in red clearly leading them to the next step.

copyright: taking a legal perspective now with principles of design, copyright is equally important as to the other principles for it can make or break a product depending on if its followed the laws layed out.
a product must be somewhat original and not too similar to another product (depending on if the product being copied is protected) copyright mainly applies to naming of products no two names can be the same for this has to allow other products to be individual and credit is equally given out among both companies with similar products.

Research Exemplars

Example One:

my attention has been drawn to this idea since i like the idea of using real world physics effect something electronic e.g here lights, whereby you can tilt this grid down and the lights on the grid will fall down to the bottom to simulate the effect of gravity on them. 

Example Two:

i found this example of a cube formation of Led's to display a scripted light show within the frame i like the look of this product in how it flows about and almost hides the fact that there are tiny led's inside it almost looks like an actual form of physical matter.

this has made me want to focus more on using led's within my design .

Example Three:

having settled on an idea in my head i found this example of an electronic dice and it caught my attention with how it displays the numbers it adds to that electronic "techy" feel and i believe will give users of the dice that reassurance that it is electronical.

BTEC Interactive Design

Unit 61 Interactive Media Design Design Proposal

Student Name: Luke Irving

Electronic LED Dice

Brief Description of your design concept

This Arduino project is an Electronic LED dice that can be used to randomly generate outcomes ranging from (1 to 6) by using Led’s to shine, indicating the number generated.

With this basic concept in mind I might intend to add more features to the device such as sounds and different colour Led’s (maybe have the led’s on a temperature scale, 1 being blue and 6 showing red).  

Materials you intend to use to build this device

1x ATTiny26

7xLED (preferably diffused)

7x 160 ohm resistor

push button

9V battery clip

1x  box container

voltage regulator:

(1x 60 ohm resistor power rating 0.3W or more)

(1x 5.1V zener diode power rating 0.5W)

Sketch/Blueprint/diagram of your proposed concept for a device

Environmental impact of this concept:

since this concept of an electronic dice is designed to be rolled there can be an issue of ware and tare either from the dice itself or its surroundings  e.g bits could fall off the dice like led's falling out of sockets or the actual structural integrity fails and can lead to hazardous tiny components which create shock hazards or choking hazards.
this concept i intend to only use recycled electronic waste and reuse the parts when constructing this device, giving this product a "green" feeling and apply to the environment friendly requirement in the brief.
i also believe that this device will prove less wasteful than a typical die or dice because of its novelty and size, it less likely to be lost and disregarded, it stands out and will have "hopefully" a level of quality that will make users take extra care with it and to not lose it potentially adding to waste. 

Legal issues you need to research for this concept:

• Safety of parts used (are they stored and connected safely?)
• ergonomics of the product (any sharp objects or edges that can cause harm?)
• environmental impact (can it be discarded of safely in normal waste?)
• copyright (are there any other similar products adamant on public individuality?)
• Reverse Engineer proof (i it a permanent fixture or can it be dismantled after use?)

Ethical issues associated with this concept

• Accessibility (can it be widely used for all disabilities e.g blindness)
• Engineering ethics (how can i follow the code of engineering electronics)
• Gambling (light up dice could be glorifying gambling)

Software skills/Electronic skills/manufacturing skills that you will need to learn to produce an interactive prototype of this concept

• javascript coding for the arduino to determine the random number generated on dice
• soldering, skill with a solder to safely and join connections together neatly and efficiently
• knowledge on safe distribution of voltage using resistors and capacitors

Task 2- Research into legal and ethical issues

Legal

Safety of parts: it is important to make sure that any parts used is to a safe standard and by that it means is the quality of the part to a healthy state e.g a battery, does it leak? or will it provide too much power to a certain component and cause a burst or violent break in the circuit. having undirected power can be hazardous to health whereby can cause shocks to the body and potentially burns or induce heart attacks.



ergonomics: the shape, size and feel of the product/device can bring up issues in itself whereby the user could cut hands or fingers when using your product from sharp edges that have not been carefully smoothed out to avoid cuts. size of the object can cause problems for example if left in a room could become a trip hazard or if the object is being carried  could it be too awkward to carry and potentially lead to it being dropped causing harm to the consumer. weight can be an issue too if dropped on by an unsuspecting consumer. therefore it is important to clearly label or instruct the user of all concerns and make them aware so they know how to safely operate the device.





Environmental impact: must make sure that the product is environmentally friendly to the environment in what is used to make the device e.g are these parts used to build the device from a re-used source and or recycled into something new but still making sure these used parts keep within the safety regulations concerning safe electronics. and for disposal can the device be and its contents be disposed of normally or does it need to have special disposal methods e.g like batteries in waste. or can the product be fully re-used by another device in the future.








copyright: this is always an issue and probably the most prominent legal issue surrounding products being designed and especially being publicly available sold. the device must make sure it has (in some cases) a different name to any other similar products, if a already published device is too similar to your and has the copyright protection covering it then your product must be altered or changed sufficiently that it does not conflict with the copyright agreement.

Reverse Engineering: with some products/devices company designers ensure that their products are secured and permanently fixed whereby it prevents it from being modified by consumers and potentially being re-sold off by them with the new modifications. however for my concept interactive device i plan to allow re-construction or room for modification for i believe this is less costly on the environment for if it cannot be dismantled and re-used or modified and is a permanent fixture it will have to be thrown away in waste.


Ethical

Accessibility: Ethical issues brought up with this device i would have to say would be disability, mainly regarding blindness, since the device works solely on sight alone to work out what number is displayed from the number generator, i want to however make my device more widely available so therefore could introduce sound into my design where the device could let out a sound with varying pitch or a clear distinguishable sound to let the user know what number it has landed on, obviously will need instructions telling what sound means what number.











Gambling: Having dice being an iconic symbol of gambling or associated with casino's, this device could raise some ethical issues whereby it could be glorifying gambling in how the device is being a "flashy novelty" potentially advertising that gambling is a fun and attractive past time however there are conflicts with this in how gambling is also associated with money loss an depression.









Engineering Ethics: when building my device i must try and follow the engineering electronics code in where the connections i use and the various arts and how and where they are placed complies with this code to ensure its safe and efficient to use for consumers.