Shoutbox

Hi ppl,

I’m new to this forum and this is my first post and I will be very grateful of any replies.

I’m a student studying Product Design at a University in London. I’m in my 2nd year, and currently working with a small UK based manufacture, which although doesn’t stock much in the product that Im about to talk about. Has a very broad portfolio.
The project we are working on, has been taking very seriously and I’m one of the select few that will be proposing the final concept to the board of directors (for possible further investment) in the coming weeks.

So what exactly have I got?
I have designed, and developed a new interactive, dynamic, and ambient webcam. For use with all messaging clients. The market I’m aiming at is a genderless age from 11 – 18, but hope that this product will appeal to older users, but 11 – 18 are just a very strong consumer group.

What dose it do?

Ambient. When not being used for a messenger device, It will act as a ambient device (changing Colour depending on when something happens) . Such as showing you when you have e-mails, the states defcon status, weather reports, when someone’s Myspace is updated etc…  Sort of like the already existing  http://www.ambientdevices.com/

Dynamic. The dynamic function is for during web conversations, a program will gauge the mood of the conversation. (based on expressions in text, smiles, nudges) and change its colour dynamically. It will even vibrate into live when someone what’s to initiate a web conversation with you.

Interactive. The product will be fully interactive, although you might see it as white, the “chameleon” will adapt to the colour of you MSN skin. So it will be as unique as you..

These are 3 pages from my development crit, they describe a basic aesthetic, and outline of the function.  2MB PDF

So why the hell am I telling you this!
Some people keep any product idea very secret, but I need your feedback to make this product better for the final design and the reassurance that such a market for this type of product exists.

If you have any comments on functionality, form, technical specification, or if you’re a manufacture and what to invest in my idea, post me a reply or drop me a e-mail to web@born4boarding.com

Thank you for your time, and interest.

Ben

very interesting product you have there...
a few thoughts of my own here...

1. perhaps the age range should be for a slightly younger user group than suggested.

2. gender... possibly more attractive to the female population methinks..

3. for a development crit, you might also think of how the cam is used.. for example, at the moment you see the cam is on an L-shaped base .. intended for standind on a desk perhaps... many people have their cams attached to their screen... sometimes the desk may be too low for a clear shot of the person... is there adjustability in direction that the cam points?

4. have you considered using the actual form of the cam to represent something with some personality or character... maybe something anthropomorphic.. maybe you've just thought that's too cheesy but there are subtle ways of doing this too.


Anyway, you definitely need to do more research into your user group... i myself am outside this user group so can't comment.. i probably wouldn't be buying into this sort of thing..

Good ideas... I keep they keep coming.... and good luck with your presentation to the board.

Hi gif83,

Thanks for the reply. In response to you comments..

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1. perhaps the age range should be for a slightly younger user group than suggested.

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Very true, the market that i have recognised is just the bulk one. If anyone know where i can get a better Demographic of messenger users, or web cam users i would be very grateful. I normally get this sort of stuff from www.mintel.com but there isn't anything there.

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2. gender... possibly more attractive to the female population methinks..

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Yes, very true. for the pitch i will market more to this group. Although in today’s market, things arn't as black and white (or pink and blue) as Male and female.

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3. for a development crit, you might also think of how the cam is used.. for example, at the moment you see the cam is on an L-shaped base .. intended for standing on a desk perhaps... many people have their cams attached to their screen... sometimes the desk may be too low for a clear shot of the person... is there adjustability in direction that the cam points?

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This is something that im working on for my more detailed design. the aesthic and form that i put in the PDF is just a concept for the form. Its being changed dramatically. On another interesting note, we found that a webcam on the monitor is a more confrontational and for more enterprise users.

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4. have you considered using the actual form of the cam to represent something with some personality or character... maybe something anthropomorphic.. maybe you've just thought that's too cheesy but there are subtle ways of doing this too.

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As i know you are a "product designer" / PDStudent. This is something i have exploded to length, and decided not to. The current look is meant to be like a eye, with the whole in the back, making the camera more inviting. As you are looking through the product, and not just staring into a camera. Lots of extra stuff, but I will be changing the aesthetic, I will keep you updated!

Cheers for the feedback, any other comments?

The age group is not too high IMO.

Age below 11 are not the ones who will buy (or even can buy) this sort of product. IMO, the agegroup 11-18 (although a very big range) is spot on to who use such things the most. Aiming at -11 is not a good thing todo with such a product, unless you want to make it all fluffy or Dublo Lego style so to speak. Not to mention the knowhow for the software installment and use for such a product is not what -11 years olds have.

just my 2 cents

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Originally posted by b4b


What dose it do?

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?

i agree the age group seems about right and it doesnt seem like a bad idea at all

1 thing about the use of vibration when nudges are sent/received ...
this could be annoying as the cam will probably blur the picture, and also if it is on a desk/shelf then it may move when it vibrates, thus being VERY annoying when every time someone sends you a nudge it moves.

Also it would be cool if you had an L.E.D. "recording" light, so that when the cam is in use the light is lit to show this, some webcams do do this already and is a very nice feature.

Though, this seems like a pricey camera and so many people may not buy it (me for example, i can't afford a webcam that is to expensive even if i like it)

PS: how many pixels do you plan to have with in it?

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Originally posted by b4b
What dose it do?

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*Does

very nice design so far, as for things i would change, weather report-> ambient passive status... personally, i wouldnt use this, i cant be bothered downloading something to get a weather report for my area, besides, i would never use it. Maybe, you could have an option to change this, say from my non-existent () stardock weather forecast widget to let it interact with something else other than this, maybe you could program it yourself to reflect your mood at this current time. But, this might be what you meant in your criteria, i wasnt to sure. But either way, this is an ace design, but maybe change the stand from a fixed one to a different one, like gif83 said, maybe change the stand to one like my logitech one that moulds allowing you to place it either on the monitor or on the desktop? picture

Just wondering out of personal interest whether your studies on the dynamic function of your webcam showed that the colour changing actively changed or enforced a messenger conversation to be lead in a certain direction. Maybe subconciously the colour changes may enhance emotions and maybe make people type things they normally wouldn't. Whether desirable or undesirable i find this is a most interesting part of your product.

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the interest and differing opinions. It is invaluable.

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cant be bothered downloading something to get a weather report  .....    maybe you could program it yourself to reflect your mood at this current time.

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The Chameleon will run off a web interface, which will run off XML or RSS, to get external feeds from external web sources. Within this web interface you will have pre-set colours. Or you will be able to set your own.
     This opens up a world of possibilities, as everything is going this way with Web 2.0.

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so that when the cam is in use the light is lit to show this

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I haven’t yet written up a complete range of the colours, and how it will work. But it will have this sort of feature, it will also glow on start up, shut down, and flash if someone did want to commence a conversation.

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Maybe subconsciously the colour changes may enhance emotions and maybe make people type things they normally wouldn't. Whether desirable or undesirable i find this is a most interesting part of your product.

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So very true, This is something that i will need to do more research into. I haven’t undertaken a direct observation using an array of colours, in this situation yet. But i shall be, and even though I won't be able to get extensive tests, i do as well believe this link, and semantic emotion with colour will come in as a USP. (unique selling point)

thanks again, for all the opinion and advice. I will post my final presentation up once i have presented to the board. (May 2nd). Yeah, and my spelling is pretty bad. Too much time to fiddle around with it! so please forgive me!

That seems like a really, really cool idea. Although im not to keen on the shaking and vibration part, maybe an option in the software to turn it off?
Personally, id buy one but it seems as though it would be extremely expensive.. hence i wouldnt be able to afford it.