Meowbit Gaming Device Analysis of existing products

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Good designers will always do some research before they start to design themselves. One form of research is to look at (analyse) existing products. This analysis allows the designer to see how a similar design problem has been solved before as well as to generate ideas about what works well or what does not work well. You can gain knowledge and inspiration by looking at existing products. In this section of work we will look mainly at gaming devices or gaming controllers as the user would hold these in their hands. However you may also find it useful to analyse any hand held product that you hold with 2 hands. Other examples include digital cameras, steering wheels, mobile phones etc

This section of work is divided into 2 parts.

In part 1 you will learn about sources of research and then start to source some examples of your own research for this project.

In part 2 you will learn how to fully analyse each product that you have chosen.

Part 1 - There are 2 types of research

Primary research

Primary research is the kind that you have done yourself by analysing the product first hand. Primary research is the best because you have the chance to interact with and test the product .

Secondary research

Secondary research is an analysis of anything that you do not have in front of you when you do your analysis. When we cannot hold and interact with a product, there are some assumptions made about, therefore this type of research is not as valuable. You also usually only see the product photo from one view.

What is Primary Research?

Photos you have taken yourself

Primary research is research that you can do yourself because you have the product in front of you.

When you take photos of your product, put white paper underneath so there is a plain background and use the opportunity to take more than one picture from different angles

Primary research is the best!

Primary research is better because you can analyse the product in greater depth when you have the chance to hold it and interact with it. You can also take many photos of the product from different angles.

Here are a few examples of some photos taken for primary research:

Top view shows the overall apperance of the product

Side view shows the depth and width of the product

An image of the product being used helps show scale and context

A back view shows any underneath features or details of the product

What is Secondary Research?

Pictures off the internet

You can find many pictures of gaming devices, gaming controllers and other handheld products by using the google search engine on the internet.

Pictures from a book, magazine or catalogue

Books, magazines and catalogues are a great source of images of existing products.

Pictures sent to you from someone else

Even if another person sends you a photo that they have taken, it is still secondary research for you.

Task 1

Collect images of suitable existing products and display them on the google slides on your Google Classroom.

You must include 2 slides. 1 Primary research and 1 secondary research.

On the primary research slide should be a range of photos that you have taken yourself of the product you have chosen.

On the secondary research slide should be 4 - 6 different existing product photos that you have found from secondary sources.

Part 2 - Analysis

How to analyse a product - ACCESS FM

Aesthetics - how does the product look? write details of what you notice about the form, shape, colour, texture, finish, decoration, stickers (decals) etc.

Cost - what price range does the product fit into? You can find out the price through research and you can also comment on if you think it looks cheap or looks expensive.

Customer - who is the product for? (families? adults? children? teenagers? professionals?) who will use it? what is their age? gender? likes? style? needs?

Environment - Where does the product go or where is it used? What impact does the environment that the product will be used in have on the design?

Size - what size is the product? do you think there are reasons for the sizing of the product?

Safety - are there any features of the product that are there for safety?

Function - what do different parts of the product do? are there any special features?

Materials - What materials is it made from? are different materials used for different purposes?

optional task - ACCESS FM challenge

After you have read the table above, you could challenge yourself to see if you can remember what each of the ACCESS FM key words mean. Screen shot the table below and link the correct boxes together. The first one has been done for you. Furthermore, if you are EAL, it is likely that some or all of the ACCESS FM words are new words for you. Feel fre to use the space in the table below to add your home language translations to help you remember them.

Task 2

Use the AccessFM strategy to analyse each of the images that you have collected. Remember that you should have both primary and secondary research. It is really important to use the new ACCESS FM words in your analysis. For example, you might say:

This product is orange and black. I find these colours very aesthetically pleasing as they contrast really well and I love orange as a colour.
This controller has two little joysticks. This really improves the function when playing a game as it is easier to move your character around.
Do this for more of the ACCESS FM key words to make your writing and analysis great!

You should be continuing to work on the slides that you started in task 1.

Hand your work in on Google Classroom when you have finished.

A good selection of photos show digital handheld devices being held and gripped by hands in a real situation. We can learn what shapes looks comfortable to hold and how gamers bend their fingers and grip the device. this is something we should understand before we design our own models.