IDEO Method Card-Historical Analysis

Historical Analysis(歷史分析)

★HOW(如何做歷史分析):
  Compare features of an industry,organization, group. market segment. or practice through various stages of development.
(透過不同的發展階段，比較產業、組織、團體、市場區隔或是實習的這些因素。)

★WHY(為何要做歷史分析)
  This method helps to identify trends and cycles of product use and customer behavior and to project those patterns into the future.

(此方法幫助去確認趨勢、產品使用週期及顧客行為，然後去推斷那些模式可進入到未來的市場裡。)

Industrial Design Analysis of Apple's supposed iPhone Gen4.

Industrial Design Analysis of Apple’s supposed iPhone Gen 4

  Gizmodo, in probably their scoop of the year, has written an interesting industrial design analysis of Apple’s supposed iPhone generation 4 prototype that some poor Apple employee (probably now fired) left behind.

   The New Industrial Design

  At first sight, this new iPhone’s industrial design seems so different from the previous two generations that it could be discarded as just a provisional case. Even while the finish is so perfect that it feels right out of the factory, some of the design language elements that are common to all Apple products are not there. Gone is the flushed screen glass against the metal rim. Gone is the single volume button, replaced by two separate ones. Gone is the seamless rim, and gone are the tapered, curved surfaces.

  Despite that, however, this design is not a departure. Not when you frame it with the rest of the Apple product line. It’s all the contrary: This new iPhone gets back to the simplicity of the iMac and the iPad. In fact, you can argue that the current iPhone 3GS—with its shiny chrome rim and excessively curved back—is out of place compared to the hard edges and Dieter-Ramish utilitarianism of the iMac and the iPad. Next to the iPad, for example, the new iPhone makes sense. It has the same feeling, the same functional simplicity.

  But why the black plastic back, instead of going with an unibody aluminum design? Why the two audio volume buttons? Why the seams? And why doesn’t the back have any curvature at all?

  Why the plastic back?

  The plastic back is the most obvious of the design choices. The iPad, with its all aluminum back, has seen its Wi-Fi reception radius reduced. The 3G version comes with a large patch on the top, probably big enough to provide with good reception. But the new tiny iPhone doesn’t have the luxury of space: It needs to provide with as much signal as possible using a very small surface. I’m sure Jon Ive is dying to get rid of the plastic back, and go iPad-style all the way, but the wireless reception is the most important thing in a cellphone. A necessary aesthetical-functional trade-off.

  Why separate volume buttons?

  This new iPhone uses separate buttons for the volume instead of the single button that you can find in the iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. It’s one of the factors that may indicate that this is a provisional case, until you think about one of the most requested features for Apple’s phone: A physical button for the camera. The new iPhone has a bigger sensor and a flash, which means that the camera function keeps gaining more weight. It’s only logical to think that Apple may have implemented this two-button approach to provide with a physical shutter button. It makes sense.

  Why the seams?

The seams are perhaps the most surprising aspect of the new design. They don’t seem to respond to any aesthetic criteria and, in terms of function, we can’t adventure any explanation. But they don’t look bad. In fact, the whole effect seems good, like something you will find in a Braun product from the 70s.

It’s doubtful that the seams are arbitrary, however. Either they will disappear from the final product, or they have a function we can’t foresee at this time.

Why no tapering or curves?

  As you will see in a future article, the new iPhone is so miniaturized and packed that there’s no room for the tapered, curved surfaces. Everything is as tight as it could get, with no space for anything but electronics.

§心得:

  日前，據傳Apple的工程師在美國的Redwood City 的酒吧，弄丟了一隻Apple即將推出的iPhone 4GS。iPhone 4GS外形與iPhone 3GS沒有太大的差別。GIZMODO買下這支手機後，經過拆解後，可以明顯的看出這隻丟失的新一代iPhone 多了哪些新功能。以下就是他們的新發現：

 §新功能:

‧ 視訊鏡頭

‧ 更棒的照相機（鏡頭明顯比iPhone 3Gs 大了許多）

‧ 有閃光燈的照相機

‧  跟iPad 一樣採用了新的Micro-SIM 卡，而非一般的SIM卡。

‧ 更美的螢幕，雖然還不知道是不是之前傳聞的960x460 解析度，但是這隻手機上所顯示的"請連接到iTunes" 圖示解析度已經比3GS 還要漂亮的多。

‧ 在上方的耳機孔旁邊，似乎多了一個麥克風收音孔用來減少噪音，以達到更好的收音效果用。

‧   音量鍵被分開，成為兩個獨立的按鈕

    (因為iPhone 4Gs的照相功能持續增加，所以Apple將音量鍵分開，以提供一個快門鍵。)

‧ 電源鍵、靜音快撥、音量鍵全都是金屬按鍵。

§改變:

‧ 手機的背面完全是平的，為了取得更好的收訊，使用了應該是玻璃、陶瓷或者是其他的塑膠材料。 這與iPad及iPhone 3GS背面所用的材質不同：前者的背面使用的全是鋁；而後者的背面上頭則有一個大的語音連結系統，以提供一個比較好的收訊效果。拍打這個背感覺是空心的，與正面的玻璃觸控面板感覺完全不同，應該是裡面零件的關係。

‧  週邊採用了全鋁的邊框

‧  新的液晶螢幕比3GS 小了點，但有更高的解析度。

‧   每個物件都趨於方正

‧   比iPhone 3GS 重了三克

‧   電池的大小比IPhone 3GS 大了16%

‧  iPhone4GS沒有一頭逐漸變細的及彎曲的表面，每個內部物件都盡量地微型化，以確保有足夠的空間可以塞下比3GS 大了16%的電池。

   

  

 §This article are taken from gizmodo.com and designsojourn.com:

 1.The New Apple iPhone 4G has leaked!! Check it out here!!!

 2.Industrial Design Analysis of Apple’s supposed iPhone Gen 4

§These pictures are taken from gizmodo.com

The GALAXY systems

The galaxy systems

View more presentations from Wu, Jia Qian.

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity

§About this talk:


Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

§My appreciations:

  All children are like a pure paper which can draw many variations or ideations on it. They can present many ways depend on their tremendous creativity. Creativity and imagination are no boundary and limitation but the rules of education restrain the creativeness. Once it is restricted by education, there is no diversity, vigor and difference on all of us. There are surely no interests in the world because the creativeness is insufficient for our needs.

  When we were children and we were not afraid of the wrong. If we failed in something, we had another go at it. We were not shamed at the failure sand mistakes. But when we are in adolescence, we acquire much knowledge in school. We spend much time and effort practicing Math, Chinese, Science, and Chemistry and so on, but we have less time to sing songs, do some artifacts and dancing. Teachers always told to us that “the more practice, the less mistakes”. Under this kind of circumstance, we get frightened of being wrong. However, we can learn the lessons from every mistake and the priceless original ideation will go through many struggle, trial, and failures. If we were afraid of mistakes, we wouldn’t make it.

  We must put the emphasis on creativity because it’s now important in education as literacy. There is no doubt that we should treat it with the same status of the subjects. We outweighed the study itself and it brought about some certain problems which referred in the above. We know that education plays a vital role in our life and it can transfer the illiteracy to literacy. Nevertheless, degrees are just a reference for your study; the creativity is the key point for your competitiveness.

  Nowadays, we are in the red sea which is very demanding and competitive, yet the blue sea is good options for us and the one of chief elements to it is creativity. We cannot overemphasize the importance of creativity. If education could help students motivate or trigger their creativity, I think this is much better for them.

Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of Sixth Sense technology

  Teaching cooperates with Sixth Sense technology

  §About this talk:
  At TED India, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data -- including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop." In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he'll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all.


 §My appreciations:

  1. We began by taking a close look at the unique needs of each learner.

  2. Various scenarios and gestures encountered by them on a daily basis, Sixth Sense provides further understanding and convenience of the guidelines set forth for their learning necessities.

  3. Sixth Sense technology help learners accommodate their different learning scenarios and make the vision more tangible through drawing or sketching on the wall or paper.

  4. By means of palms and then press some virtual but tangible buttons on it, a teacher could share the article on the newspaper with students without the time and space limits.

  5. Sixth Sense technology is the best assistant, for its intelligence; that is, when teachers change the paper’s direction from horizontal to vertical, it can transfer the user-interface automatically. In this way, there will be greater efficiencies in teaching.

  6. Much more information is spring up from all over the world and it results in rapid ideation exchanges. Thanks to the Sixth Sense technology, information is more accessible and tangible.

  There is probably less boundary between the virtual and real word after Sixth Sense technology is invented. Its architectures are defined to help us, consumers or learners get with the various use scenarios. Putting the invention on our fingers helps us to illustrate our ideations and most important of all make the virtual items more tangible.

  It took much time and effort to invent the Sixth Sense technology, and therefore it transfer the information from intangible to tangible successfully. Nowadays, it’s no doubt that it is a one-of-a kind of design.

  Sixth Sense technology is a simple design with only headphones, some sensors and an important item like iPod. As the Ockham’s Razor theory goes, “Given a choice between functionally equivalent designs, the simplest design should be selected.”The result is the best performing and easiest to use it in anytime and anywhere.

  Once we could photo everything through our hands with sensors, the copyright will become easy enough to get. Maybe we can set up some realted laws to protect it. Because an inventor dedicated themselves entirely to their priceless invention, we should take “copyright” into consideration in the future.