6 - "Continue Prototyping" More about the hardware

Just to expand on why we decided to move from the idea of having buttons to navigate between applications and having a slider.

Originally we had planned to have 6 large buttons which were used to navigate between applications on the device. We had thought this would be a good idea because it would be easy for the child to press the buttons to change application.

We then became concerned that a child could easily press the buttons by accident when in the middle of something and change the application. The child would then become confused because the device would be in a different application and the child wouldn't know why. We decided that it might be good if all the buttons sunk into the device except for the button for the current application. This button could then be pressed to release all the other buttons. This idea would also allow the child to visualize from the device which application they were currently using because it would be the only unpressed button.

We took a step back to look at what we had designed and realised how unnecessarily complicated it had become. Each button would have to be motorised or have some sort of mechanism to allow it to press and unpress itself. This would make it expensive to manufacture and increase the chances of the buttons breaking. Also, this setup does not relate to any existing models and therefore make it harder for the child to understand.

This is when we decided a knob which can be twiddled to change application would be better. On flicking through the Argos catalogue's toy section we saw this would be a familiar model for the child. There was some dispute over whether a 19 month child would be able to turn a knob and suggestions such as making it like a key were made.

When we tried to sketch out where this knob would appear on our device we realised it would require a lot of space and the round shape would not fit in easily with the device especially as we'd quite like to keep it symmetrical and the screen central.

This is when we thought a slider would be a good idea. The slider would have a large easily grabable handle with nine positions - one for each of the applications and one for off. Not only would this be easy to use but also allow the child to see exactly what application they are currently using. They would also learn the position of the slider for their favourite applications so they'd be able to load them up without thinking about it or checking the corresponding labels. The slider, being linear, also fits nicely onto the device without disrupting symmetry or the screen's central position.