new module: design for change

we recieved the design for change brief today; to identify key changes in the social, ecomomic, cultural or technological environments, and to propose a product to address those change(s) for a hypothetical client

i've decided to run with an idea i've been thinking about for a little while, a web-enabled alarm clock. the idea is to link a digital alarm clock so the internet so that it can recieve web content; this reflects sunstantial developments on the web in the last few years, and will try to take advantages of advancements in web-content syndication

we also split into research clusters for the duration of the project, and i'm in with ray, steve, liz, lou, james, and ciara


brief

Your client, who you can assume is a community, charitable, public or business organization, has commissioned you to help identify key changes in the social, economic, cultural or technological environment and to suggest concepts for products and initiatives which can address those changes

For example, you may consider how people are using technology in their everyday lives, in their own ways and for their own needs. How does choice impact on how everyday thing are used or are likely to be used in the future?

In response to this you are required to identify, describe and evaluate what you believe to be the key changes and possible evolutions in these environments, with a particular emphasis on opportunities for the design of new interactive tasks, systems or products

From this initial audit you must then consider a new or novel task, system or product that you would like to investigate and further develop to concept prototype stage and offer researched evidence in support of your proposal. Evaluate and specify design concepts to capture this opportunity