Developing information appliance design tools for designers

As more products become computer-embedded, designers need to consider both the hardware and interface. Traditional design processes and design tools focus on hardware aspects, and so new methods and techniques must be investigated and developed. The aim of this study is to investigate new design models for designing computer-embedded products. In particular, it focuses on ways by which designers can be assisted in problem identification, exploration and evaluation of design solutions by using a rapid interface prototyping technique. The technique is based on a widely used general presentation software application. It can be used to develop fully functional prototypes of computer embedded products without electronic engineering skills.