Intelligent design of intelligent products

Consumer electronic products are often not only difficult to use, but it seems also that much less progress is being made by manufacturers in interface design than in styling or technology or low-cost manufacture. What is it about designing easy-to-use products that is so difficult-and why does so little of the research seem to reach the High Street? This paper explores these issues from a view of the consumer product development process and asserts that there is an urgent need for a rapid user interface prototyping tool to be used in the initial concept phase of a project. The requirements of such a tool are described, concluding with a demonstration of the system developed and used by Cambridge Consultants.<>