This is a project two years ago. On a lazy afternoon, I accidentally received a WeChat from a friend. Is there a faster project interested. Fast means that the project cycle is short. Anyway, being idle is also idle. Let's talk. After three pleasantries, I got the customer's phone number.

After adding customer WeChat, the other party sent a picture of my product, which is a car camera product that monitors the driver's status in a commercial vehicle. Through these pictures, I have a general understanding of the use environment and basic form of this product, and then I went to the other company to have a face-to-face chat on the second day. It is very important for the communication in the early stage of this short and fast project. If conditions permit, I must have a face-to-face chat with the person who can make the decision of the other company, so as to clarify the product information and the other party's needs.
Most of the time, a project can be completed quickly, not how fast the designer's modeling speed is, how good the rendering effect is, to a large extent, depends on whether the early communication is clear and clear.

Since I have to talk to each other face to face on the second day, I still have to do some basic homework.
Because the requirements of this project are relatively simple, I roughly looked for pictures of the same type of products on the Internet to have a basic understanding of the product style of this category. Remember some mainstream brand information clearly, so that when chatting with the other party, inadvertently speaking out the brand information and basic product parameters will make customers feel very professional. Ha, ha, ha, this is also some small details of communication. It is still very important to cultivate the trust of the other party when we meet for the first time.

The other company is not big, about 20-30 people, is a small research and development company, does not have its own designers, the previous project is basically outsourcing. There are 4 people who connect with me, the boss, the head of the product department, the head of the structure and the head of the marketing department.
In fact, this kind of communication is a very interesting thing. You can clearly understand what he wants from the other person's role. Of course, the boss hopes that the product's appearance is high enough, the competitiveness is strong enough, the development time is short, and the product status is stable. Of course, all these are implemented within the acceptable cost. The product manager is relatively more rational and cares more about the data, what range the size can be controlled, the product parameter data and the competition have no advantage over the marking, etc. The structure is relatively conservative in most companies, whether the strength is enough, the reliability is good or not, and whether the heat dissipation is good or not are what they care about most. What the marketing department hopes most is to make some innovations. Whether there is any difference or not will be bright at the moment...

After chatting for about 2 hours, I also made some simple analysis and disassembly measurements on their competing products and current products. The following conditions must be met:

1. Reliability is the first consideration, which needs to be installed firmly and not easy to damage.
2. Because it is used in the environment of commercial carriages, the environment is messy. The product needs simple structure and easy maintenance. The surface treatment is spray-free to bite dark colors to prevent reflection and affect safety.
3. Make it as small as possible to reduce the sense of presence and reduce the disgust of the driver.

Based on the above necessary conditions, three design directions are quickly determined.

A, conservative scheme, internal device arrangement remains unchanged, appearance optimization, base universal cost reduction.
B, local optimization scheme, through reasonable adjustment of device layout, the appearance and current product differentiation, more reasonable use, higher color value.
C, a more conceptual scheme.

These quick design decisions actually test the designer's maturity and on-the-spot ability. It is necessary to analyze comprehensively in a short period of time under the factors of cost, time, and customer acceptance (customer preference) to guide the customer to make the design direction. In fact, when making these design directions, I have basically predicted which design scheme the customer will choose in the later period, and the actual scheme chosen later is indeed consistent with my prediction.

The pure appearance modification scheme makes the product look lighter and thinner by optimizing the curved surface.

The original base is not universal, and a lower and flat base is redesigned to reduce the overall height of the product very low. Through structural improvement, the camera rotates on it, making the whole smaller.

The final confirmation of the production effect is basically consistent with the sketch.
This is also the way I am making this kind of non-consumer electronic products. Don't buckle the size to the extreme like making a mobile phone, just pay attention to the overall proportion harmony. Leave some space allowance for the structural engineer to make wall thickness and buckle, including the heat dissipation holes. Leave enough for him during the early design, so that the later structure will not move to your appearance, because after all, it is not in a company, and the communication cost is also very important. When modeling in the early stage, try to think that the later structural space problem will improve a lot of efficiency, the cooperation with the structure will also be much happier.