An investigation of customer delight during product evaluation: Implications for the development of desirable products

This paper reports findings from three research methods used to study customer delight during product evaluation. The results are framed in terms of existing models, high-lighting inadequacies in the assumptions these models make. Implications for product development are proposed in the form of practical strategies for understanding and delighting customers. © IMechE 2007.

Red-Green-Blue 2D tuneable liquid crystal laser devices

In this paper, we review our recent experimental work on coherent and blue phase liquid crystal lasers.We will present results on thin-film photonic band edge lasing devices using dye-doped low molar mass liquid crystals in self-organised chiral nematic and blue phases. We show that high Q-factor lasers can be achieved in these materials and demonstrate that a single mode output with a very narrow line width can be readily achievable in well-aligned mono-domain samples. Further, we have found that the performance of the laser, i.e. the slope efficiency and the excitation threshold, are dependent upon the physical parameters of the low molar mass chiral nematic liquid crystals. Specifically, slope efficiencies greater than 60% could be achieved depending upon the materials used and the device geometry employed. We will discuss the important parameters of the liquid crystal host/dye guest materials and device configuration that are needed to achieve such high slope efficiencies. Further we demonstrate how the wavelength of the laser can be tuned using an in-plane electric field in a direction perpendicular to the helix axis via a flexoelectric mechanism as well as thermally using thermochromic effects. We will then briefly outline data on room temperature blue phase lasers and further show how liquid crystal/lenslet arrays have been used to demonstrate 2D laser emission of any desired wavelength. Finally, we present preliminary data on LED/incoherent pumping of RG liquid crystal lasers leading to a continuous wave output. © 2009 SPIE.

User responses to the learning demands of consumer products

Designers are typically male, under 35 years old and unimpaired. Users can be of any age and currently over 15% will have some form of impairment. As a result a vast array of consumer products suit youthful males and in many cases exclude other demographics (e.g. Keates and Clarkson, 2004). In studying the way a range of users learn how to use new products, key cognitive difficulties are revealed and linked back to the areas of the product causing the problems. The trials were structured so each user had to complete a specific set of tasks and were consistent across the user spectrum. The tasks set aimed to represent both everyday usage and less familiar functions. Whilst the knowledge gained could provide designers with valuable guidelines for the specific products examined, a more general abstraction provides knowledge of the pitfalls to avoid in the design of other product families.