BSkyB case study: design and deliver

After four weeks on the set top box project, Frog Design responded with around ten initial concepts, in sketch form. Snodgrass and the product managers selected preferences from these initial offerings

According to Whittaker, Frog Design’s objective at this stage was to agree an overall concept for the design with BSkyB.

The concept that was chosen was one the Frog Design team christened ‘flow’, where the product form contrasted an outer protective shell with curved elements across the sides and front of the box which provide a glimpse of ‘the juicy bits inside.’

‘It’s like a bit like an orange,’ Whittaker explains, ‘it has this protective skin but it looks like if you squeezed it, the brand essence would come out.’

With the basic design language agreed, Frog Design and BSkyB then worked to develop variations on this theme, designed to give the individual boxes in the range a distinct identity that would support their market position.

The basic set top box, therefore, was given a friendlier, fun appearance, while the high-end HD unit was designed to look ‘a bit more dark and mysterious, more visually powerful.’

Although design consultancy Frog Design, BSkyB and the manufacturers had been in conversation since the start of the project, once the concept was agreed, the dialogue with the manufacturers could begin in earnest.

According to Ed Snodgrass, Product Design Manager at BSkyB, there was considerable tension early in the design process between the designers and other stakeholders in the organisation, who needed to ensure that the product could be delivered within acceptable cost, manufacturability and reliability parameters. This involved re-establishing previous PCB design constraints, and positions for card slots, connectors and status LEDs.

Critical at this stage, says Snodgrass, was an understanding of the ventilation system that would be used to keep the critical components in the box cool. Different manufacturers, he explains, use different ventilation principles, with some preferring to use a fan and others relying on natural convection, the set-top-box design language called for clean unbroken surfaces which meat no ventilation on the top cover.

Once the basic dimensional constraints were established, Frog Design built the first 3D CAD models of the proposed solutions. From these models, machined foam mock-ups were made to allow BSkyB stakeholders to get a better grasp of the size and shape of the proposed solutions. Final approval was carried out by the company’s CEO, who, after requesting changes to form, interface, or finish, selected a single solution.

For Frog Design, the use of multiple manufacturers meant that it had to evolve three separate designs for the set top box, with identical outer ‘A’ surfaces, but different internal structures and supports. Another key negotiation with the manufacturers was to limit their branding to the back of the box, so that the front of the box is ‘owned by Sky.’

In the early stages of the design project, says Whittaker, Frog’s designers would communicate with the client ‘every few days,’ but this intensity increased as the engineering of the project progressed, to the point where designers, client and manufacturer were in conversation ‘several times a day. It’s about having a common goal, a common aim.’

Delivery

Snodgrass and the Frog designers then entered a detailed dialogue with the manufacturers to evolve the design to make it suitable for their manufacturing processes.

‘As we were dealing with some quite new chipsets in these products, we didn’t have some dimensions finalised until quite late in the project,’ explains James Whittaker, Creative Director at Frog Design's German office, ‘That meant we had to modify overall dimensions sometimes during the project.’

The manufacturers then carried out the detailed engineering of the product, a process which took up to two years, depending on the lead times for tooling, chip sets and software development.

Evaluation and iteration

Before production began, Snodgrass and the manufacturers worked together to fine-tune, fit and finish before pre-production units are made and sent out for user testing. Initial product field trials involved around 100 customers and were managed by the BSkyB Product Manager. Field trials resulted in small changes to software or user interface characteristics, which were integrated into the product before launch.

Increasingly, products are also designed with maintenance and disassembly in mind. In part, says Snodgrass, this is to make service and repair cheaper, but tightening waste legislation is also encouraging the company to produce equipment with longest possible lifetime and with easier and more cost effective recycling at end-of-life.

Once a product is in use, positive or negative customer feedback on set top box design and performance is collected at BSkyB service centres and sent to Snodgrass and his team, to be absorbed for future design revisions and product updates.

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