New streamlined design from Clarion

Clarion – global leaders in mobile entertainment and navigation – has introduced the VZ509E; a stylish, streamlined, feature-rich solution to in-car audio-visual entertainment, that boasts a host of connectivity options to suit the user.

The new multimedia showcase is DVD-Video/DVD±R/DVD±RW/CD/CD-R/RW ready and is MP3/WMA/AAC compatible with ID3-TAG display, whilst playing DivX video (including DivX 6).

Direct iPod control is via the rear USB connector – offering easy operation either via the VZ509E’s touch-screen or through the iPod itself – whilst iPod video playback is also possible via the optional CCA723 cable.

With the majority of the VZ509E’s features accessed via the fully motorised, 7-inch TFT colour LCD touch-screen, operation is simplified, streamlined and beautifully enhanced, thanks to a high-resolution on-screen display and a new graphic IC, which allows images to switch more quickly and smoothly, whether in full screen or picture-in-picture mode.

The VZ509E also offers direct connection – including touch control – to the stand-alone NP509E hide-away navigation system at a later date, to deliver state-of-the-art voice and high definition map guidance.

Bluetooth connectivity is also an optional addition, via the BLT373 interface, allowing safe access to a number of mobile phone functions.

Clarion continues to close the gap between home and in-car audio quality, utilising a 24-bit D/A converter (usually found in expensive home audio systems) to cancel unwanted background noise, and create a clearer, more realistic audio reproduction.

Meanwhile, Magna Bass EX provides extra low-frequency impact (boosting bass by 10dB at 60 Hz), for a well-balanced sound reproduction, whilst the addition of BBE MP (Minimised Polynomial Non-Linear Saturation) enhances compressed music formats.

Built-in high pass and low pass filters and Beat EQ presets (BASS BOOST, IMPACT and EXCITE) allow greater customisation and with separate subwoofer volume control, the impressive 4 x 50 Watt internal amplifier is put to good use.

Empathic design

Empathic design is commonly existing as a user-centered design advance that puts special emphasis on inspection of the emotional aspects of user-product relationships (McDonagh and Lebbon, 2000; Fulton-Suri, 2003; Crossley 2003). The empathic design process is sometimes mistakenly referred to as Empathetic design.

The seminal publication on empathic design is “Spark Innovation Through Empathic Design” by Leonard and Rayport. The foundation of empathic design is observation, and the goal is to identify latent customer needs. Latent needs are product requirements that customers don’t even know they desire, or in some cases are solutions that customers have difficulty envisioning due to lack of exposure to new technologies or being locked in the mindset of working with existing products and services. In the empathic design process, researchers observe people in their normal home or work environment in order to see how they use and interact with the products under study.

Empathic design relies heavily on observation of consumers as opposed to traditional market research which relies more on consumer inquiry. By avoiding user-created inquiry mechanisms, empathic design avoids possible biases in surveys and questions, and minimizes the chance that consumers will provide false information (as some customers are reluctant to criticize and complain about product features directly). Traditional inquiry based market research often fails to capture latent customer needs that can be identified by observation.

Often the customer observation is performed by a small team of specialists, such as an engineer, a human-factors expert, and a designer. The specialists each observe from a different perspective and then document their observations (sometimes via photograph and video tape) to capture subtle interactions such as body language and facial expressions, and also to allow exposure of the observational data to a larger group. The design group then meets after performing the observations to evaluate and interpret their observations and identify latent needs, desirable product attributes and also weed out any undesirable features.