Design Story
We have two options available for the Red, Yellow, Green timing indicator lamps. We have a version with the traditional tungsten filament lamp or the newer LED based lamps. The LED lamps have a much longer life and, in the long run, make for a better investment. Both versions have our accurate automatic timing system at the core.
- Available Lamp Options
Great Timer - Design Story
from lead designer Danny Hopping
The new 'Great Timer' Contest Timing System was developed by a group of Professional Speakers, Toastmasters and Industrial Designers over the course of several months. The final design was quite different from my first attempt. The first clock I created I tried to mimic the size and shape of a small hardware based timer we had been using for years. During the very first design review with various club members (from novices thru DTM’s) including area governors and district governors, the question was asked: Why so small? Good question. So I changed from my original (copied) design of using 1.5 inch diameter lamps to using 4 inch diameter lamps. It made a huge difference in effectiveness. We also increased the brightness of the lamps. The result has proven to be much easier to see by contestants and better serves its intended purpose of informing speakers where they are in their speech timing. The speakers actually noticed the timing lights much more often now. One would think that making the lamps larger would have been obvious. One person suggested it and everyone else in the review immediately whacked themselves in the forehead and said ‘of course’. The power of design reviewed product development is always evident in the final product design!
Many suggestions were made by the design review team including changes in button placement, labeling, user interface, use case development and operator functionality.
I have been designing medical equipment for 25 years, and am ever amazed at how the obvious seems to be hidden from the designer during the ‘heat of development’. This is why a good design review team is critical. It’s almost like designers get myopic to the tasks we have in front of us and don’t really see the forest for the trees.
I am truly grateful to fellow toastmasters and other design engineers who sat through my design reviews to help develop a timer that would not just function, but truly serve its full intended purpose. This is a far better design because of their input!