How to find the character of a product

After my previous article was published, I got a lot of emails, a little out of my expectation. But again, in these emails, the interaction design industry is far more than the industrial design industry, the internet industry is far more than the real product industry, but I still want to engage in the industrial design of physical products.

But I am also really interested in interactive design and the Internet, and even willing to get involved, and this idea comes from the recognition and understanding of the changes in the design industry. Now, the design has changed, on the surface, it may just be the rise of interactive design and related design, the retreat of traditional industrial design in some cases, and so on, but the deeper should be the change of the whole design, and not just the design of one field in place of another. and industrial design has also changed, and if there is an opportunity to participate in this process of change, it is certainly exciting. And what we feel is the design of different designs and of any single field, whose boundaries are actually blurred and diffused, and these vague boundaries are as attractive as the new world.

This article will explore the design possibilities under change by example, and the selected topic is the most representative, that is mobile phone.

Mobile phone as the most important things in people's lives, has been the design professionals, especially students like to design objects, interesting is the more than 10 years of change, and now the design of students in the mobile phone design ratio has been greatly reduced. In the era of Motorola V70, I once saw a word in the magazine, the general idea is that all can think of the new mobile phone way we all thought of, that era is immersed in clamshell, rotating screen and other kinds of new mobile phone forms, at that time this sentence to me a little blow, since they all think I also design what, Of course, I also believe that the new design can not be exhausted. After a new way of exploring the decline, people do not want to change the phone like Transformers, the final form of the mobile phone or stay in a few basic, and mobile phone design in a new direction, we can be generally called style, that style, originally thought that mobile phone design no longer what wonderful people have found a new understanding, The original phone design is all about style, the same is a straight form of the design can have countless vivid style, through the design can clearly convey the image of the product and brand, like car design, the brand mobile phone has its own design language and design vocabulary, at the same time can be derived from different consumer demand for the design system, Wonderful.

But the IPhone has changed all this, the mobile phone has entered the era of full screen touch operation, the full screen touch operation brings with it a complete rectangular screen covering almost the entire front of the phone, and the mobile interface design by the new design professional that is interactive design to complete, so simply said, The number of industrial designers on mobile phones has shrunk to half the size of the original, and half of the positive is actually defined as the whole of a product, not many people care about how the phone's back is superior, even if the back is still a large area, but how. After the IPhone, how many full screen touch phones can impress people? In particular, this year's Android phones, it seems hard to find a very discriminating product, and we rarely see people talking about the design of an Android phone. Is it true that the full screen touch of a mobile phone really goes into a mundane era? is a mobile phone's shape entirely dependent on its interactive design or interface design?

No. It's not that industrial design is still important on full-screen touch phones because it is the entity that hosts the product, rather, the above understanding is narrow, the formality is not from the screen of the box, but the traditional design "professional perspective" to bring the box, we need to jump out of this box, otherwise not design mobile phones but draw mobile phones.

We need to see the design from the "professional perspective" to jump out of the product to the entire mass consumer demand, so if we look at this more than 10-year phone change from another line, that's probably it, start it as a new technology into the public life, first of all by engineers and designers to shape this product into consumption, It's a new tool that carries a revolutionary function, because of its particularity, such as unparalleled daily, so that it quickly into the public life to form a consumer cultural ecology, so the mass consumers will soon enter the team to shape this product, the mass consumers shape products by demand, and designers began to change from the inventor to the discovery, Mobile phone is still a tool, but the mass consumer culture makes it become a special consumer goods, and the change of the iPhone is not only the touch of intuitive and fresh, but the more than 10 years behind the public's change in internet consumption, so we said that the mobile phone from the tool consumption to the content of consumption.

Before starting the case discussion, it is necessary to explain that this is only a design discussion, so the limitations are obvious, design implementation is also stuck in the description of the theme stage, I have not engaged in mobile phone design, but I have been very concerned about this topic, but also like the possibility of exploring the state. The following example design is limited to the biased reality, not very much innovation, although I agree that at any time big innovative design is possible, this topic is similar to "now to design an Android phone", but is not very subject to this, after all, the external environment is missing, such as manufacturers or say what kind of Android.

The character of the product

Full Screen touch mobile phone because of the size of the screen, so that the design of mobile phone entities face the challenge of space compression, mobile phone industrial design is still important, or can be said to become particularly important, because it is a digital consumer goods, it needs its recognition, need its image, need its brand, It needs to be recognized, loved and entered into his life by a consumer with a specific attribute.

There are many ways to mold the brand image of products, as the article said at the beginning of the public also involved in product modeling, perhaps a product only the most common design, but can use other methods to shape its unique brand, in the public its image, such as the media, such as advertising, advertising, we call it " Bullshitting "brand interpretation vocabulary such as" Custom for taste "can also play its role, even worse than" bullshitting "Fool and lie.

But fundamentally, a product's brand image is based on the character of the product, not from the company's culture founder's temperament. Character has a common word is personality, but personality has become a variety of demands, that is, "one of them", there is no strong essence of the expression of the "one", when I say a product has a personality often refers to it is not the same, and the shape of a product brand needs more, need character.

Ideas are bulletproof, no Ideas-driven design is like giving you a piece of paper and a pen to say "you draw", and painting is not designed, the design can not be bulletproof, just a mask.

The character of a product is a source, it can bring traceability, that is, we often say that the product to consumers in depth experience, rather than a taste of the plane experience. But the product character is an intangible thing, it is not by the given in advance some language definition words, and then can develop on this, it needs to look for in the design process.

Now the mobile software, its interactive design has become the main content of people to use this product, but its physical design is still building the character of the product is the main position, one reason is the ecological decision of the software, IOS, Android, Windows Phone 7, Palm OS ... They cannot develop countless unique individuals like hardware, even though some of the UI can be customized, and also as the main screen of the product, mobile phones and flat-screen TV is a completely different two products, compared to as a TV sometimes a screens enough, but as a mobile phone a daily use of portable items, it is more dynamic, Need more space to accommodate life. It is also important that it becomes the product of the market before People's daily portable items, and that the consumer behavior of the market is bound to be based on character recognition, which is one reason we are bored from the age of the mobile phone to touch screen phones because they look similar.

Do we need a new kind of thinking in the face of these new challenges?

Let's start with the traditional approach and it looks as if it still works.

One or one new styling concepts (DI/whetstone)

What changes have been brought to the full screen touch phone it brings a big screen, almost cover the front of the phone's big screen, excluding all the big screen, there is no longer a lot of buttons on the phone, that is the original portrayal of a mobile phone image is very important part of the different brands of mobile phone keyboard design has its own style, Nokia phones are very good at keyboard design and now they are all gone. And the big screen is not a glance can see the recognition, the screen is almost the same, the screen is basically flat and rectangular and proportional to a certain size, even if it can be customized but subject to the software and people's visual experience. So once the big screen is set, everything else seems to be difficult to make some changes, the mobile phone generally need to have a hand is probably the most can only have a border, the face is subject to the plane, while the plane affects the side and the back, because a lot of modelling such as surface need area to ease the change, the back of the pattern that is It's a dead end.

Since it is a big screen, why not strengthen its image, its image has what can be strengthened, is not a plane, yes, it is only a plane, but the plane has thousands, each has different, the table and chair face is not the same, cement pavement and asphalt surface is not the same, Taihu Lake and the lake is not the same, Knife noodles and instant noodles are also different ... The screen plane of a mobile phone is where it all appears, and people's experience lies between this square inch, it is flat and can emerge from the information, it is abstract, it is like a section of the Internet, if the internet like a strip of dough, it is like a knife cut the dough, in a perfect contour layer of the attractive cross-section texture ...

I like this section texture, many sections of the texture are very attractive, stump, a pile of paper, vegetables and fruits Fruit Ninja ... And my favorite is the section of the stone, the complete flat cross-section, not natural, but artificial, as with a laser sword like a large piece of hard stone split out of its billions of years uncover, touch it as a touch of an era ... People like the plane, like the plane of stone, whether from the ancient knowledge of tools or utensils, or to the current material form of preferences.

I like the works of Noguchi Yong (Isamu Noguchi), especially its stone sculptures, which have a mysterious, but abstract attraction, most of his stone sculptures are designed to cross sections, and a series of Ishii are scattered through the middle of a large rock with water from a man-made cut section, Although I didn't get the chance to see it, it was very tempting.

So why not on the phone to strengthen the sense of the plane or cross-section, for the full screen touch operation of the mobile phone is proximity, then how to strengthen the screen of the plane or section texture, because the plane is originally flat? As the outline of Shenze straight says, the contours are determined by the surroundings, The strengthening of this cross section is shaped by its surroundings.

This is: di/whetstone

The grind is the grindstone, which is precisely the sharpening stone, as a child sharpening the grindstone on the rough grindstone on the side and then to the fine grindstone to sharpen the edge of the blade, so we prefer the fine grindstone, it surface smooth and delicate, I think the ancient people like flat surface stone a simple idea is "can device" it.

How to use the design of the surrounding screen to emphasize the sense of the stone cross-section of the screen plane, if the use of rational geometric form most of the situation will fall into the ordinary, as the artificial plane is common, and too much of the organic form is not only difficult to shape the difficulty is not simple and easy to form the sense of tracing nature, People are already tired of organic styling and will be sick of it. So we use a simple but asymmetrical curve to sketch the section, to form a cross-section of the sense must have a height difference, and in the mobile phone this size can not form a large gradient, so here using surface modeling to make up for, a lap of different slopes over the natural surface can be used in the daily use of the light to bring rich experience.

Below is a set of whetstone.

Second, a new form of product understanding (Inkstone/Inkstone)

Now that full screen touch phones like the iPhone or Android phone can be called real smartphones, how do we look at smartphones like this? A handheld computer, a handheld Internet device ... This is a sort of thinking, if divergent, poetic point to describe, what is it? It is a bowl of water.

It's a bowl of water. It's not a myth, it's been saying that mobile spending is turning from tools to content, then the content needs a container, a smartphone and a mobile phone phone, the more content of the feeling, whether the built-in storage or the cloud data reading, these content is from the touch screen, Like a bowl of water.

Mobile phone design, like most products, also has a container concept, such as the upper and lower shell of the box-shaped products, how to combine these two understandings? Since it has a sense of container, why not try to design it as a container?

This has the Inkstone/inkstone

Inkstone, Metsian Inkstone, I can think of the most shallow containers, and some even have no edge of the container, it is not only a kind of stationery, at the same time the literati's love for it to rise to the realm of plaything, become a collection of a category.

The upper and lower shell mode of product form basically three kinds, upper and lower shells, the bottom of the package and on the bottom, here in order to enhance the image of the container, the edge is improved, that is, the front panel glass components below the edge of 0.8mm, in order to ensure the excellent structure and the use of the comfort of the process, the thickness of the edge than before the This design not only from the image of the impression of the container, and brought a good recognition, in the premise of ensuring the simplicity of the design, in addition to bring some new experience. Edge to form a boundary, can bring the feeling of reception and neatness, but also can let people in the use process more attention, and also can play a certain protective role.

Inkstone/Inkstone Atlas

Three or one new product structure ideas (infrastructure/Cornerstone)

Why are touch-screen mobile phones so similar today, compared to software such as these Android phones that are so tasteless, not recognizable, and without character, why these phones look so alike and common that people get into trouble when they choose ... Another very important reason is the product structure, the front shell components of the PCB assembly method all this limits the overall form of the product. This is also the highlight of the IPhone 4 and Apple's various products after Unibody, which look like they were done by one person, without division, without ID and MD, without the sense of industrial design in front of engineering, as everything starts at the bottom from zero.

It is possible to start exploring new forms by making structural breakthroughs, or by getting rid of the limitations of general structures such as the upper and lower shells.

The Cornerstone

Foundation, that is the cornerstone of the meaning, all from the beginning.

Inspired by the IPhone 4, the middle layer from the inside out, and then extended to the top and bottom to become the entire foundation, the use of CNC processing can be, in order to emphasize the integrity and break the monotony, the middle of a circle groove, just can make the key surface and edge surface flat.

Atlas/Cornerstone

The above three kinds of methods are more traditional design ideas, is entirely standing in the industrial designer's "job" to think and explore this product, to find the character of the product, this is safe and feasible.

These three examples are used to explain and tell stories, but the story is not as a design of the source or prototype, such as Inkstone this design idea from the Duanyan, perhaps in the past is a good way to convey the concept of design, but in the present only this is not enough, If the prototype of the design is an interpretation of the product, it will form a paradox, but this divergent thinking is necessary in the design process.

So, the above design will eliminate these stories, whether or not to retain the design of the source, still retained, because the above three design of the starting point is not the story, not the grindstone is not Duanyan not the cornerstone, but from the phone this product thinking, such as "Di" on the screen as an interactive entity, "Inkstone" from the product connotation and "Infrastructure" is the logical structure of products, if not tell stories, the original design can still be traced back to form a course.

However, I think we need a broader perspective, not to avoid such as interactive design to explore the product, because the importance of interaction design, it also shaped the character of the product, under certain circumstances, it is even all. I think that the so-called maintenance of contact with the design of the industrial design, or hardware and software, not to refer to the software has a function, but the hardware design a button, but from the overall image of the product and character molding to think.

A broader view of mobile phones

Mobile phone used to be a tool, it is still a tool but its content status has been far different, now people use mobile phone initiative compared to the previous mobile phone is simply a pager, all from the internet behind the phone.

The great changes that have taken place in the Internet, people use the Internet has also undergone a great change, formerly the Explorer, is now a variety of public access to the Internet has been from the nomadic age into the era of resettlement, nomadic age is explorer surfers, leisure access to information, and now the Internet is a part of life, Build life through the Internet. The internet is an assistant to people's lives. Far beyond this, because the Internet is very initiative, it can push, and at any time bring new possibilities.

Transplant this view to mobile internet bearer equipment, then can the mobile phone's intelligence more life, mobile phone It is not a tool, nor toys, not gadget, people use it is not the main adventure nomadic, but day-to-day, as the air generally natural.

I'm very good at it. Windows Phone 7 Another bizarre difference from IOS, the App, which distinguishes it from the functional appeal, takes the content out and forms a Hub, although I suspect that the glance and go is actually convenient or necessary. So why do we not put the entire content machine system into a Hub, it will push people in the passive acceptance of content, while people take the initiative is through the APP, through the internet and mobile phone intelligence to assistant content structure and order.

So on this basis to think about the design of mobile phone products, it should be? It is everyday natural, concise not too many temptation, design more essential but not boring that is simple, it is vivid, and has the recognition, it all comes from its connotation ... To put it simply, it's like a siza building.

This is stone.

1*4*9

A joke, actually I didn't design.

Because it's impossible to sketch out a molded design, as the building needs the base, the design needs is to generate its environment, the more specific the better, like some buildings as long as the base selected it has been formed, if a product generation environment can be grasped, then this design can be stereotyped, That's the outline of Shenze straight. So what is the environment, market, manufacturers, competition, software, hardware, price, consumer, consumer's hand, consumer's pocket ... That is, we ride the time machine to the future and see everything that's outside of our product, and then the outline goes back to the present, and that's why the title uses "look for" rather than "build", and in today's ever-changing design, I find the most exciting of all the boundaries we can see now.