Internet product design: Experience playing guessing pattern design

Looking back, will see history, when we feel more than 10 years of memory, we will have a deeper understanding of history. It may not take 10 years, we just go back to look at the products 3-4 years ago, it is enough to let us experience the vicissitudes.

For example, the mobile phone, its history is more than 20 years, and constantly upgrading people to catch up with panting. Just a few years ago, industrial design majors were keen to draw mobile phones, innovative institutions or new ways of using them, but now the atmosphere has changed. Especially after the iPhone, found that there is no place to put the design space, because the original creative ability to play the place are large screen to cover, no keyboard, no flip ... It seems to do is to make a simple thin box, put a display screen, and then the creative things to software designers or interface designers can, no longer to draw a smooth curve, weaving moving surface, depicting exquisite details ... Are we sad?

Of course not, because we are also changing, unless the understanding of industrial design is limited to "drawing smooth curves, weaving moving surfaces, depicting exquisite details ...", these are not stylist to the literal meaning of "modelling".

Wait, isn't it? We do is nothing but the demand, technology, desire, such as curing, generally this curing in the form of "give" the way to reflect, and the design of the pursuit of unique natural attributes, then Style is natural, so the designer is Form giver is also stylist, we often see the saying is " Designers are not just form giver/stylist "design is not just styling", this emphasis on the default design and modelling of the original relationship, but sometimes this kind of emphasis on the design and shape of the relationship between the suspicion or even deliberately detached.

We look back at the previous products, and they constantly change, from one style to another, from one style to another. If we pick up a product from the past and find out how outdated its style is, though some will stir up nostalgia, that's the meaning of the style pursuit, because people's pursuit of beauty is a process, not a choice to stay on a plane. For our analysis of the evolution of the Apple curve, the comparison of the Unibody-style MacBook Pro and ibook G3 is also needed to draw the "history" reference.

Sometimes we are fascinated by the traceability of this style, for example, the side of a product, its shape is how to form, compared to functional traceability, it seems so confusing, and even a detail-such as the computer power switch on the blue LED ring, it has accidental factors such as the expression of designers, There is a historical such as the impression of a wave or the impression of a successful product, all these floating things form a chaotic atmosphere, drifting away in people's lives.

We may as well from the side of the things-the mouse to talk about.

Their earliest designs, IDEO's Web site, were designed for Apple in 1980, and the first mouse to go to the mass user. It was not IDEO at the time, but one of the merged companies, Hovey-kelley Design (Dean Hovey and David Kelley), and the mouse shown above is not the final trend toward the market, but one of the plans in the design process. About the birth process of this mouse, recommended reading Stanford Magazine 2002 years of a detailed introduction of the article "Mighty Mouse", from this article can also understand the original industrial design of the ecology, as well as the rapid prototype "rapid prototyping "The origins of the means of design.

This design project for the future development of the mouse set a lot of keynote, such as "rib cage" (buckle structure), because of plastic parts have a very small functional characteristics of the shape, and at that time it is difficult to find to produce this part of the manufacturers, so this mouse also promoted the development of plastic mold design

From this mouse design above, we can also see the design style, which is the step surface (in order to echo the Lisa keyboard and not appear on the final product), and the design of the steps like this one will be seen in many future products, including the products around us now, It's not a functional requirement, perhaps because the designer's pursuit of a unique internal drive, or the pursuit of a name driven (because there is no other commercial mouse), or the designer is affected by other products (such as the last time I saw such a shape feel very fresh) ... It's hard to know what the reason is, but our designs are always surrounded by this pursuit, and we call these styles "tricks."

For future mouse development has a huge impact on not only this mouse, there is another Apple mouse.

ADB Mouse ii,apple The new mouse, launched in 1993, was a big change from the previous mouse, which looked like a piece of wood, square and soap box, and this adb Mouse II was rounded, with a curved surface that brought affinity. In the future, we will see the popular mouse is almost like this.

The interesting question is, why is there such a big change? We may wish to look at other products of the same period.

Nokia 90 's early products, we seem to have also found that the product began to mellow, like the Nokia 1011 that period of the popular machine, in the mic receiver part of the prominent arc surface, this place "pattern" design also spread very wide. The image section above is taken from a large picture, the Nokia product history line.

Volkswagen Golf, preceded by Golf Mk2 (1985-1992), followed by Mk3 (1992-1998), was also rounded during this period. You can go on to look at other brands of cars, can be found in the past few years to replace, and the style has changed a lot, a significant feature is mellow, more curved surface.

Can be extended to other products, such as Japan's electronic products, in the early 90 's in the shape of the changes have occurred.

What prompted this change, I think a lot of people will subconsciously think of a few things: CNC, CAD/CAM, PC ... In Heinrich Arnold's the recent history of the machine tool industry and the effects of technological change (link) we can see it in there. At the beginning of the 1990, CNC ushered in the third wave of climax, as CNC began to transfer to the PC platform. NC Machine Tools started in the 1950 's, but also by the impact of the Second World War (including countless other scientific and technological innovation), the first National Medal of Technology Innovation in the United States winners have our familiar Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, because they developed a personal computer (PC), It also includes people who are not known to the public, including the founder of CNC machines, known as John T. Parsons, the father of the Second Industrial Revolution. In the 90 's, CAD/CAM software began to expand, NURBs in 1989 appeared in the SG Workstation, all of which made the design and manufacturing changes, especially for the mass products.

About CAD/CAM software development You can read the Engineering design revolution of David E. Weisberg, you can download this book for free. At the beginning of the book, said: The CAD industry is a "cowboy culture" cowboy culture, the Cowboys continue to battle the battlefield, never retire, and will not write their memoirs, with the current popular words is "elder brother Lakes Don't write books, elder brother does not have the legend on the lake." Back to the above about Apple mouse Stanford Magazine that article, also said that those who do not seek fame designers and engineers, such a story will give us some incentive, perhaps more down-to-earth, perhaps more love their own career, Think of each of our products around the back of those unknown forward, as we say "pattern", perhaps a designer to influence the spread of another designer so open.

Those "tricks."

"Pattern" (style) can be very vague such as style, can also be very specific, such as the details of the design, as indicated above. Nexus one's Unibody design belt, the Nokia N97 logo nameplate, the Intel Reader button, these designs can be say and "inevitability" (inevitable) far away, Nexus the main purpose of the Unibody is To achieve a unique appearance. These "patterns" are sometimes a potential bright spot for a product, perhaps a little flattering or superficial, but it does attract people, and almost all of the products around us can find such a design.

These "pattern" designs have been accompanied by designers because they are subject to your understanding and preference for products. The first time to realize the "pattern" of the wonderful, will feel the design further, when the beginning of the aversion to such "pattern", will feel further, when the "pattern" and began a new understanding, or further, so constantly forward.

Frog design, designed for Wega TV and Apple IIc, in a series of designs for Apple, established the "white" design language, and another point, is a detailed description of the heat dissipation hole. Hartmut Esslinger has brought some modernist-style design languages, and in the early stages of Frog design, including the design of the product in that era, it is obvious that the basic type adds a very rational form of layout. And when we start to understand design, always start from the theme of decoration, but also know that design is not just decoration, so the heat sink is the most direct starting point.

IDEO 1998 years of a design, buttons and display between the concave, is estimated to be the button and display to match, such a "pattern" is also in many with display products can be seen, many have developed into simple decoration. The same is very extensive is a number of key-panel design, the key around the details of the design, such as two functions to match with two fused to the circle up, and so on, many are using some not strong function indicative for their own "design is decoration" for the relief.

Such "patterns" are everywhere, and constantly interact with each other, such as the impact of some award-winning design on students, the above from the idea of random selection, a lot of "pattern" of the design we have been very familiar with, the most influential I think is to continue to see the collection as a learning person.

Pictured above, everyone knows that Carl Liu's hand-painted, when Carl Liu's hand-painted began to become popular in the Internet, not only can see the style of hand-painted, and even the design is similar, such as the player is a lot of the above picture. In the process of hand-painting, unconscious behavior takes on a large proportion, like the customary action of the hand, these unconscious "design" finally through the "pattern" revealed.

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"Patterns" in our products around the ubiquitous, to experience playing guessing these nameless design is a very interesting thing.