Designit Briefing no.6 Product Design Evolve or Die

Product Design

Briefing

EVOLVE OR DIE

User expectations are sky high when it comes to tomorrow's products.

Product Design Issue

#6

INTERACTION EVERYWHERE // GO GREEN OR GET LEFT BEHIND // AHEAD OF THE CURVE // MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE // PICKS OF THE SEASON // AND MORE...

Content

Claus Jepsen, Partner & Product Design Director, Designit Denmark

Product Design This is the core, to most of us working with design and innovation. This is the discipline from which so many others have sprung: The relentless struggle to design desirable, problem-solving, differentiating products. That ambition is also at the heart of Designit’s foundation, yet when we stop to contemplate how this classic discipline has evolved even during the 20 years of Designit’s existence, we are overwhelmed.

This evolution, as we demonstrate on the following pages, is driven by several trends, prominent among them huge advances in technology enabling designers to reach new heights within the realms of functionality, user experience and aestheticism. New tech simply enables us to design products that do great things for their users in very accessible ways, looking great all the while.

Tech isn’t the only driver either. The search for sustainability is also redefining product design.

For manufacturers, it’s no longer a question of whether to focus on sustainability or not; the question is what sustainable initiatives to engage in. You must look for the most impact, the most bang for the buck and for the projects that are most relevant and most consistent with your brand. In this issue of Briefing we provide you with inspiration to make those difficult choices.

Expectations are up, true, and yes, competition is intense. But if we just once in a while manage to focus on the fact that it’s actually a privilege to be able to influence the world around us through those enriching, problem-solving objects of desire, we are better at keeping our minds open to the immense potential emerging out of the changes outlined above.

Enjoy!

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Interaction everywhere Product design and user experience are coming together to create even better products

Intuition vs. feeling like an idiot Contemporary interaction is about getting the dialogue right

Ahead of the curve Safety might come first but independence is a not very distant second

Navigating your way through a competitive market Becker chose to stand out

How to reinvent a blockbuster It’s an inspiring challenge to reinvent Novo Nordisk’s all-time bestseller

Go green or get left behind Sustainability is becoming an embedded dimension in product design

A wide-open playing field How to visualise a dramatically different future

Above and beyond the product Product identity strategy addresses the cohesion between brand and product

More than meets the eye Color, material, finish - if you’re looking to pack some punch

Harnessing solar energy through co-creation A whole range of new products for General Solar Systems

A Scandinavian television People of Lava – no compromises

Picks of the season Recent work that’s not about product design

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Product design // Interaction everywhere

addressing the needs and desires of the user as precisely and ambitiously as possible and right now, because of these changes within technology and within usability, huge advances are being made," says Claus Jepsen, Director and Partner at Designit Denmark.

product. Expectations that are based on what technology now enables us to accomplish – and that's a lot! – And expectations that must be met or, preferably, surpassed by the products we come up with,” says Claus Jepsen.

Great expectations

Interaction everywhere

The intention of reaping this business potential is also what’s behind changes in design processes. It’s the reason why product development must have design integrated throughout and it’s the reason why isolated departments handling for instance software and mechanical development should rightly be a thing of the past.

“The user’s experience of the product is defined by all of these different aspects of how that product comes into existence, which is why it's essential that the work on each aspect is shared and commented on by people elsewhere in the development process. If you get that right – or if you work with a partner possessing those necessary skills and insight enough to get them to work openly together – you can reap that business potential. At the core of this is a user with great expectations for a new

It’s not about aesthetics or what’s cool and not cool, it’s about addressing the needs and desires of the user as precisely and ambitiously as possible and right now.

Expectations are up. Users want wonderful products, which they intuitively understand how to use.

Product design and user experience are coming together to provide just that.

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e tend in general to pay little attention to most of the products surrounding us in our daily lives.

To not notice how they change, with the passing of time, because of advances within technology and ever more sophisticated insights about our preferences as users.

Products do change; however, if we need proof of this we can just go back a decade or two and we'll discover that products, which we adored because of what they enabled us to do, now seem almost hostile to us in their inaccessibility. And yet the most significant recent change within product design is not about the product itself but about how users interact with the product. User interaction is taking centre stage at this very moment, in part because technological advances are making new things possible and in part because there's a continuously increasing demand for products that are easy, even intuitive, to use.

According to Bernd Eigenstetter, Partner at Designit Munich, these developments are the reasons behind a strong current within the design community: Product design and user experience, two hitherto independent areas of expertise, are moving closer to each other, almost merging.

“Conventional product design, focused strongly on the form of the product, is actually decreasing in importance, while CMF (colour, material, finish) is becoming more important. Everything related to patterns, colours, touch and feel defines how the user experiences and interacts with the product, so user experience is more and more essential to product design,” says Bernd Eigenstetter.

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Better experiences Displays and touch screens are all the rage. Surfaces are more and more used as a means of communicating and interacting with the user, while the design of the 3 millimetres around the screens is less important.

Products that until recently you wouldn’t have imagined communicating with, now send you messages and receive messages from you in return. That goes for instance for your refrigerator, your car or the heating system in your home. And it is often the case that your smartphone is the device you use to control all those products.

“Smartphones are a part of a vast majority of these recent developments and we’ve only seen the beginning.

The advances within technology and usability is significantly changing how we interact with products,” says Bernd Eigenstetter.

Basically these developments occur because they lead to better products and better experiences for users.

Once something is technologically possible a demand for it occurs and each innovation inspires yet further advances. Paradoxically this can challenge advances within usability, and new products always emerge in that tension field. That’s why there are strong reasons for understanding where product interaction is going, not least a huge business potential.

“This is the best way to build a strong and close relation between product and user. It’s not about aesthetics or what’s cool and not cool, it’s about

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Product design // Intuition vs. feeling like an idiot

There's a strong pressure, led by consumer electronics, towards that stage where product interaction is based on your intuition.

INTUITION VS. FEELING LIKE AN IDIOT Simple and easy to use on the surface and immensely power­ful and complicated below.

Interaction design is taking consumer electronics to new levels, thus putting pressure on other industries.

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oday’s successful consumer electronics design empowers people. It enables them to experience how they can take charge of a product, control it and use it to their utmost advantage without the frustration of spending lots of unproductive time or feeling, frankly, like idiots. Products with technologically advanced components – and that's an ever-increasing share of products – are able to do things that seemed genuinely sci-fi in the not too distant past. But while it used to be cool to demonstrate, as visibly as possible, a product’s technological intricacies (remember the many audio controls and settings on your 1980’s stereo?), today, users are looking for simplicity, despite the fact that products can do so much more.

“If you look at what products can do, they are extremely complicated today. There are so many functionalities stored within a product that may look simple on the surface, like for instance an iPhone. Such products are setting very high standards today and thus raising expectations of the experience,” says Damion Bailey, Senior Interaction Designer at Designit Denmark.

Many products fail this test, however. They're overcomplicated in their attempts to engage the user.

According to Damion Bailey, manufacturers should be

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looking to go a bit deeper than user-friendly. Because of the new standards set by the most successful products within consumer electronics, the goal is for the user to interact with the product based on an intuitive understanding of purpose and utility.

“Interaction doesn’t start with the physical contact, it starts with semiotics and with establishing a dialogue about what to expect and what to do next. This is a very promising area when it comes to building long term product value,” says Damion Bailey.

A mental transformation Focusing on how users can interact with the product should be at the top of the agenda not only within consumer electronics but when it comes to developing all products and services. Consumers are becoming more and more sophisticated as users, they have different expectations and the intuitive layer on the product potentially embraces everything.

“There's a strong pressure, led by consumer electronics, towards that stage where product interaction is based on your intuition. This goes for all categories of products but there's still some reluctance because acquiring the

insights you need to accomplish that intuition-based user experience can be both costly and time-consuming. Yet more and more companies come to realise that there's no way around these developments and the earlier you make that mental transformation towards focusing on simplifying while at the same time deepening the user experience, the stronger your position in the market will be,” says Damion Bailey.

Understanding the user is key, but understanding the dissonance between their expectations and their actions gets you closer to discovering how you can differentiate your product more clearly in the market. You can move away from one-size-fits-all and towards specifically addressing the needs of your target group.

There are physical components to this transformation such as for instance moving from touch screens to haptic surfaces, thus enabling a more fluid interaction with a product without the need for visual orientation. But the change is more fundamental. It’s about looking at the entire eco-system of services associated with a product and developing ways for the user to interact with this ecosystem as seamlessly as possible.

The geeky layer This is not about being elitist and complicated so that only super users will benefit from what your product can actually do, but about daring to take away what is irrelevant and expand and develop what is most valuable for the users and their experience.

“There are still differences between for instance professional and consumer products, different needs and different scenarios for use. These we can address once we’ve gotten rid of the unnecessarily complicated ways to interact with the product. It used to be that it was fascinating if a product was complicated to use. So that it was only the tech-savvy who took full advantage of the product’s potential. But the thing is that electronic products will always have that geeky layer. Very tech-savvy people are using even the user-friendliest products in ways they weren’t designed to be used. You don’t lose that but you welcome far more users into your product’s sphere and you give them the frame for an engaging experience, which makes them more likely to return. You can’t really argue against that from a business perspective, which is why this trend is gaining momentum,” says Damion Bailey.

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Product design // Ahead of the curve

Ahead of the curve The automotive industry is a valuable source of inspiration when it comes to product design. Here you either get the balance between innovation and tradition right or you don’t get anything.

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afety is a strong incentive when it comes to cars.

Each little change that enables you, the driver, to keep your eyes firmly fixed on the road for a fragment of a second more, is a change with a very interesting commercial potential. If that change also makes driving a more rewarding experience, increasing the proverbial Fahrvergnügen, much is accomplished. It seems that so many advances in technology are coming together to improve the driving experience, which is why we're witnessing many interesting experiments right now.

Gesture control is likely to change how we drive in the very near future and that's just one thing.

“We look for instance at experiments with side windows functioning as transparent displays being connected to the internet and providing all kinds of content, like information about the landscape you pass while still being see-through. Augmented reality is being integrated into cars, which has a lot of fun potential,” says Bernd Eigenstetter, Partner at Designit Munich.

The driving experience and the fascination, which driving a car holds is a complex matter, however. From a technological point of view it's, for instance, already possible to have the car be driven for you by the car itself.

But there are reasons why such a development might not be in the interest of the car manufacturers.

“If it’s all automatic there's a risk that it'll jeopardise the sense of freedom and independence, which is also an important component of driving, at least for some,” says Bernd Eigenstetter.

Honouring the heritage Traditionally it has been a sound branding decision for automotive brands to remain associated with this feeling of freedom and independence. The metaphor of the open road and our desire to ride it is a strong figure in our common culture and while some in the automotive industry have chosen to focus on safety, driving is still very much about independence. Not to mention issues like insurance, when all of a sudden you're no longer driving the car but rather vice versa.

“The industry is currently searching for ways to benefit from technological developments thus, for instance, improving safety without letting go of the pleasures associated with driving,” says Bernd Eigenstetter.

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When it comes to the visual and aesthetic side of things, the car industry is in a unique position as it provides us with many of our cultural icons. Today, more than ever, companies are looking for ways to stand out and differentiate themselves, while paying homage to their heritage. It’s a tough job of constantly adjusting the balance between innovation and conservatism.

“The aesthetic framework often provides the continuity if you look, for example, at how the logo is closely related to the shaping of the front of the car. Designing a new series of cars is one of the most restricted tasks in design today, yet of course endlessly fascinating,” says Claus Jepsen, Partner and Director of Product Design at Designit Denmark.

One to watch One of the key challenges is how to advertise all the great technology inside the car. If, for instance, certain environmental issues have been addressed, how do you communicate that this is actually a greener car? Or, for that matter, that new features have been installed to improve safety?

“Many of the most significant advances within design today are invisible. So sometimes you simply write on the back of the car what’s inside but there are more sophisticated solutions within CMF (colour, material, finish) that you can apply. This is an area, where things are progressing very rapidly right now,” says Claus Jepsen.

Similar developments are seen within high-end in-car sound systems, where speakers are made to pop up when activated in order to communicate the level of acoustic ambition.

The automotive industry is mature in the sense that a lot of the changes we're witnessing are incremental. Yet new game-changers continue to appear at an amazing frequency. And many of the innovative leaps can serve as inspiration.

“It’s definitely an industry worth following closely.

There's so much money invested in product development and competition is so intense that the big players are incredibly sharp,” says Claus Jepsen.

And the respect for tradition is still strong. No one is going to rid you of your dream of that vintage Mustang Convertible. Just you, your set of wheels and the open road.

Harman Becker: A wide-open playing field The experience of driving is changing. New technology enables us to do far more without jeopardising our safety on the road and when a technological opportunity opens up, a demand occurs. In short, it’s a wide-open playing field for car manufacturers and for companies like Harman Becker, specialized in in-car infotainment.

The challenge when there are so many options consists of choosing the right combination of adequately mature technologies where consumer demand is strong. But how do we figure out what to choose? In Harman Becker’s case, Designit designed and built - based on Harman Becker's

content - a technology demonstrator to aid the process by demonstrating new opportunities within ergonomics, in-car interaction and how interface devices can be integrated. In short, to visualise a remarkably different future.

The final prototype of the demonstrator was shown for the first time at The Frankfurt Motor Show in the fall and will tour motor shows all over the world as well as visit offices of Harman Becker’s clients.

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The new navigation device from Becker is clearly defined to promote the less playful more high tech expression.

CASE #2

How to reinvent a blockbuster

CASE #1

Product design // Navigating your way through a competitive market

HOW TO REINVENT A BLOCKBUSTER

NAVIGATING YOUR WAY THROUGH A COMPETITIVE MARKET The market for navigation devices is expanding rapidly.

International provider of navigation systems, Becker, decided to stand out from the crowd.

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hen Designit began the work on a new range of navigation devices for Becker, the designers first went to the stores. In the words of Product Designer Benjamin Turck from Designit Munich, the market for navigation devices is “vivid” at this point.

There are many competitors out there and the pace of development is swift.

“We went searching for the ideal way to position Becker in a market that's changing and growing as far more people purchase these devices. We needed to figure out what our visual USP (unique selling proposition) could be,” says Benjamin Turck.

Based on the insights acquired at shop-level, the designers went back and started sketching. They came up with four concepts, some of which more closely resembled the competition and some which significantly stood out.

Luckily, Becker fully agreed to a distinct look.

“We shared a desire for clearly recognisable, distinct devices. Once that was established, we got down to the business of translating our decision into a strong and consistent visual message,” says Benjamin Turck.

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Less play, more hi tech There’s a lot more to designing a navigation device than the look and feel. And when you have to design for different sizes, scalability becomes an issue as well. And it’s an issue, which you either remember to deal with from the very beginning of the design process or live to regret that you didn’t.

“We’ve worked with Becker on a similar project before, so we were aware that scalability would be a concern. So for each design element we wanted to make sure that it would work in different sizes,” says Benjamin Turck.

Now the devices are completed, the 5” version is in the stores already and more versions will soon be available, both in high and low end editions. But what, in the words of the designer, came out of that initial visit to the store?

What distinct visual USP was the result?

“Our design is more masculine, more straight, more honest and more precise. It's less round and soft, less playful and more high tech. It has no fading edges, it is clearly defined. It corresponds well with what you would expect from a German manufacturer who’s quite ambitious when it comes to quality”, says Benjamin Turck.

FlexTouch® is the successor to Novo Nordisk’s most successful product to date, the prefilled insulin pen, FlexPen®. It’s been 15 years since Novo Nordisk and Designit collaborated to create the FlexPen®, one billion of which have improved the lives of those living with diabetes.

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ovo Nordisk’s FlexTouch® is the world’s first prefilled insulin pen with a unique spring-loaded mechanism. It’s a reinvention of the FlexPen®, which was designed in a collaboration between Designit and Novo Nordisk in 1995. Ever since the launch of the FlexPen®, Novo Nordisk’s most successful product launch to date, Designit has worked closely with Novo Nordisk across a range of design disciplines such as product design, packaging, marketing, instructional design, interface design and interactive design.

Senior Product Designer Emil Wegger Jensen was one of the key people on the team working with FlexTouch®. It was a great and inspiring challenge to take on, he says.

“Since it was launched, the FlexPen® had broken records in sales and given Novo Nordisk their most popular product ever. How could we top that? Our starting point was technological in the sense that Novo Nordisk had developed many new technological opportunities and we wanted to take advantage of those. Also, over the years Novo Nordisk had received lots of feedback and input from users and we took that body of insight and tried to transform it into the ultimate injection device,” Emil Wegger Jensen says.

The result is focused both on convenience and precision. The pen’s spring-loaded mechanism ensures that no matter how high the dose required, the push-button does not extend and only a minimum of pressure is needed to deliver the dose.

“With this technology, integrated into a user-friendly design, I believe that we have brought the FlexPen® into the 21st century. The FlexTouch® is much more than a worthy successor, it's really pushing the limits of what’s possible,” says Emil Wegger Jensen.

And the winner is…

Flextouch® has received numerous awards, among them the Good Design Award from Japan Institute of Design Promotion and The Chicago Athenaeum, Good Design Award, commonly known as “the Oscars” of industrial design.

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Product design // Go green or get left behind

Urban mining isn't mining ...

It's recovery and processing of used materials, i.e. turning waste into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling) by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions as compared to virgin production. Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" waste hierarchy.

GO GREEN OR GET LEFT BEHIND

Across industries new initiatives focused on sustainability are emerging at breathtaking speed. Here are some trends for inspiration.

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he term paradigm change shouldn’t be used lightly but when it comes to sustainability there's really no way around it. The issue of sustainability today permeates all aspects of product design and product development and for manufacturers the challenge consists in choosing the right green profile, the right mix of sustainable initiatives rather than deciding whether to address sustainability at all.

We have no intention of appearing unnecessarily idealistic in this realm. We do recognise that enormous amounts of products continue to be developed, produced, bought, used and thrown away, in many cases to the detriment of our planet. But in all areas we witness the emergence of a sustainable agenda to such an extent and with such strength that any ambitious and innovative new initiative within product design must have sustainability as a core component. The challenge consists of figuring out how specifically to turn truly green.

“Sustainability and eco-efficiency is no longer an added, but rather an embedded dimension in product design,” says Mikal Hallstrup, Designit Partner & Chief

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Visionary Officer. “Right now we can see that the economic incentives are becoming aligned for ordinary consumers as well, which will have a strong impact on sustainability and get it out of the more narrow, progressive circles,” he says.

One key aspect of this change has to do with waste and waste handling. From a historical perspective waste might be a parenthesis in human history. It’s quite a novelty and with new trends within areas like urban mining, upcycling and repurposing, innovation is working hard to put an end to waste as we have known it since the emergence of mass production and mass consumption.

“From trash to cash is a strong trend,” says Mikal Hallstrup, pointing to initiatives like terracycle.net, (called the eBay of waste by some), which has now existed for a decade with 20 million people in 20 countries participating and collecting waste, which is turned into usable raw materials or even new products.

Do I really need to own this?

As consumers change their mindsets and profess to a more sustainable lifestyle, this opens up for new categories of products but it also opens up for new patterns in how existing products are used and – increasingly – shared. The fundamental concept of ownership is up for discussion, with more and more consumers questioning whether actual ownership is the right model for them. New initiatives in this area range from a neighborhood sharing a tool shed to Zipcar, the world’s largest car sharing initiative, which is now from its base in the US spreading through Europe, enabling people to use a car only when they need one. Even carmakers feel the shift and increasingly understand the difference between selling cars and providing mobility services. In several major cities new minute based, personal and flexible car rental services pop up. It works like owning your own car, minus the hassle and expense.

DriveNow, a venture partnership between Sixt and BMW, has been launched successfully along with Daimler's Car2Go and Audi's ZebraMobile. Owning a car makes less

sense to the next generation of consumers than rather buying mobility when they need it. Locate a car with your smartphone, jump in and off you go.

“Economic incentives are powerful and when the economic gains are easy to see, the impact is significant.

This is true also for consumption, which is demonstrated for instance by the use of smart power metering in households,” says Sofie Holstein, Design Manager at Designit Copenhagen.

This diversity of initiatives means that there's a lot to choose from for manufacturers. Perhaps a specific product is tremendously difficult to improve in terms of the materials being used. Then why not look into whether it might be possible to develop a new model of ownership or new ways of extending the product’s durability.

“Durability in products is actually one of the strongest methods to improve their sustainability. Once you hold on to something for a long time it has a tremendous impact on that product’s environmental footprint, and this is something you can address strategically and from a business perspective,” says Sofie Holstein.

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Product design // Go green or get left behind

How to show it

One key challenge from a product design perspective remains, however: How to communicate to users that your product really is sustainable.

Built to last The emerging pattern is one where some products are only used briefly by the consumer but are then recycled or upcycled and turned into other products. This value cycle thinking is gaining prominence in many areas, and giants like Nike have in recent years attempted to establish such cycles that keep materials in the loop, for instance recycling the rubber used in running shoes. At the same time other products are bought and kept for many years as they are designed and developed with durability in mind, the materials chosen to age well, and the design language timeless. There's great value in the emotional bond, which you'll form with a product when you own it for a long time and such a bond is a strong foundation for a good relationship with your users. Products like wristwatches are typical examples of this but ideally the thinking would extend to many other categories. Like watch maker Patek Philippe puts it: You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation. No wonder with that kind of price tag, but when it comes to endangered product categories, this seems to be an efficient survival strategy. If ownership has a future, it's about long-term ownership.

And then there's the other kind of products.

“When new products emerge all the time, for instance in consumer electronics like TV’s, it might make more sense not to own your television but to lease it until the next model is available. It's a mess to buy and trash all the time. You would rather want the service, not the product.

What if the older model was just taken away and recycled to return in a different form with new components. If the design language is durable too you might even want your service provider to upgrade it and bring it back when done. The same actually might be true for a wide variety of product categories in the future such as building components like heating elements, roof windows or kitchen appliances. From a customer relationship point of view this holds some interesting potential for developing new and more meaningful customer relations, originally initiated by a wish for better product sustainability,” says Mikal Hallstrup.

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Corresponding with these developments there's a strong desire for having fewer products. Consumers like to simplify and to limit their number of devices, which is why intelligence and simple multifunctionality in devices is highly sought-after. Look to mobile phone manufacturers. Those with thousands of handsets that can only make calls are dying out. Smartphone manufacturers, on the contrary, have fewer models but with a lot of services and functionality riding on the back of them. Apple is one extreme, creating massive business value with a single device, the iPhone. The car navigation industry learned this lesson the hard way. Rather than buying separate navigation devices for your car for instance, you might want your navigation as an app for your smartphone or tablet. Dematerialising is another way of limiting your environmental impact and at the same time rethink your profitability in the digital age. One key challenge from a product design perspective remains, however: How to communicate to users that your product really is sustainable. After all, they don’t want a TV made out of recycled cardboard, or at least not one that looks like an environmental showpiece. This strategy has been the one of choice for decades, when manufacturers wanted to communicate that a product was sustainable, but luckily new methods are emerging.

“We see some examples of sustainable features, which might not have a big impact in themselves but serve as a means of communicating that a product is sustainable. Like a TV that switches off automatically when no one is watching it. Through a strategic use of CMF (colour, material, finish, see article on page 18) you can also communicate sustainability in more subtle and sophisticated ways,” says Sofie Holstein.

Extending products digitally In many areas the shift towards digital means that physical products simply disappear. That'll be the case, for instance, for physical tickets and the machines you purchase those tickets from in the near future. Or bike share systems in cities – those without a digital extension, i.e. an app become useless. Or remote controls: Who would have guessed that Bang & Olufsen’s genuine remote controls would turn into apps? This means that more attention needs to be devoted to the physical products, which do stay with us and become parts of our lives longterm. Product makers need to rethink the way they design them and the sustainability approach again goes hand in hand with upgrading them for the digital age. When people would rather not own certain products, what they decide they really do want to own is more likely to mean something to them. When that’s the case it makes sense from a business perspective to invest in superdeveloping those products, so that they correspond well with both the sustainability and digital needs of the users in order to stay relevant. And to develop services around those products, to package, so to speak, the core product with additional services to increase relevance, usability and durability. And when finally that product no longer delivers user value, it will end up as part of completely new products through an elaborate process, which in itself is a sound business. Sure, there are obstacles to face before that brave new sustainable world is here but the incentives are aligned and literally thousands of new initiatives are indicating that this is the direction in which the world is going. Which is a good thing.

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Product design // Above and beyond the product

Since 2007 Designit has designed more than 30 headphones for high-end acoustics manufacturer AKG

ABOVE AND BEYOND THE PRODUCT Strong design values can reach across product categories to secure the right consistency between products and the brand behind them.

Product identity strategy is the means to get it right.

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ehind every product lies a brand. The two are dependent on each other for survival and to thrive commercially but more often than not it’s a struggle for companies to establish the right relation between them. How to express the brand through the product and what kind of design consistency to strive for are tough strategic decisions.

The area of expertise that we're talking about here is called product identity strategy and has undergone remarkable changes over the last decade and a half. Claus Jepsen, Partner and Director of Product Design at Designit Denmark, has monitored those changes closely. He thinks, the understanding among companies of the importance of product identity strategy has increased significantly.

“The correspondence between the product portfolio and the brand behind it is more and more often subject to critical scrutiny. Ambitious companies are doing to their products what they used to do with their corporate logos.

They are updating and constantly developing the brand aesthetics. The competition for attention is intense and companies are eager to make sure their products don’t fall behind when it comes to appearance and support of the brand,” he says.

Escaping office politics For many companies this is a smart strategy to pursue.

When products are clearly linked with the brand behind them it’s an opportunity to increase brand awareness. The products become the physical manifestation of the brand and the impact of this is far more than you can achieve through the logo itself. Developing strong brand awareness is of course most important during times of change.

“One challenge, which a company might be facing, is a merger or an acquisition leaving the company with an entirely new portfolio of products often completely unrelated to the brand, which is now behind them. The first task when facing such a challenge would be to identify the design values and translate those values into defining principles for a new design,” says Claus Jepsen.

Many conventional manufacturers are organised around projects to develop new products. In some industries those projects might go on for years before they result in a new product, however. And it’s unlikely that the new products will be ready for the market at the same time.

Such companies are looking for ways to establish a strong consistency across time and across the different project groups. The right way to solve this problem is to identify strong and clear design values and then translate those values into the actual design.

“Such projects, because they are huge and costly, are often subject to what we can call office politics, with many parties eager to influence the product’s final appearance.

Strong and consistent design values prevent a lot of this, because you can always refer back to those commonly accepted values,” says Claus Jepsen.

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A curve with a certain bend Whenever companies attempt to establish a presence in a new product category the need for a consistent product identity strategy is urgent. If a manufacturer of television sets decides to develop and market an entirely different product, like a cell phone, it is extremely difficult to translate the various design elements into the new product if you don’t have a general expression of the design values.

Such a general expression could address issues like how curves in the products are always designed with a certain bend. They should never be product specific and always above product categories.

“There's a lot of talk about signature elements but they can be very difficult to transfer from a TV to a cell phone, simply because of the differences in for instance size and type of surface. That’s why it is necessary to be able to refer back to the general expression of your brand through a set of design values. On the other hand, when those values are in place, you will discover that your brand is quite agile and flexible,” says Claus Jepsen.

Each response to this challenge will be specific to the company, depending on what kind of company it is, how broad its portfolio is and what industry it's in. Some companies will choose to have strong, independent brands for their product lines. That’s often the case when the product depends on a shared identity among its users, like a subculture for instance. The majority of products will, however, benefit from some brand consistency, even as they appeal to radically different target audiences.

The products become the physical manifestation of the brand and the impact of this is far more than you can achieve through the logo itself.

“If a father, who's shopping for his daughter’s first cell phone, is happy with his own phone, he's more likely to purchase a phone from the same manufacturer, while recognising that the phone’s aesthetic will be very different if it’s aimed at young girls. Brand awareness is beneficial across different audiences. The answers will be different for each company. The only common denominator is that the question can’t be ignored,” says Claus Jepsen.

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Product design // More than meets the eye

Colour, Material, Finish, or CMF, is an often overlooked element when it comes to communicating with your customers.

An area in rapid development, CMF holds the power to tell the right story about your product.

A

surface is so much more than just that. More and more often, the surface of a product, for instance, provides you with important information about what lies beneath it. And it does so in still more intelligent ways. Surfaces are the domain of CMF experts and while in many product categories there's less and less to work with from a conventional product design perspective, CMF (colour, material, finish) is an area in rapid development.

Both when it comes to new technologies and to how they're applied. In essence, CMF is a set of power tools for the designer, and their power as well as their strategic significance is increasing by the hour, explains Sofie Holstein, Design Manager at Designit Denmark.

“CMF enables you to strongly communicate the values you have chosen for your product. For instance, before the economic crisis, a colour like piano black combined with a flashy, technical appearance was popular because it communicated affluence and luxury. After the crisis has hit, an entirely new story needs to be told through the choice of a more matt black, signalling durability and thus sustainability and quality for quality’s sake.”

Staying power Colours are just one tiny corner of CMF and new tools are emerging all the time. One area where things are changing fast is biomimetics, imitating the abilities known from biological materials, sometimes even using materials like proteins to create, in essence, living surfaces. Such developments constitute big steps in the direction of truly intelligent products and surfaces able to interact with their context.

“Users will come to expect that all surfaces will provide them with information. The backsides of products, which

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are not used for anything today, will be vibrant and a means of communication in their own right,” says Sofie Holstein.

All of this is but small indications of the larger, more fundamental consequences of CMF’s potential.

Applied strategically and from the early stages of product development, CMF can have a huge impact on a product’s sustainability and its ability to appeal to several different target audiences without running up costs, both financially and environmentally.

“CMF is essential when it comes to communicating relevance for specific user groups. As such it's a very valuable means to secure a product’s broad appeal and its staying power,” Sofie Holstein says.

The sound of your nail clicking on the product, whether it is warm or cold to your touch, whether it feels heavy and significant in your hand, these are all questions that you use CMF to find the right answers to in order for your product to have a consistent and strong appeal to your chosen target group. And contrary to what used to be a common understanding, these characteristics are difficult to fake.

“If you want your product to appear durable and long-lasting, it’s no good to use a cheap plastic coating, which is easily scratched and appears scruffy within weeks after the purchase. Coatings are inferior to using the actual material, like for instance aluminium, from a sustainability perspective, and in general it's a strong trend to have as few and as genuine materials as possible - but of course the initial costs are lower.

The key thing – and the best advice – is to work consciously, even strategically, with CMF from the very outset. It’s simply too important, the potential too vast, to neglect in any part of the development process.

We'll encourage manufacturers to choose materials that age well and use durable surfaces, because we genuinely believe that your chances of developing a strong relationship with the user are better when that's the case.

At least these are questions that the manufacturer must spend some time addressing, Sofie Holstein says.

Not just a surface Designit maintains an extensive library of materials, which is constantly updated and expanded. There's also a constant stream of new information and research to consider in order to provide clients with the best possible advice on CMF. The key thing – and the best advice – is to work consciously, even strategically, with CMF from the very outset. It’s simply too important, the potential too vast, to neglect in any part of the development process.

“The surface really isn’t just the surface. The surface is the first impression – and you never get a second chance to make a first impression – but the surface continues to be what meets the user and should constantly serve to confirm that the decision to purchase that specific product was a good one. There's more to the surface, paradoxically, than meets the eye, and considering the way this field is developing, actually a lot more,” says Sofie Holstein.

Made by Designit: Libratone speaker that redefines the audio experience all together.

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

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A Scandinavian television // Subscribe to Thinkaboutit on designit.com

Technical limitations The process began with interviews with installers of solar panels in order to acquire a deeper understanding of their needs and of new opportunities. These insights were brought into the workshops with General Solar Systems’ engineers to constitute a common starting ground. All

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CASE #4

P

rare choi ce o f

mat eria ls.

eople of Lava are no ordinary manufacturers of television sets. They are very strongly committed to developing a TV experience that's extraordinary, both when it comes to design, technology and convenience. When People of Lava entered this market it was already obvious that it would be tremendously difficult to stand out. Many of the components of modern television sets are generic and while People of Lava are actually the globally leading manufacturer of motorised mounts, and while Scandinavia comes with full Internet connectivity, those features in themselves would not differentiate Scandinavia as much as the ambitious Swedes would like.

“Which is why we began focusing on the opportunity to stand out through choices in CMF (colour, material, finish),” says Bernd Eigenstetter, Partner at Designit Munich.

“We found a material, HI-MACS®, which consists partly of natural components, such as stone, and which would enable us to fulfil our ambitions about the appearance and style of this TV, reflecting the level of ambition with which it’s been constructed by People of Lava,” he says.

this information was then coupled with all the technical specifications and requirements.

“It was mutually beneficial. The engineers brought their sets of data and we had ours. And any cultural obstacles were easily overcome as we dug into the challenge. It was new for General Solar Systems to work with a design company through such a large part of the development process but at this point I think everyone agrees that it has been a valuable experience,” says Jens Röper.

The cooperation between General Solar Systems and Designit continues on various new projects as those first products make their way to the market and of course the ultimate success criteria.

“From a design perspective, this was a challenging process because of the technical limitations and specifications. While challenging it was also stimulating to work so closely with the engineers. We’re happy with the results but we were certainly also happy with the process,” says Jens Röper.

Behind the decision to use HI-MACS®, which is known because it's frequently used in high-end kitchens, lay a substantial amount of research. The key finding was that there was a strong desire among the target audiences for getting rid of cheaper materials in their homes, especially in more recreational areas like living rooms.

“People wanted to get rid of all the plastic that's commonly associated with consumer electronics.

So we needed to find a new material. We looked into concrete. Television sets are bigger now, sometimes almost functioning as room dividers, which is why it would be fun to go for a very architectural look and feel, but concrete is very difficult to handle in mass production.

Thus, HI-MACS® was a great choice,” says Bernd Eigenstetter.

Apparently others agree. Scandinavia was presented to very flattering reviews.

The production process is quite tricky because you have to melt HI-MACS® into a bar with the structure, bend it twice and then glue the top piece on afterwards. But it’s worth the hassle.

Scandinavia looks great in its own way, stylishly reflecting the quality of the service it provides.

to s tand

The architectural look

Lav a ch oose

I

t used to be that designers were called upon towards the end of a product development process. They were asked to deliver some pretty making, to wrap the product up nicely, while engineers did all the complicated stuff inside. When General Solar Systems decided they needed a design partner to help design and develop a new range of products, they wanted something else.

General Solar Systems is part of SolarCAP, a group of companies dedicated to developing and manufacturing solar thermal energy systems. Their biggest brand is Sonnenkraft and it was a new range of Sonnenkraft products that Designit was chosen to help develop. It was essential to the understanding of the task at hand that this wasn’t about designing a stand-alone product. “ Essentially, General Solar Systems was trying to figure out how the brand should look via the products so to speak, so this was something more than just designing a product.

Actually we ended up designing six different products based on an initial plan of the product launches one full year ahead,” says Jens Röper, Partner at Designit Munich.

It was Designit’s first project for General Solar Systems while it was the first time that the company’s engineers were collaborating so closely with designers through the entire development process.

“It was definitely interesting for both parties when we sat down for the first of a long series of co-creation workshops. There was initially some doubt as to what the benefits from this new approach would be but they soon manifested themselves,” says Jens Röper.

You need something special to stand out in the market of television sets. In People of Lava’s case it’s a frame made of – stone.

Peo ple of

Designit has designed a new range of products for General Solar Systems to be launched this spring.

A SCANDINAVIAN TELEVISION

out thro ugh a

HARNESSING SOLAR ENERGY THROUGH CO-CREATION

A sophisticated solar thermal solution for hot water and room heating was one outcome of the Sonnenkraft & Designit design process

CASE #3

Product design // Harnessing solar energy through co-creation

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Product design // Picks of the season

GLOBAL SERVICE JAM On February 24th designers once again met all over the world to develop new services inspired by a shared theme and then to share them with the world. The theme was Hidden Treasures, and Designit either hosted, participated in or sponsored Jams in Munich, Oslo and Bilbao. The spirit of the Global Service Jam is characterised by experimentation, co-creation and friendly competition, and teams have 48 hours to develop new services. This year more than 90 cities all over the world hosted a jam.

MAKING THE MOST OF MOBILE BANKING Having worked together on their highly praised mobile banking app, it was only natural for Designit and the international Danish bank, Jyske Bank, to collaborate on a tablet banking app. Available for download now, the iPad app takes the mobile banking experience up a notch. A big notch.

The iPad app has some unique features for banking on a tablet with the core goal being the ability to do virtually everything from the tablet thus avoiding the physical visit to the bank. Jyske Bank will be pushing new features as the year goes on, and more developments are in the pipeline.

MARITZA GUADERRAMA SPEAKING AT TEDX EVENT Maritza Guaderrama, Co-founder and CEO of Designit Madrid & Barcelona, was part of the TEDxUSB event in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 10th, talking about uncertainty, innovation and human empowerment. We're currently witnessing a paradigm shift towards more flexible, creative and collaborative ways of working, which requires the hybridisation of knowledge and new ways of teaching focused on listening and experience. Maritza Guaderrama shared her experiences working with these developments.

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MIKAL HALLSTRUP AS NEW JURY CHAIRMAN OF INDEX: Mikal Hallstrup, Co-founding Partner & Chief Visionary Officer at Designit Denmark, has been appointed the new jury chairman of the INDEX:Award bestowed biennially by INDEX: Design to Improve Life®. The award is recognised globally for the effort to promote and apply design and design processes that can improve people’s lives on a global scale. As jury chairman, Mikal must ensure that the 10-man jury makes the best decisions possible in line with the strategy of the INDEX: organisation, and that the best proposals and designs are rightfully recognised.

RETHINKING RTVE A LA CARTA The digital library of the Spanish Radio and Television Corporation (RTVE) contains approximately 40,000 TV programmes and 60,000 radio programmes. It's the largest audiovisual repository in Spanish. The RTVE wanted help in conceptualising and designing a new version of their video and audio on demand service, ‘RTVE A la Carta’, providing people with access to all this material. The project involved three of Designit’s core services: Research, design, and co-creation. The key challenge was to organise and present the material in an accessible manner while appealing to a very diverse group of users gaining access from a number of different devices. We’re proud of the result.

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References Designit is Europe's largest and most international strategic design and innovation house. We have offices in Aarhus, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Curitiba, Gothenburg, London, Madrid, Munich, Oslo, Sao Paulo and Shanghai.

With a client portfolio that includes a number of the world's leading brands, Designit is well equipped to

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