Design Sojourn | Strategic Industrial Design Blog

well the form etc of this notebook hasn’t really been changed, what’s really changed is simply the manufacturing technique. This i’m not sure if they can pick up the idea of eco friendly pdt simply looking at the finished macbook. So i feel it is on one hand to appease critics (the few who actually knows a bit abt recycling) who constantly rant about apple’s eco unfriendliness while at the same time it provides an even less cluttering of unnecessary details to the user. the fact that no one else can do that provides them with a big advantage as well (as no one can copy them, if u noticed sony has been producing some look alikes) and no doubt give it an added edge of high techkiness.

i’m not too sure if the word “story” is a right word to use. it sounds too gimmicky! i prefer the word “function” be it physical or psychological. I’m glad u pick up the book “blink” in ur previous post. (the right) design to me communicates to the sub conscious mind, the trained eyes can spot them but normal consumers simply feel them. Good designers communicate through the use of detailing,form, colours and materials.

and may i add that sony sells those look alikes as pretty entry level stuff. haha brilliant!

Hi otc,

thanks for your comments. I think you are looking at this a little too literally. When I use story here I mean it as communicating the content as you would telling a story. A communication tool perhaps. In other words you build the background, characters, scenarios and then create a design that is a result of this.

So “function” can be a story or “eco-friendly” can be a story, it is all up to you really. Where it is relevant or not is the real issue, and the basis of strategic design. This would be a “story” for another day!

“This time into a communication tool that tells a story. … it is extremely hard to just “cut things” out”

Remember this discussion, DT (from http://blog.rebang.com/?p=1390 ):

You: “The choice of form, shape or color etc should be a reflection of this story.”

Me: “And I’m saying that the choices “will be” a reflection of not the small story the client wants to tell, but the full narrative that goes with every product. Want a particular shape to help tell that small story? Whoops, that’ll require more expensive tooling.”

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Now you know why I was pushing for ID involvement in Superstruct: it wasn’t just foresight research for the IFTF. For a designer it was also N opportunity to use a community’s narrative to explore product futures in a way not previously possible.

hey csven,

Sorry for the late reply. Have been caught up with work. Yes I remember the discussion we had and I fully agree, it is all about the “story”.

I believe Superstruct was a great initiative especially for Industrial Designers. I am a little sad that I could not give it the time it deserved, (story fizzled out on twitter) But it is time that the designer rise above and be the ones determining and creating the story, not helping articulate someone else story.

“But it is time that the designer rise above and be the ones determining and creating the story, not helping articulate someone else story.”

You’re sounding like Mark Rolston: clutching tight for control. It’s an illusion.

Hi DT,

I don’t understand the whole ‘Unibody’ story - is it really an engineering breakthrough, and how does it improve the performance of the computer? (which hasn’t improved a lot)
Or are you just saying apple is clever in using the manufacturing process as a marketing strategy?

Its all about the software i think. With apps like iLife, allowing you to feed all your fotos, videos etc i.e. MEMORIES into the mac so easily, the Unibody then becomes precious and personal. It sort of becomes apart for you, I think. (notice the word “body” in unibody)

In terms of performace improvement, the single piece aluminium is lighter and stronger, parts are reduced, and Apple’s battery and power management allows the you to be more productive then ever, over a longer period of time then any other notebooks out there. (which makes most of other notebook makers look a bit like those companies that just source their parts from different vendors)

So, the key to success is, do great software. haha.

On the process: Well, to a certain extent, how many companies have the capacity to be able to maintain control over all “layers” or aspects of their products? Working with an Apple analogy, my friend once commented about the top benefit of the iPhone to be the fact that it does not lag. It’s design is holistic, from case to OS. But we can take comfort that the market is moving towards this direction. The question is do we wait for the market to mature or if we have the power to push (educate) it?

On stories: If only brands take branding that way.

Hi Ben,

Thanks for taking the time to ask this question.

It is a 2 sided story and a very good one on how it is advantage to us designers.

CnC is an amazing process. We as designers are allowed to create all kinds of forms that are not restricted to the injection molding process. But it is expensive process and time consuming.

Now what they did instead, was to integrate this process centrally, and look at the entire development process including BOM and assembly costs. Having a CnC body allows the product to be made with less parts.

Finally to add the gravy on top they created a marketing story that was inspired by this process.

Great post. The same changes are taking place in other areas of design. The legacy “step by step” approach you describe in industrial design is seen in architecture (the Design-Bid-Build approach) and software (the Waterfall approach). They are being replaced by the Design/Build and Agile approaches to design, both of which aim to treat all “layers” as expressions of a single conceptual design, just as you describe the future of industrial design.

Hi Ken,

Thanks for sharing this perspective from an Architectural point of view. Please keep in touch?

Will do. I think we are advocating many of the same design values. I blog at http://www.machines4living.com.

Thanks for this article, it’s great. So great that we’ve made it ’sticky’ on The Webmaster Forums. Now we don’t have to repeat ourselves, just send people to this article!