EVEN THE TOUGHEST, SMARTEST ASTRONAUT LOOKS SILLY GETTING DRESSED FOR SPACE. BUT A NEW SUIT DESIGN WILL MAKE THE PROCESS NEAR-INSTANTANEOUS.
If you stepped into the vacuum of space in whatever you’re wearing now, you actually might be okay. You won’t pass out. Your blood won’t boil, nor would it instantly freeze. (Our skin and circulatory systems actually hold in our gas and gunk pretty well.) So long as you make no attempts to hold your breath as the air exits your lungs, you might even enjoy the moment. But you’d only have about 30 seconds before you began sustaining long-lasting injuries. As NASA once explained:
"Various minor problems (sunburn, possibly "the bends," certainly some [mild, reversible, painless] swelling of skin and underlying tissue) start after ten seconds or so. At some point you lose consciousness from lack of oxygen. Injuries accumulate. After perhaps one or two minutes, you’re dying. The limits are not really known."
To view interview with Amy Ross, Space Suit Engineer, Part 2 click HERE.
So in other words, while you could walk in space without a suit, you probably shouldn’t try. Which is precisely why NASA works so hard on refining its space suits.
The Z-1 is their latest, and it’s designed for planetary exploration, right down to the Buzz Lightyear paintjob.
Its innovations are largely in the flexible joints, fitted with bearings in the waist, hips, upper legs, and ankles (to make retrieving rock samples and running from alien species more feasible), along with all of the new materials found in the “heavily engineered” inner suit, which include urethane-coated nylon to retain air and polyester to help the suit hold its shape.
But the Z-1’s pièce de résistance is its inventive back port, which allows the suit to latch into a planetary rover as part of its outer shell. This port also means that astronauts can simply slide from the vehicle into the suit, getting dressed instantly before detaching and walking on the surface of another planet. Just as important, the suit is already perfectly pressurized, too, meaning that astronauts can avoid some of the deep-sea-diver-esque pressurization routines that make trips outside the ship such a hassle.
Sadly, the Z-1 won’t actually make its way into space. But as it’s polished into Z-2 and Z-3 forms, the new Z suit will eventually reach realization in 2017.
COMMENTARY: NASA's Z-1 space suite is the first new space suit design in 20 years - and has turned it into a hatchback. It's important to keep in mind that the present Z-1 is an early prototype and a more finished prototype will not be ready until 2014. As hard as I tried, I could not find a price for the Z-1 space suit, but you can bet that they will be expensive considering all the added technological innovations incorporated into the suit. The following infographic highlights the key features of the Z-1 and compares the suit with both the Apollo and NASA space suits in use since 1982.
Over the past few years there have been tantalizing reports that scientific progress was on the cusp of creating a real life invisibility cloak. But upon a closer reading, these experimental technologies didn’t amount to much beyond reminding us just how far off we are from the fictional universe of Harry Potter.
University of California researchers announced last year that they had developed a metamaterial fully capable of hiding objects from the naked eye. The breakthrough does, though, lose much of its luster considering that they’d still have to figure out a way to scale up the technology to mask objects beyond the size of a red blood cell.
Duke University just last month announced a diamond-shaped design that bent light around an object so perfectly, it even concealed shadows. Too bad the illusion only worked when looking straight and in one direction.
HyperStealth Biotechnology Corp. created the following mock-up photos to show the public what they claim their 'invisibility fabric' (Click Image To Enlarge)
Now, a little-known Canadian defense firm called HyperStealth Corp claims to be closing in on a breakthrough technology that should soon lead to a true, in every sense of the term, invisibility cloak. And to allay skeptics, company CEO Guy Cramer told CNN in an interview that they’ve even garnered strong interest from the U.S. military after demonstrating to officials how the fabric’s light-bending properties prevent the wearer from being detected entirely.
Development of the material codenamed “Quantum Stealth” has been kept shrouded in secrecy. The project’s web site reveals very few details about how the technology actually works, except that it’s lightweight, inexpensive and reduces 95 percent of an object’s shadow. The page also includes a few mock-up photos that illustrate what the material’s remarkable camouflaging effect would look like, along with an explanation from Cramer as to why they’ve decided to at least go public with their design.
Click Image To Enlarge
According to the site, Cramer started to receive a lot of attention from the media after giving a talk at a military trade show about the company’s development of an inexpensive and lightweight “light-bending material.” He said.
“After enough press had been written on the subject, the U.S. Military Command finally asked to see the real material to verify that it worked. Those meetings took place with very limited ‘Need to Know’ access and the technology is now moving forward.”
Click Image To Enlarge
If substantiated, the implications are tremendous. Snipers would be able to position themselves covertly with very little risk of being spotted, while troops could use the cloak to elude capture or to carry out surprise raids against enemies. On a more ambitious front, the invisibility-inducing material may even someday enable aircraft and ships to take the notion of “stealth” to a whole new level.
However, Cramer says that, once available, it’s likely that only the military will have access to the Quantum Stealth’s special effects, at which point, it’ll be hard to hide the collective excitement.
COMMENTARY: Guy Cramer, President and CEO of HyperStealth, said that there have been similar inventions over the years but his is the only one with a 360-degree view.
He said he isn’t able to discuss details or do demonstrations of Quantum Stealth for security reasons, but claims several military groups in Canada and the U.S. have expressed interest.
Cramer said.
“We’ve also got a countermeasure for the device to be able to detect it. It [costs] about $100 to $200 per soldier which is about what their uniforms are costing them right now.”
Only mockup photos are currently available to the general public.
Colin Worth, a recently retired RCMP officer, said he went to Ottawa with Cramer to demonstrate Quantum Stealth in front of the Canadian Armed Forces.
Worth said.
“I don’t have a vested interest in the company or the technology, but I’ve seen it work. The stumbling block last time I talked to Guy was how does he make it big enough and how does he make it portable enough to work in a real life situation?”
Worth said that he signed a secrecy and confidentiality agreement so he isn’t able to give any details, but said “stuff just seems to disappear. It’s weird the way it works but it does work.”
Bill Jarvis, a retired Navy Seal, also said he has seen the fabric work at U.S. Military Command meetings.
Cramer said that he would consider marketing Quantum Stealth to the general public only if the military allowed him to do so.
He hasn’t been approached by any Harry Potter fans yet.
On October 19, 2012, Guy Cramer, President/CEO of Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp. announced its new cloaking technology called "Quantum Stealth." Here's a copy of that press release.
The Brydge is a Bluetooth keyboard/speaker that transforms the iPad into a Macbook-ish creation (Click Image To Enlarge)
THE BRYDGE IS AN IPAD KEYBOARD THAT REMINDS US IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS THAT MAKE GREAT PRODUCTS.
Kickstarter is a place of big ideas by small teams. Big companies get bogged down by logistics and profitability, while passionate, agile talent can make the streamlined products customers want. That’s the tacit premise behind every hardware campaign on Kickstarter.
You shove the iPad into two rubber hooks, which hold it tight through friction (Click Image To Enlarge)
You’ll cringe a bit ever time your iPad docks, but they appear to be perfectly safe to use (Click Image To Enlarge)
From the side, it almost looks like you have a small Macbook (Click Image To Enlarge)
The Brydgewas a perfect example of this. Now shipping to early pre-orders, the Brydge was a massively successful ($797,979) Kickstarter-backed Bluetooth keyboard that ostensibly turned the iPad into a Macbook. As the product description read:
"Brydge’s aluminum body is machined and anodized so that it matches the look and feel of the iPad precisely. When paired together Brydge and your iPad appear to be two parts of the same device, blending style and functionality seamlessly. Unlike other products made of painted plastic in an effort to look similar to the iPad, Brydge does not fake it. Not only does it look good, but when held in your hands you can feel the quality craftsmanship Apple lovers demand."
The resulting device is like a clunky netbook (remember those?). The problem is that the keyboard looks the part, but it doesn’t feel the part. Every bit of its texture and responsiveness screams knockoff (Click Image To Enlarge)
And I’m not crazy about the fact that a rubber tab is pressed hard against switches and my camera lens, either (Click Image To Enlarge)
I’ve tested out a review unit, and my only real critique--beyond the impossibility of pairing the Bluetooth speakers--is that the Brydge is exactly like every other Apple-stylized product I’ve ever tested. It looks great in product photos, but as soon as you actually touch it in person, you realize all the little things are wrong.
The anodized aluminum has an uninviting, ever-so-scratchy texture.
The keys have a strange amount of give, their plastic lacks suppleness and their edges are sharp.
Unlike a real laptop, the Brydge base is lighter than your iPad screen, meaning it constantly teeters on tipping over.
In other words, the Brydge is in the same boat as just about every third-party product (many backed by mega corporations) that’s attempted to match Apple’s build quality blow for blow. It’s absolutely the sort of premium accessory you’d imagine seeing on the shelves at Best Buy: It’s mediocre.
So the Brydge is no scandal, and it’s no messiah, either--though it certainly seems a touch expensive for its quality at ~$200.
For Kickstarter, unrefined and/or overpromised goods are a real problem. Not so long ago, amidst a wave of bad press from outlets like NPR, Kickstarterenacted some new policies to remind “backers” that this was an investment (risk-oriented) site, and that products may differ from sales pitches.
Product renders and simulations were banned, since anyone can draw a flying car. And a risks section was added to each listing, requiring project leads to explain problems that could arise in producing their good. These changes certainly protect consumers--err, investors--but I’m not sure they solve the larger problem: Is Kickstarter a venue that encourages good designs to become great ones, or great designs to be scaled into incredible manufactured products?
The Kickstarter premise is all about big ideas by the little guy--it’s about rolling the dice to back the basement inventors and coffee shop designers, handing a pile of cash to the Thomas Edisons and Jony Ives who haven’t been discovered yet. But while the best ideas may be born from inspiration, they mature through perspiration. And Kickstarter, as inspiring as it may be as a platform, isn’t designed at its core to encourage refinement.
COMMENTARY: The review of the The Brydge keyboard for the iPad says it all, "Buyer Beware." Better yet, be wary of all the hype and propaganda that you read about the slick looking products craving for crowdfunds on Kickstarter, Crowdcube, and other crowdfunding sites.
The inventors of the Brydge keyboard obviously never built a final prototype and failed to conduct adequate test marketing that would've identified the product deficiencies identified above. The one that gets me is that the keyboard "keels over" when the iPad is attached. That's pretty tacky.
The lessons to be learned from all of this: If you are a Kickstarter contributor make sure that the inventors have an actual working prototype and indicate that they have tested the product so that it fully satisifies the claims being made.
Courtesy of an article ated November 28, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design
Tesla’s Model S has been named 2013 Car of the Year by Motor Trend and 2013 Automobile of the Year byAutomobile, striking a strategic blow for electric vehicles.
“We weren’t expecting much from the Tesla other than some interesting dinner conversation as we considered “real” candidates like the Subaru BRZ and the Porsche Boxster. In fact, the Tesla blew them, and us, away.”
Click Image To Enlarge
Motor Trend Editor-at-Large Angus MacKenzie, meanwhile, said,
“At its core, the Tesla Model S is simply a damned good car you happen to plug in to refuel.”
In its headline, the magazine called the Model S:
“Proof Positive that America Can Still Make (Great) Things.”
Tesla's Model S receives the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award (Click Image To Enlarge)
Both publications are owned by Source Interlink Media, but say they made the decision independently of one another. When a Facebook commenter at Automobile‘s page questioned the timing and sameness of the respective magazines’ “…of the Year” award choices, anAutomobile staffer responded thus:
“I can’t say much about the magazines that aren’t owned by Source Interlink Companies, but we found out about Motor Trend Magazine’s choice, maybe, minutes before you guys did–no consultation, two completely different tests. I wouldn’t necessarily call it collusion–it’s just a really, really good car.”
COMMENTARY: In the evening at an event in New York City Monday, November 12, 2012, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that his company's Model S sedan has been named Motor Trend's Car of the Year. The all-electric sedan, which I reviewed for Slate earlier this year, was a unanimous choice, beating out the Porsche 911, the new Ford Fusion, and the Honda Accord, among others, said Motor Trend Editor in Chief Ed Loh. This is the first time in the award's 64-year history that it has gone to a car without an internal combustion engine. Loh said the award was based on the car's overall excellence, not simply the fact that it's electric. He pointed out that it's the fastest American-built sedan on the market, posting 0-60 times as low as 3.9 seconds. Add in its handling, ultra-quiet motor, and the fact that it requires no fuel, and Loh said it was an easy pick for the honor.
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk was typically unrestrained at the news, predicting people will look back on it as "a point at which the gears of history moved." He said.
"I hope other car companies will in fact copy us and pursue their own electric car programs with greater vigor as a result of this award."
Tesla's own next moves involve developing a more affordable model than the luxurious Model S, which starts at a hefty $57,400 for the base model before a $7,500 federal tax credit.
Congratulations to Elon Musk and the entire Tesla Motors team for creating a truly game-changing all-electric automobile that is not only beautiful, fast, and incorporates the best technology innovations on the market today, but an all-electric vehicle that delivers on all counts.
Courtesy of an article dated November 26, 2012 appearing in TechnologyTell
Just because a house is pre-fabricated doesn’t mean it’s easy to move. But Connect Homes’ innovation is to make them fit in shipping containers, so high-end green design can end up anywhere on the planet.
Pre-fab homes have found a new wave of enthusiasm among eco-minded architects and home builders: It’s a cheaper way to bring sustainable features to the masses. But talk with architects Gordon Stott and Jared Levy, and they’ll tell you that the biggest challenge green pre-fab manufacturers face isn’t the design, but getting those homes around the world. Their company Connect Homes expects to change that, by being the first pre-fab home builder to take advantage of shipping containers as a mode of global transit, allowing them to inexpensively reach consumers anywhere in the world.
Connect Homes Connect 5.2 is a pre-fabricated single-story home with 1,600 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths (Click Image To Enlarge)
Connect Homes' Connect 5.2 pre-fabricated home interior living room and kitchen area (Click Image To Enlarge)
Connect Homes' Connect 5.2 pre-fabricated home has two bedrooms with a webar and laundry area between both of them (Click Image To Enlarge)
As an architect at high-end pre-fab pioneer firm Marmol Radziner in Los Angeles, Stott says he worked on “really crazy complicated homes that were really beautiful,” including the first pre-fab house to ever be featured in GQ and other magazines. They were alsoreally expensive--anywhere from half a million to 2 million dollars.
Connect Homes' Connect 7.3 is a pre-fabricated single-story home with 2,240 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3 baths (Click Image To Enlarge)
Connect Homes' Connect 7.3 living room and kitchen (Click Image To Enlarge)
Radziner recalls.
“While we’re doing all this, were getting calls from around the world. There was a global demand for modern green homes.”
Interest was high especially for green homes that could be done for about a third of the price of the luxury homes Marmol Radziner was known for. But it was a demand that couldn’t be met by their Los Angeles operations. Gordon Stott says.
“There’s no way to get homes more than 250 miles from the factory.”
Connect Homes' Connect 8.3 is a pre-fabricated two-story home with 2,560 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths (Click Image To Enlarge)
Connect Homes' Connect 8.3 living room, kitchen and outside patio (Click Image To Enlarge)
It’s a problem that isn’t unique to the Stott’s former employer. Levy says.
“What we discovered is that industry wide […] they use these really large modules that are basically as big as the roadways will allow."
Shipping one module around the country could cost $25,000--and some houses use as many as 10 modules.
Inside Connect Homes' manufacturing facility in Los Angeles, CA (Click Image To Enlarge)
That math makes pre-fab unrealistic, so modular companies set up regional factories, sometimes 30 factories for one brand, all building the same product. According to Levy,
“This whole industry hasn’t truly been industrialized like every other industry out there that’s basically able to ship their products in a container.”
This is the Connect Homes’ key innovation. The modules are designed to fit snugly in an 8-foot-by-40-foot shipping container, and can make it anywhere internationally for $5,000. The homes ship almost entirely complete--with plenty of green features like bamboo flooring, LED lighting, all-steel framing, and FCC-certified woods. And the inexpensive shipping and more efficient centralized production means all theses features don’t cost quite as much--$105,000 to $400,000 based on size of home, according to Stott.
Click To View Interactive Features
At the beginning of the month, Connect Homes trucked their model unit from Los Angeles up to Silcon Valley for Dwell's Silicon Valley Home Tours. They remained on display to the public through November 11.
Levy says.
"We’re really in the startup phase of our company."
The first home will start production within the next couple of months. Two others have sold so far, and they expect to sell five more within the quarter.
COMMENTARY: I love the design of Connect Homes pre-fabricated homes. However, I do have some reservations about pre-fabricated homes because quality among pre-fabricated homes can be inconsisted from one maker to another. Pre-fabricated homes look pre-fabricated which cheapens them in the eyes of the home owner. The other problem that I have is with the concept of green construction. There really is no such thing as a 100% green home, or building for that matter. It's really difficult to determine what percentage of a Connect Homes' house is really green, and what percentage of the cost pertains to the green portion. If you look at Connect Homes "green" features page, you see the terms "enhanced performance and efficiency", "improved quality", "renewable", "recycled materials", "sustainable source materials", to name a few. Roofs offer cool roof systems, but solar panel arrays are optional, and can easily add $30 to $40,000 to the cost of the home.
Having said this, if Connect Homes can prouce beautiful pre-fabricated homes of very high-quality, and can deliver them in a container, they may experience some of degree of success with prospective homeowners. The quality has to be there. Another problem that I have with Connect Homes is that they don't include the solar panels. Energy costs add to the operating costs, and having solar panels already would be a huge plus.
Courtesy of an article dated November 14, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design
KENYA HARA, ART DIRECTOR FOR MUJI, WANTS TO RECONSIDER THE DOG HOUSE. THE CANINE WORLD WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.
We’ve all heard of dog houses, but you’ve probably never heard the phrase "dog architecture." This divide is something that Imprint Venture Lab and Kenya Hara, art director at Muji, want to change with their latest project, the aptly named Architecture for Dogs.
In the hands of a Redditor or a snarky Tumblr blog, the new website, full of high-concept dog dwellings, could be easy fodder for a joke. But for Hara, who doesn’t even claim to be a dog lover himself, reconsidering architecture from a dog’s point of view is a very pure way to rediscover “what architecture really means.”
Projects on the site challenge traditional notions of scale, perspective, and function, ranging from a variegated rug of aluminum tubes--a dog cooler for those hot summer days--to a pair of ramps for short-legged dogs, which double as a shared recliner for human and dog alike.
Muji's Architecture for dogs includes Hiroshi Naito's piece for Spitz is a way to amplify the cold tile effect on a hot summer day. The aluminum tubes can be filled with ice to create a conductive, cooling sensation (Click Image To Enlarge)
Muji's Architecture for Dogs includes this piece with ramps that lets dogs sit eye level with their owners, for more soul-stirring conversation (Click Image To Enlarge)
The projects are united with care. Each is crafted to a dog’s concerns. For instance, a hammock for Jack Russell Terriers isn’t just a hammock; it’s a hammock stretched from the owner’s clothing, meaning the dog can appreciate their smell while resting. A "mobile home" for Shibas looks like a stroller at first glance, then you realize its materials are meant to mimic the natural shade of a tree and the carriage has been designed to carry the dog as closely to the ground as possible, allowing its short legs to hop out at will.
Muji's Architecture for Dogs includes Torafu Architects’ Jack Russell hammock made from old clothing converted into a hammock. You can also substitute warmer clothing in the winter (Click Image To Enlarge)
Muji's Architectue for Dogs includes Toyo Ito's 'mobile home' or a 'doghouse for walks' for Shibas (Click Image To Enlarge)
Hara tells Co.Design.
“We chose dogs because it’s a universal topic. Wolves interacted with humans, and it changed the course of their history. Dogs are man-made creatures forced to cohabitate with humans, so architecture for dogs is a reasonable inquiry.”
Muji's Architecture for Dogs includes Shigeru Ban’s structure for Papillons made from used plastic wrap tubes that can transform from a maze to a bed to even a chair or a table for yourself (Click Image To Enlarge)
Muji's Architecture for Dogs include this MVRDV rocker dog house. The rocker bottom allows has less friction with the ground, so it can be dragged by the attached rope (Click Image To Enlarge)
Each design is downloadable as a free blueprint, and next year, the collection will be available in flatpack kit form.
Where exactly the project is headed is still uncertain. Is Architecture for Dogs a purely academic endeavor? Are people meant to actually build these pieces? Is it more a beacon for the pet industry? Is it a beacon for the architecture industry? Could the site possibly serve all these roles? We can’t say, but the overarching lesson is notable:
Dogs are a species made for humans, forced to live in houses also made for humans. With Architecture for Dogs, Hara has assembled a team of elite designers to reconsider the dog’s experience in an otherwise human world. And reconsidering dog-level design, in turn, is a means to allow humans to be more mindful of their own environments.
Muji's Architecture for Dogs includes Kazuyo Sejima’s piece for the Bichon Frise. When they climb inside, the dog completes the structure’s shape (Click Image To Enlarge)
Muji's Architecture for Dogs includes a Aterier Bow-Wow created series of ramps for the Dachshund. It’s a means for the dog to gain elevation without straining its long body (Click Image To Enlarge)
COMMENTARY: From the look of the smiles on these spoiled rotten pooches, I would say that Kenya Hara is on the right track with his Architecture for Dogs. As a lover of dogs, I would certainly buy some of these doggie creations. They are not only beautiful and functional, but could be considered doggie art pieces, that would embellish the home. The dogs certainly appear to love them, so I strongly recommend he begin building those kits. I have a feeling Kenya and the designers will do quite well. The worldwide pet market did over $60 billion in sales in 2011 alone. We're not just talking dog food, collars and leaches, either. Pet owners spend hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of dollars on merchandise for their dogs (and cats, too). Architecture for Dogs shows what can be done to spoil pooches even more.
Courtesy of an article dated November 15, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design
TO LAUNCH ITS LATEST OS, MICROSOFT HIRED MORE DESIGN AND MARKETING TALENT THAN MOST COMPANIES COULD FATHOM. WE SPOKE WITH WOLFF OLINS, COORDINATORS OF THE REBRANDING, ABOUT THE OVERARCHING STRATEGY.
Remember those horrendous Windows commercials with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld? Running in late 2008, the ads proved symbolic of Microsoft’s own failings at the time: What were they about? Was Microsoft Vista? Was Microsoft tablets? Could they be on phones anymore? While Apple and Google were reinventing themselves for the mobile era, Microsoft was making commercials about nothing.
Windows 8's new branding is a framework to a new Microsoft (Click Image To Enlarge)
Today, the stakes of Microsoft’s identity are even higher. They need to leverage their Windows 8 OS to retain a foothold on PCs and find that lost chunk of the mobile market through Windows Phone 8. The Surface has to take off. The inevitable Xbox 720 needs to be as relevant as the Xbox 360. And it all starts with Metro, the design language that holds everything together like glue.
About a year ago, Microsoft tapped Wolff Olins to handle branding on Windows 8, the OS that would spill over into every other device Microsoft had planned. Branding their crown-jewel operating system is as much of an affiliation with Microsoft as Wolff Olins can disclose, but from a product architecture standpoint, the Windows 8 brand would naturally be bigger than Windows 8 itself. It would have to redefine Microsoft and its products as competitors--the OS would be the “tip of a spear” in a new, design-forward line of products, some of which haven’t even been announced yet.
Its basis is energetic, global, lifestyle photography … (Click Image To Enlarge)
And on top of that? Wolff Olins wanted staying power. They wanted an identity that would last longer than a few Seinfeld spots.
Executive Creative Director Todd Simmons tells me.
“When we built the [branding] system, it’s not just for Windows 8 It’s actually built for Windows 9, 10, 11, and every Windows to come.”
A project of this magnitude was too much for any one company to handle. Simmons says.
“Our role was kind of like the conductor of this concert, if you will.”
Wolff Olins created the brand standards, but Pentagram crafted the logo. Crispin Porter + Bogusky made the TV commercials. R/GA handled digital ads. Ideo was brought in for product packaging. And we’re probably overlooking a dozen other companies who handled various significant pieces. (Wolff Olins cheekily calls this engineer-like system of organization a “brand OS” of its very own.)
The end result redefines Microsoft and Windows 8 as a bit of a boy band--one that assembles several distinct, likable products into one powerhouse umbrella (Click Image To Enlarge)
The new strategy was about scale and diversity, consumption and creation. To Wolff Olins, it was time for Microsoft to remind the world that they were Micro-mother@$#*ing-soft.
Simmons says.
“If you’re serving a billion consumers every single day, and you’re all around the world, that’s a pretty enviable position. That must mean you have a point of view on the role you’re playing, and you have an incredible window into that world. We wanted to pull that back into the brand and not be shy about the scale of Microsoft.”
To capture the scale, Wolff Olins traveled the world, twice, with photographer Todd Selby, building a photography and video library that would help redefine the identity of not just Windows 8 but Microsoft as a whole. They’ve shot in places like Los Angeles, Barcelona, Beijing, Tokyo, Berlin, Paris, Dubai, and Mumbai.
Simmons says.
“We’ve gone all around, and the idea is to reflect with the Windows brand the context in which these products play roles in people’s lives--and do it in a really celebratory way. The Windows audience is everyone. It’s open. It always has been.”
It just so happens that, when it comes to smiling faces using Windows 8 products, there’s a huge opportunity for overlap with other Microsoft products. That includes Surface, sure, but also Bing, Office, and Internet Explorer.
Simmons says.
“They have all these brands. What we wanted to do is get them working better together and be the sum total of Microsoft as an ecosystem. We wanted to allow each member of the brand to be themselves as well. We don’t want to create a monolithic version of Microsoft to apply to everything; while we may have a set of common elements, we wanted each of those to manifest uniquely to that brand.”
Microsoft's new Windows 8 sets a new standard for Windows operations systems (Click Image To Enlarge)
Human photography was a big common element, as were your more standard branding staples, like typography and color palettes. Wolff Olins also spent a lot of time on the voice--the precise diction--of Windows 8.
Simmons says.
“You’ll see a lot of ‘we’ statements. It speaks to the collective audience Microsoft serves. The tonality of being colorful, diverse, vibrant, and inclusive was how we wanted the brand to get to you through all of its pores.”
… and a series of typography and colors that stem from the Metro experience (Click Image To Enlarge)
CAN IT LAST?But whether or not you like the new branding, you have to wonder, is Wolff Olins asking for too much? In the fastest moving industry in the world, the team sought to create a brand that will define Microsoft’s flagship software product for potentially decades to come, while at the same time transcending any individual product.
Why not just focus on Windows 8 the operating system--the most important gamble in Microsoft’s history? Isn’t that enough for now? Simmons, very precisely, disagrees.
Microsoft's new Surface tablet comes loaded with the new Windows 8 operating system and was the star of the new product launch (Click Image To Enlarge)
He says.
“I think it’s going to be important for all of these brands to have continuity when everything else is changing.”
Because if Microsoft really is reinventing itself today, we’ll still need to recognize them tomorrow.
COMMENTARY:
Windows 8 - New and Changed Features
New features and functionality in Windows 8 include a faster startup through UEFI integration and the new "Hybrid Boot" mode (which hibernates the Windows kernel on shutdown to speed up the subsequent boot),a new lock screen with a clock and notifications,and the ability for enterprise users to create live USB versions of Windows (known as Windows To Go). Windows 8 also adds native support for USB 3.0 devices, which allow for faster data transfers and improved power management with compatible devices, along with support for near field communication (NFC) to facilitate sharing and communication between devices.
Windows Explorer, which has been also renamed File Explorer, now includes a ribbon in place of the command bar. File operation dialogs have been updated to provide more detailed statistics, the ability to pause file transfers, and improvements in the ability to manage conflicts when copying files. A new "File History" function allows incremental revisions of files to be backed up to and restored from a secondary storage device, while Storage Spaces allows users to combine different sized hard disks into virtual drives and specify mirroring, parity, or no redundancy on a folder-by-folder basis.
Task Manager has also been redesigned, including a new processes tab with the option to display fewer or more details of running applications and background processes, a heat map using different colors indicating the level of resource usage, network and disk counters, grouping by process type (e.g. applications, background processes and Windows processes), friendly names for processes and a new option which allows to search the web to find information about obscure processes. Additionally, the Blue Screen of Death has been updated with a simpler and modern design with less technical information displayed.
Interface and desktop
Windows 8 introduces significant changes to the operating system's user interface, many of which are centered towards improving its experience on tablet computers and other touchscreen devices. The new user interface is based on Microsoft's Metro design language, and features a new tile-based Start screen similar to that of Windows Phone, which has replaced the previous Start menu entirely. The Start screen displays a customizable array of tiles linking to various apps and desktop programs, some of which can display constantly updated information and content through "live tiles". As a form of multi-tasking, apps can be snapped to the side of a screen.
A vertical toolbar known as the charms bar (accessed by swiping from the right edge of a touchscreen, or pointing the cursor at hotspots in the right corners of a screen) provide access to system and app-related functions, such as search, sharing, device management, settings, and a Start button. The traditional desktop environment for running desktop applications is accessed via a tile on the new Start screen. The Start button on the taskbar has been removed in favor of the Start button on the charms bar and a hotspot in the lower-left corner of the screen. Swiping from the left edge of a touchscreen or clicking in the top-left corner of the screen allows one to switch between apps and the Desktop. Pointing the cursor in the top-left corner of the screen and moving down reveals a thumbnail list of active apps. Aside from the removal of the Start button, the desktop on Windows 8 is similar to that of Windows 7, except that the Aero Glass theme has been replaced by a flatter, solid-colored design inspired by the Metro interface.
Safety and security
Additional security features in Windows 8 include two new authentication methods tailored towards touchscreens (PIN numbers and picture passwords), the addition of antivirus capabilities to Windows Defender (bringing it in parity with Microsoft's Security Essentials software), SmartScreen filtering integrated into the desktop, and support for the "Secure Boot" functionality on UEFI systems to protect against malware infecting the boot process. Parental controls are offered through the integrated Family Safety software, which allows parents to monitor and control their children's activities on a device with activity reports and safety controls. Windows 8 also provides integrated system recovery through the new "Refresh" and "Reset" functions.
Online services and functionality
Windows 8 provides heavier integration with online services from Microsoft and others. A user can now log in to Windows with a Microsoft account, formally known as a Windows Live ID, which can be used to access services and synchronize applications and settings between devices. Windows 8 also ships with a client app for Microsoft's SkyDrivecloud storage service, which also allows apps to save files directly to SkyDrive. A SkyDrive client for the desktop and File Explorer is not included in Windows 8, and must be downloaded separately. Bundled multimedia apps are provided under the Xbox brand, including Xbox Music, Xbox Video, and the Xbox SmartGlass companion for use with an Xbox 360 console. Games can integrate into an Xbox Live hub app, which also allows users to view their profile and gamer score. Other bundled apps provide the ability to link to services such as Flickr and Facebook.
Internet Explorer 10 is included as both a desktop program and a touch-optimized app, and includes increased support for HTML5, CSS3, and hardware acceleration. The Internet Explorer app does not support plugins or ActiveX components, but includes a version of Adobe Flash Player that is optimized for touch and low power usage, but works only on sites included on a whitelist. The desktop version does not contain these limitations.
Windows 8 also incorporates improved support for mobile broadband; the operating system can now detect the insertion of a SIM card and automatically configure connection settings (including APNs and carrier branding), track and reduce bandwidth use on metered networks. Windows 8 also adds an integrated airplane mode setting to globally disable all wireless connectivity as well. Carriers can also offer account management systems through Windows Store apps, which can be automatically installed as a part of the connection process and offer usage statistics on their respective tile.
Courtesy of an article dated October 31, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design
If you’ve considered launching a new innovation to grow your top line, you’re not alone.
According to Forbes, 250,000 new products were introduced to the world in 2010 alone. We’re overwhelmed by so many new product entries, which range from sophisticated new technologies like the Nest thermostat and infomercial sensations like Pajama Jeans. To complicate things, brands are introducing new line extensions like Kraft Sizzling Salads, Disney Appmates, and a wealth of "new and improved" products from venerable brands like Gillette and Kleenex.
But the fact remains that the success rates of new product introductions and innovations have improved little over the last 20 years. Booz & Company reports 66% of new products fail within two years, and Doblin Group says a startling 96% of all innovations fail to return their cost of capital. This is due to a number of factors, including economic conditions, an explosion of consumer touchpoints, shifts in decision-making behavior, and the deluge of information marketers have to sift through to ensure they are up to speed with the latest trends.
Here are 8 steps any company can follow to increase their odds of growth and transformation through a new product launch:
Address head-on the number one reason for failure. You can’t fake it if an innovation has no clear or compelling relevance to people’s lives. Companies often refuse to acknowledge a new product or service idea serves no strongly identified customer need, and they try to retrofit their marketing to compensate. Start by identifying a relevant, resonant role you could play in people’s lives. Then develop offerings and experiences that deliver it in a peremptory way.
Focus on the most critical rule of thumb for growth today--customer acquisition. Get as many quality customers--even light, occasional users--as quickly as possible. More customers mean more sales, share, and with that, conversion to loyal, heavy users. In addition, new customers have a key attribute that every marketer should leverage--word of mouth. Forrester Research concludes the most valuable customer today is the one that may buy little but whose blog postings, online product reviews, and favorable word of mouth gets 10, 50 or 1,000 others to buy. The longer people are with a brand, the less they talk about it, but new customers are more likely to recommend a brand to their family and friends.
Face what you must really accomplish through Facebook. Nielsen reveals that the number one reason a Facebook user “likes” a brand is to receive a discount or special offer. Their research also shows 84% of users who “like” a brand on Facebook never return to a brand’s page after exercising the incentive that got them there. This means the typical marketer’s Facebook strategy is doing little to grow their customer base, and worse, it could be inadvertently and dramatically hurting their margins. Marketers must ask themselves: What--beyond a discount--will both incent new customers to like my brand and habituate their interaction with it?
Think faster. With the impatience of bosses and investors today, you can’t just obsess about how to quickly add quality customers. You also have to obsess about how to add them faster than anyone else in your category. Growing a customer base quickly is unlikely to come from building an e-commerce site and expecting people to find it only through search and blogs and Facebook. Getting lots of new customers quickly requires some sort of mass reach. From the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) to the World Advertising Research Center (WARC), the findings are quite consistent: Mass reach from traditional media is--at least for now-- still the most effective way to grow a customer base. It’s also the quickest way to jump-start search, online relationships, and e-commerce. Even the “most viewed” YouTube videos get their biggest jolt with a mention in mass media. The very thing that can’t be done in social media is what traditional media does best: jump-start conversations. Social media then fuels these conversations.
Don’t be fooled by the hype. Contrary to the buzz about the power of social media and apps, adding TV to the media mix still proves to be the most effective way to jump-start growth. One particularly interesting case is that of KAYAK.com, which launched only online and grew steadily over two years without mass advertising. Since adding TV to its marketing mix last year, sales experienced a dramatic lift. TV exposure can--even weeks later--drive a potential new customer to search for you.
For maximum ROI, perfect your mix. It’s a waste of time to debate whether TV or Facebook delivers it best. It’s more important to identify the ROI of the media mix that advances people through the purchase funnel--what medium best engages to drive a consumer to deeper engagement in another medium, and then habituates engagement or converts the interaction to a sale. Identify the mix that leads to the best conversion rate and then work continuously to improve it.
Map your measurement. Many marketers say they know the media or touchpoint path their consumer takes on their way to purchase--until asked to map it visually. Plotting the path takes a chart with a horizontal axis of touchpoints, and a vertical axis with the steps and stages of the buying process. Identifying the elements of each axis and then tracking the order and incidence of each forces marketers to confront what they know and don’t know, like: What is the entry point into people’s lives for a new category or product? Where and when can one maximize reach? Where are people falling off the path to purchase? What message is best at each touchpoint to move a person to the next stage of their decision-making? The ultimate benefit of mapping is identifying the mix of touchpoints and messages that drive the best conversion rate. It’s almost never one medium or message but a mix that, with the right analytics, can always be improved and optimized.
Prepare yourself: Your launch never ends. Marketers must face that their launch will be forever in beta, a state of continuous improvement that prevents the brand from losing momentum, or worse, stalling out. Studies confirm that marketers who assume their launch is over, who pull back, who stop innovating, or who let share of voice fall below their market share, do not fare well.
While embracing any one of these ideas can make a difference in the launch of a new initiative, really increasing one’s odds of success will come from bringing them together in a comprehensive strategic marketing plan. As so many successful company leaders have confessed: The best way to predict the future is to create it for yourself.
COMMENTARY:
10 Common Product Launch Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
Every year there are thousands of new products that hit the market. The vast majority of them are failures. Making even one mistake can ruin your product launch. With so many intangibles in the process, it makes sense why there are so many things that can go wrong. Let’s look at some of them.
Assuming There’s A Need For Your Product - Just because you think that your product will be a success doesn’t mean that anyone else will. Poor research in the product development phase can lead to this problem. Will people choose your product over the competition? What makes your product different from the competition? These are questions with answers that should be determined long before a product can be brought to market.
Being Too Much Like the Competition - This is the single most repeated mistake that businesses make. There are always going to be some similarities between products, like Pepsi and Coke or Chevy and Ford. You still want to carve out as much of an identity as possible. If you are aware of the position that your product occupies in the market place, you should be able to avoid this.
The Product Doesn’t Live Up To Expectations - History is littered with products that were pushed into the market before they were ready. Companies think that they can overlook quality issues and just get it out there. Cell phone manufacturers are notorious for this. The thinking is that any software glitches can be ironed out after the product is in the hands of the consumer. All it does is cause ill will on the part of your customers.
Not Being Fast Enough - You must meet your product deadline. If you’ve done your job right, customers will be heavily anticipating your launch. If you don’t come through on your promise, people will doubt that you can come through on anything else. It’s better to work as hard as you can and finish before that date, than miss it. Follow these points to avoid wasting your time:
Give your team a goal that is sooner than the one that you’re giving to the public. This helps to keep everybody motivated.
Constantly re-evaluate those goals. Since your internal goal will be sooner than your external one, you should have plenty of time to make it. If you’re always on top of your timeline, you won’t be caught off guard if there are delays.
Establish touch points. As you work toward your product goals, divide them into 5 or 6 smaller achievements so that you can keep an eye on your progress. For example: 20 days before launch, your plans for your launch event will be complete; 30 days before launch, your marketing materials will be complete, etc.
Poorly Defined Problem - Another avenue that can derail your launch is if your team is unsure about what problem your new product is supposed to address in the first place. If you and your team understand the problems of your customers differently, it may be difficult to get everyone together to solve that problem. If your team is confused about the purpose of the product, it will be impossible to solve the issue. This can also lead to conflict between members of your team. Either way, communication is the key to success. If you don’t think everyone is on the same page, ask them how they see the product solving the problem. Asking questions is a fundamental way to solve problems.
Ignoring The User - If you’re launching a new product, it only makes sense that you’d want to test the public for feedback. But this isn’t always the case. A lot of times, people who develop products don’t really care about engaging with customers. If you aren’t comfortable with the idea of doing prototype testing of your products with people who have never seen it before, then you need to have someone else do it. Ignoring users gives you a product that no one wants.
They’re Afraid To Fail - People will delay product launches over and over again out of fear. They think their item or service won’t be as good as what they competition is offering. They think that people will look down on them, and this makes them hold back. There is nothing more difficult than launching a product that is intended to surpass a favorite of customers. But really, what’s the worst that can happen? Yes, you can fail, yes, it might be expensive, but thousands of successful people have failed before you. You miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take. Failure can be a great teacher. Steve Jobs was fired from Apple, the company he started, only to come back and be much more successful than before. That failure was arguably the best thing that ever happened to him.
Too Many Distractions - One of the keys to a successful product launch is focusing on the task at hand. The time frame around the development and launch of your new product should be about nothing else but preparing for that launch. Eliminate as many distractions as possible; it’s key that you keep them to a minimum. Remind your team that the launch needs to be their focus as well. Put reminders of the product launch date everywhere so that no one forgets.
Developing a Product For Technology Most People Don’t Have - Sometimes a company will attempt to capitalize on the newest-cutting edge technology. There’s nothing wrong with that in theory, but if a platform is too advanced or too expensive, much of the general public won’t use it. Software designed for an operating system that only genius super-hackers use won’t get very much exposure. Conversely, don’t base your product on outdated, obsolete technology. Designing Commodore 64 game today probably wouldn’t be very lucrative.
Spending Too Much On The Launch Itself - The launch is the kickoff for your new product; don’t blow your whole budget on it. Your new product needs ongoing support to ensure that it is a success. You’ll want to continue to build on its awareness with a combination of advertising, social media, public relations, and other marketing techniques to help it succeed.
Conclusion
It is extremely difficult to launch a new product successfully. Some estimates put the failure rate of new products as high as 95%. With hard work and attention to these 10 areas, hopefully you can avoid the mistakes that others have faced
The Three New Product Launch Phases
Phase 1 - Pre-Launch phase is where you build a list of prospective buyers in your target market. In this phase you create and tweak your sales process until it is very solid and you create a buzz around the product which will promote awareness.
Phase 2 – “Launch Day”, is the day that all your affiliates and JV partners will help to promote your product. To help increase sales, you put some kind of scarcity or deadline on your offer – so that you can get as many sales as possible.
Phase 3 – Post-Launch phase usually has two parts to it, first part is where you create an additional bonus or bonuses to prevent buyers’ remorse and reduce refunds. The second part is to figure out how you will continue making more sales so that your site will not just have the launch spike and then fade into the deep blue sea.
These 3 phases of product launches may seem simple, but the truth is only a few marketers are able to pull them off leaving those that have not followed this new product launch checklist well and truly down on sales and profits.
By following these 3 phases successful product launches should become the norm and not leave you scratching your head and wondering what else you need to do to increase sales.
Alpha and Beta Testing or Readiness Validation
Always thoroughly test your new product in order to discover any design, mechanical or electronic design flaws, errors or omissions. Failure to test your new product or service can lead to embarassement, a costly product recall, refunding customers or lawsuits due to dangerous products. New product testing should include both an Alpha Test and a Beta Test. This is commonly referred to as A/B Testing. If you are a software developer, below are the important steps in an A/B Testing.
Alpha Testing - The first testing should occur in-house with different operating systems and different hardware configurations. An alpha version may not yet contain all of the planned features, and may lack documentation. Use virtual systems or test drives to fully test software with various operating systems and patches. Thorough alpha testing will make beta testing run smoother.
Use people within your organization that are unfamiliar with your software. If you don't have anyone available in your organization consider asking family and friends.
Before moving an alpha product, to a beta product consider having an "ignorant" user do a complete install. Silently watching the tester, will give you a birdseye view into user habits and potential problems during the install process.
Beta Testing - Beta testing is considered the second phase of software testing. Beta tests are typically external tests to identify any performances issues or bugs prior to an official release. Beta tests can be open or closed. A closed beta test is used to control the number of users participating. An open test is open to anyone who has an interest in beta testing.
Why Beta Testers are Important
Beta testers are important because it is almost impossible for developers to test their software in all of the various conditions that might occur. Software should never be released without thorough beta testing. It is impossible to predict or test software on all kinds of hardware with other applications.
Some developers segment the closed beta into different release stages so they can maximize feedback. Historically the majority of feedback is received from beta testers within the first week of the beta release. It is highly recommended that you use a minimum of 100 beta testers for your new product. This will allow you to
100 Beta Testers
Week 1 - Alert 1st Group of Testers (34 testers) of beta availability. Bugs found and fixed.
Week 3 - Alert 1 & 2nd Group of Testers (33 testers) of beta Bugs found and fixed
Week 5 - Alert 1, 2 & 3 Group of Testers (33 testers)
Solicit Testers
Use all communication channels to solicit testers. Existing users are the best testers because they are familiar with software and use specific software features.
Offer Incentives - Lets face it its not easy to convince users to try buggy software
free registered version for feedback
discount on registered version for registered beta testers
payment for finding bugs
make beta testing a benefit
Layout Beta Test Expectations - Beta testers should have a good understanding of their role as a beta tester. Educating beta testers will go a long way to improving the quality of feedback that you receive. Provide details on the information they should provide any bug reports.
Know What to Ask - If a user reports a problem, ask the right questions, so that you can attempt to reproduce the problem.
Dialogue is Important - You should be sure that you have an open channel of communication with beta testers. Respond to their queries in a timely fashion (24 hours) and always thank them!
Forum - Create a forum for beta testers to post questions and concerns. Post file updates to the beta forum. Create a specific section of the website that contains beta information.
Use Exit Surveys in Beta - Use exit surveys in the beta version. This will not only give you statistical information about uninstalls, but will also provide details about why users uninstalled.
Weak Documentation - Be sure to mention any holes in the documentation, and where the testers can get any additional information that they might require.
Provide Upgrade Details - Be sure to provide details for users that are using an existing version of the software and looking to test the beta version. Double check prior to releasing the beta version that the user's data will remain intact through the upgrade. Also, check to make sure they have an adequate key or code for the beta version so that it does not expire.
Make Beta Versions Backwards Compatible - Can users go back to their old version if they do not like the new version? In other words will their registration key work in both the new and old version? Is there a drop dead date, which will prevent testers from using the software for an extended period? Be upfront about these issues so beta testers know what they are getting into.
Don't Rush It - It takes time to conduct a thorough beta test, don't rush it.
Many entrepreneurs fall into the trap that their first new product prototype will meet or exceed all expectations coming out of the gate. Taking a product from raw concept stage to finished and fully-functional prototype may not always end well for numerous reasons. I have known of numerous cases where the finished prototype failed to work or look like the original concept drawings. It was either poorly designed to begin with, it was too big or too small, failed to work properly and there wa no "Aha" moment when you first saw it.
You cannot compete effectively in a market by producing new products with just incremental changes. Your new product must leap the competition with new technology innovations that do not currently exist. It must be able to solve problems or fill needs that are not presently met by alternative products. Steve Jobs said it quite appropriately when he said that Apple makes products that "people lust for" and you must be prepared to "put a dent in the universe."
Finally, if you have created a truly unique and leading edge new product that is worth protecting, try to obtain trademarks and patent protection if possible. Investors will look at you and your new product more positively if you can show that you have filed the necessary paperwork to protect their investment.
THE STORY OF HOW ADAM VOLLMER LEFT IDEO TO MAKE AN ELECTRIC BIKE AMERICANS COULD LOVE.
Up until last year, Adam Vollmer had been making a pretty good run of things as a mechanical engineer at Ideo. He was responsible for developing groundbreaking new instruments for spinal surgeries and had worked on solutions for improving access to drinking water in developing countries. Today, Adam Vollmer is the founder and CEO of a company that makes bicycles.Just one bicycle, actually--the Faraday Porteur, a handsome $3,800 ride with bamboo fenders, pistachio accents, and a cleverly hidden on-board lithium ion battery and front wheel motor. Yep, it’s an e-bike, a designation that’s at the heart of the challenge Vollmer’s facing with his new venture: how to build an electric bike for a country that just doesn’t really like the things all that much.
It’s a problem the designer first had to start thinking about early last year, when Ideo was invited to participate in the Oregon Manifest, an annual competition that challenges designers to build "the ultimate modern utility bike." Vollmer was informally known as the bike guy at Ideo’s Palo Alto office--the person you went to if you needed a flat fixed or a recommendation for a new ride--so he was the obvious choice to head up the effort. As an avid rider, he was enthusiastic about the new project, but he also knew that electric bikes, at least in the U.S., were perceived as a decidedly uncool way to get around.
To be fair, that’s mostly true; electric bikes overwhelmingly are uncool. It’s an unfortunate consequence of how they’ve been conceived by manufacturers here for years--namely, as something entirely different from regular bicycles. Vollmer told me.
"I think electric bikes have been sort of dominated by a mentality of, 'this is not a bike--this is a different category: an electric bike,' That meant we got a lot of high-powered monstrosities that tried to set themselves apart from conventional bikes by being able to go longer distances at faster speeds."
Vollmer refers to these as "do-all creations," overly ambitious bikes that were saddled with cumbersome battery packs, complex controls, and expensive price tags.
Click Image To Enlarge
In some places around the world, the usefulness of such vehicles has won out over whatever aesthetic warts come along with it. In Europe, Vollmer says, if the utility’s there, so are the riders.
"I think people there are a lot more willing to say, 'I don’t care what it looks like--if it gets me from home to work cheap, fast, and fun, I’ll take it.'"
But in America, the birthplace of the automobile, we’re a little bit more sensitive about what we use to get around--and how we look while doing it. Vollmer says.
"I think Americans are particularly emotional about transportation. If you think about the importance of car culture to us--it’s like an extension of our identities."
In the last five or 10 years, bikes have become an increasingly popular means of doing that identity extending. People are getting on bikes not only because they’re cheap and environmentally sound, but also simply because they’re cool (perhaps in large part thanks to those factors). But another part of that coolness depends on companies making high-quality, stop-you-in-your-tracks beautiful bikes. And that’s one place, Vollmer says, where e-bikes certainly haven’t had much to offer in years past.
"There’s definitely not a product on the market right now that I think a whole lot of people really want to be associated with, as an extension of their identity, in the electric bike world."
So the designer set out to make an e-bike that avoided these two common pitfalls: the "do-all" ambition and the general unsightliness it engendered. In this sense, at the start, it wasn’t so much about building a great e-bike as it was not building a bad one. But as Vollmer started putting together his first prototypes, he quickly discovered that a bit of electricity could do a lot to enhance a bike ride--without turning it into something else entirely.
He told me.
"There’s something totally magical about hopping on a bike and having the experience be a little bit easier, worrying a little bit less about headwind or sweat or hills. Nobody manages to ride an electric bike and come back without a smile on their face. I just wanted to add just enough of that to a beautiful, high-quality bike, that you could have that experience whenever you wanted."
The key insight here is recognizing that an electric bike could get by with "just enough" electricity. And not just get by, in fact, but benefit immensely from the restraint. Where earlier e-bikes had incorporated monster power packs that could last for the marathon weekend rides, Vollmer decided his bike could do with a battery that was good for 15 or 20 miles, enough juice for cruising around town during the week. The next challenge was making it all disappear, integrating the entire electric system "so seamlessly you just don’t notice it." That’s where Paul Sadoff came in.
Paul Sadoff is the founder of Rock Lobster Custom Cycles in Santa Cruz, California, and he’s built bike frames for over 30 years. He wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of working on an electric one. Vollmer says.
"If there’s a voice for the traditional purist--a stubborn voice, at times--it’s gonna be the conventional frame builder, and that’s Paul."
After having Sadoff ride a few early prototypes--crude, jerry-rigged contraptions that basically looked like "bombs on wheels," Vollmer told me--the master frame builder was enlisted as a collaborator, albeit a reluctant one.
Click Images To Enlarge
But his guidance was indispensable as the Faraday took shape, making sure that the bike never sacrificed low-tech sensibilities for high-tech performance. Vollmer says.
"He kept us honest. He made sure we didn’t overlook things like the quality of the ride, or the geometry, or the attention to detail in the frame making. And those are a lot of the reasons the bike is still, first and foremost, just a delightful bike."
Maintaining that was about more than simply hiding the battery, though; it meant making the electric aspect a part of the Faraday’s character, not its defining trait. More than anything, the duo worked to preserve the 'get on and go’ simplicity that’s so central to the joy of riding a bike.
Vollmer says.
"The team strived to keep the experience so intuitive and similar to riding a bike that you really don’t notice a difference, other than the fact that you get on and you feel like you’re having the best day of your life."
That meant getting rid of all the trappings that previous e-bikes had flaunted, things like whiz-bang electronic displays and elaborate control mechanisms. Instead, they focused their attention on genuinely useful features like LED headlamps and brake lights and a removable, front-mounted storage rack.
After a short three months of feverish development, the first version of the Faraday took the People’s Choice prize at the Oregon Manifest competition. Vollmer left Ideo, started Faraday bikes, and worked tirelessly to perfect the vehicle. The bike that won the competition, however, was far from ready for primetime. Vollmer admitted.
"When I go back and ride that now, it’s not great. We were very happy with the external details of the bike, but since then we’ve gone back and re-engineered everything inside of it. The result is a 300% better product."
In July, Vollmer put the Faraday on Kickstarter, where it flew past its $100,000 funding goal and found 46 early takers. It gave the bike’s designer a chance to step back from the work of nurturing his fledgling company and think about the people he was trying to serve. He told me
"You can get really abstract when you’re developing a company and thinking about pitching and marketing and who you think you’re selling to, but getting the concrete stats on 50 people who bought the bike and what they’re all about and how they’re going to use it is really fascinating."
That initial wave of buyers was somewhat surprisingly diverse. It included baby boomers who were looking for a way to get more exercise as well as recent college graduates who were moving to cities for the first time and thought it made more sense to invest $4,000 in an electric bike than putting the same amount in some banged up used car. Vollmer says.
"Just seeing the breadth of it is really encouraging to me."
It’s easy to write off a $3,800 bike as an out-of-touch luxury item. And you might ask why someone who had found success in developing breakthrough medical technologies would make a clean break for the high-end bike world. But as Vollmer sees it, electric bikes like the Faraday could usher in a more sensible, more sustainable model for transportation in the next decade. And that’s something that clearly deserves the attention of our best design minds.
He says.
"The most appealing problems to me are ones that deal with making people’s lives better and making the world a better place. There’s a great case for a lot of innovative medical products that are doing that. And there are consumer products that are letting us keep in touch and communicate better and be more creative … but bikes are a sweet spot for me … because I’ve always just believed in alternative ways of getting around, getting us out of our cars and getting us more active and more healthy."
So you really can’t blame a lifelong designer for being drawn in by it all, for wanting to take on that irresistible challenge of creating an electric bike that people can get excited about. And by sticking to his aim of building a great bike that happens to feature a little electric magic, the Faraday Porteur might be able to claim that rare distinction. Whether the masses are finally ready to accept it is, of course, another question. But it certainly doesn’t hurt that over in California, the state where the Faraday was born, gas is hovering around $4.50 a gallon.
COMMENTARY: Adam Vollmer might be on to something with the Porteur electric utility bike, but the $3,800 price tag is just too high to appeal to a broad audience. It's a niche product that appeals to inner city urban bike riders that want a well made, green, utility bike that will replace their gas-guzzling cars to ride to work and go to the grocery store.
Having researched the bicycle market for past clients, I discovered that some bicycle producers are designing bikes, to appeal to the urban bike rider. The Porteur could carve out a nice niche for itself -- the more affluent urban bike rider. I like the old-fashioned, almost folksy design of the Porteur, the leather seat and accents, handcrafted frame, large basket, and having the ability to shift to electric power while riding hills like those in San Francisco, is a great idea and point of differentiation that cannot be beat. San Francisco is not like most cities, and its liberal lifestyle which appeals to environmentalists, free spirits, techies and green products could be a great place to draw customers. Whether the bike will appeal to markets in other parts of the U.S. remains to be seen.
Having said this, anytime you can raise $100,000 or more through crowdfunding site Kickstarter.com, indicates that there is a demand for the product, albeit, a small market of bike affecionados that appreciate what the Porteur offers.
Courtesy of an article dated October 17, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design
THE LONDON STUDIO DOSHI LEVIEN’S EXPERIMENTAL TREAT WAS INSPIRED BY A CINEMATIC TRIP TO THE MOON.
Ice cream is an indulgence when you’re sitting on a sofa in sweat pants eating it with a spoon straight out of the pint container, but the treat can be so, so much more decadent. When Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien of London-based office Doshi Levien were approached by Haagen-Dazs about a unique collaboration, the opportunity to experiment with the frozen dessert was too sweet to resist.Levien tells Co.Design.
“I thought the meeting place between material technology and food culture was really interesting. So we accepted.”
The flavors used were developed by the experts at Haagen-Dazs, but Doshi and Levien were allowed to give their imaginations free rein when coming up with the design. Inspiration included fictitious lunar explorations from the stop-motion Georges Méliés classic, Le Voyage Dans La Lune to a Bollywood song (I’m a bit surprised the Death Star didn’t make the list).
Click Images To Enlarge
Levien says.
“Both are about imagination and fantasy, and we wanted our ice cream to take people on a similar journey. It was our intention that the deeper you delve into the moon the more flavors and layers are revealed.”
So how did the toothsome treats actually come together? Levien says.
“We used clay to make a prototype in the studio. Initially, we weren’t too concerned how it would be made, partly because we heard that Haagen-Dazs likes a challenge. It was only on a later visit to the kitchen when we realized how the previous ice cream cakes had been made and how difficult it was to mold a spherical object without handling it. We made what seemed like a naive suggestion that actually worked!”
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COMMENTARY: It's about time Haagen-Dazs concocted something original with unique design elements. I do love the Star Wars inspired "Death Star" ice cream bar. The layers of caramel, nugget, nuts and delicious Haagen-Dazs ice cream sounds dreamy and very tasty. But, why stop with the Death Star ice cream bar. Haagen-Dazs should consider a royalty deal to offer a theme of Star Wars characters. How about "R2D2" or "3CPO" ice cream bars. The list is endless. These could be done throughout the year. I can certainly see an "Avatar" and "Penguins" series.
Courtesy of an article dated October 16, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design
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