designbivouac

Painting a Richer Picture of a Brand Offering

Focus is a key factor in bringing compelling products to market. But when products deliver on functional and emotional levels, doors are opened to more powerful experiences.

Take the launch of the 2009 BMW Z4 for example. BMW once again couples the qualities of luxury and performance that have long been associated with the brand. But for this launch, they also tap into the company's rich history of merging art and vehicle design. this combination allows users to literally paint their own richer picture of the offering.

The "Expression of Joy" theme and event associated with the vehicle's launch elegantly compliments the Freude am Fahren or Sheer Driving Pleasure themes associated with BMW. The nature of the launch provides BMW with a broader canvas upon which to cast the value of their offering, avoiding tiresome comparisons of performance statistics alone. No mundane comparisons of 0-60 mph times here, and cornering capabilities are conveyed in a colorful new way to be sure.

The impact of this launch approach becomes immediately apparent when one compares the BMW Z4 and Audi's A4 iPhone applications that accompanied the launch of each vehicle. Both do a nice job of allowing users to visualize the respective vehicles. The Audi iPhone application explores the "performance angle", allowing users to cleverly tilt the iPhone to navigate an A4 through a slalom course of traffic cones. Ironically, through stressing the performance angle in this way, one finds that the application, though novel to start, is a bit difficult to master. This is not necessarily an impression one wants to leave aspiring A4 drivers with.

By contrast, the BMW Z4 iPhone application allows users to instantly experience a bit of what it must have felt like to have one's hands at the controls of a "300 horse power paint brush". The joy and free form nature of the event translates well through the small device screen. One is unencumbered by the confines of the interface...given literally a blank canvas to work with and, delightfully, to save as well. There is nothing overly grandiose here but the experience does represent a nice instance of design thinking. The content and technical capabilities of the iPhone itself are clearly considered and aligned well with features of the application to maximize emotional impression. Rather than forcing users to master the application, it empowers and frees them to be creative, even if for a brief few moments. Now, that's an impression worth leaving, and downloading for that matter.

Audi's tagline for the A4 launch was "The category changing A4. Progress is beautiful." The A4 is a beautiful vehicle to be sure. But when you see a company like BMW balancing artful expression and design so well, not to mention creating a football field-sized canvas for expression, one is left with the feeling that they are categorically changing the way they dialog with potential customers. Progress is beautiful indeed.

Refinement in the Marketplace

In today's economy, many companies may not be in a position to introduce entirely new offerings. However, though holding to core principles and applying their passion toward incremental improvements, companies might well be shaping iconic product lines with lasting impact.

Companies that are passionate about their offerings can be found continually improving their products or services openly in the marketplace. Take the BMW GS line of motorcycles. BMW was clearly in a position a few years ago to just hold in place with the design of what was arguably the finest adventure touring motorcycle on the market. And yet, the company continued listening to riders and dealers. Each year they made some subtle and not-so-subtle ergonomic, stylistic and performance enhancements as they refined the GS line. To be sure, some years brought more refinements than others but overall the pace of refinement was notable. Despite all of the refinements, BMW actually managed to reduce the weight of the GS as well, evidence of another notable trait. The ability to balance principled design thinking with passion. In this case they enthusiastically introduced new refinements while holding themselves to what is undoubtedly one of their core principles of "rideability."

BMW R1150GS Adventure

BMW R1200GS Adventure

This kind of subtle improvement year-over-year impresses and inspires. And the beauty of it is that companies stick to it, they can find themselves with loyal followers that are secure in the journey they are taking with the company. They know that changes in the product will be well thought out and align with their passions.

Once an offering reaches a certain level of success, it is often all too easy to hold off on further refinement due to either economic pressures or what sometimes proves to be a paralyzing fear of not wanting to "mess with success". The fact that companies like BMW remain committed to constant product improvement guided by underlying guiding principles of design that allow them to refine and stay on course, shows just how important a role that both passion for riding and design thinking has in their culture.

As they nurture an offering, they can take comfort in the fact that they will be able to look back at a series of world-class offerings that, taken together as a whole, leave a greater impression on the market place than many initially hot selling offerings that either are innovated past by their creators or fade into obscurity over time due to a lack of persistence in the marketplace.

One can see a similar balance of passion and principled design thinking with Apple's iPhone refinement. The experience of the original iPhone was largely translated seamlessly into the 3G unit while new features were introduced, including location awareness enhancements. One important factor here is that while new features are certainly marketed, the nuances are left to be discovered in the context of use. Prompts for the iPhone to use location services are initially encountered naturally within the maps application leaving users with a nice discovery at a moment of maximum emotional potential rather than burdening them with some extended step-by-step set up wizard sequence. Similar moments of delight are undoubtedly experienced by GS riders when they realize while at freeway riding speeds that they have a sixth deeper gear they can shift to.

In this era where innovation is constantly being touted as the way forward, we could do well to remember that incremental refinement also has its merits, especially when it comes to generating a loyal following and providing users with the confidence to come along on a rewarding ride.

Can you think of other products that show evidence of inspired refinement or companies that are doing a great job of prototyping and refining in the marketplace?

Bring Your A Game

A primer regarding how to build stronger client relationships and projects is perhaps even more timely now than upon its release a couple of years ago.

Content is nicely captured in poster format by Matt Munoz from Designheals.

For more or to download the poster, visit the AIGA Raleigh North Carolina Chapter "Bring Your A Game" feature page

More Uplifting Elements as Stars

Key structures placed with meticulous care within video story lines have been popping up lately. See Rampenfest for a slower-paced story or take a look at this nice counterpoint and particularly uplifting visualization from Hydro's Norweigian advertisement. It highlights the promise of a new generation of young, up and coming engineers. Thanks for the link Thomas. 8)

BMW 1 Series Launch

For those of you that may not have caught the original ramp up to the US launch of the BMW 1 Series, this piece Jeff Schultz and Bite the Bullet Productions, stereotypes notwithstanding, sheds some light on how you might have missed it.

Visit www.rampenfest.com/ for the full story.

Erosion of Luxury

The skyscraper "Erosion" designed by Herzog & de Meuron would certainly make a striking addition to the New York skyline. The Swiss architects have designed a building that supports individualized floor layouts for occupants, offering more external space for some depending upon tastes and desires. As is pointed out in a recent post on Eikongraphia, one of the more notable features is a floor-to-ceiling height of four meters. The modernist aesthetic, panoramic cityscapes and open plans would be welcome by many urban dwellers. But in these tough economic times, could such a design really see the light of day or will this vision be worn away by the force of current economic winds?

For more discussion of this proposed design, head over to Eikongraphia.

Websites as Interactive Film

Video is playing a larger role in website design as is evidenced by the recent BMW Concept 5 Gran Turismo website. Hyundai adds further interactivity and multiple perspectives as well as offers a new twist on the 360 degree view of its Genesis Coupe on its Genesis Coupe website.Thanks to Engin for pointing this one out.

BMW Concept 5 Grand Turismo

BMW provides a grand tour of its Concept 5 Grand Turismo model via its informative film format website. Take a closer look both inside and out at this new category of vehicle. View the Concept 5 Grand Turismo website

Market Places of Distinction

Conveying the richness of an offering online has long been a challenge. Muji and Hema have managed to find engaging and informative ways to feature their products online in remarkable ways.

Muji leverages video in a strikingly straightforward way...http://www.muji.com/playmuji/

Hema plays with physics...http://producten.hema.nl/

Visit here for a more searchable experience: http://www.hema.nl/

View the Web Differently with Viewzi

Offering up an increasing number of innovative ways to view web search results, Viewzi can help you look at things in new ways. Whether it involves searching using the 3x video feature or the timeline or snapshot views, Viewzi can give you a different perspective on your search results.

An Open Letter to GM Execs

Dear GM Execs,

Might I suggest that rather than taking one of your corporate jets to the next congressional hearing meeting in Washington, that you and your colleagues caravan in the following vehicles. Tuck a well thought out plan for how to take advantage of this unique time of opportunity within the automobile industry into the glove box while you're at it. This is a golden moment to show some pride in the craft that takes place within some divisions in your company.

It's also a chance to sever your far too long standing dependency on truck platforms and inefficient V8 technologies. Hold on to your best and brightest and if they are not already working on the right projects, like the vehicles below, get them going on those programs. Surely producing and launching a new fleet of vehicles like the Volt holds the promise of new jobs for many with new skills.

Such an arrival in Washington will help send a message of "We are working towards innovation". This can only help your request for funding that may be needed to bridge to the time when these innovations can start rolling out. Once you've made your case, why not take a commercial airline flight back to Detroit, preferably on coach, and get back to work. Leave the Volt behind in D.C. and allow some of those in congress to drive it for a few days, experiencing what your company is working on.

What better way to stand behind your plan for moving forward than to stand behind your R&D efforts? Not all initiatives will be perfect yet and that is okay. Undoutedley most in congress would be relieved just to see any sincere efforts towards innovation taking place at this point in time.

If the Volt is not ready for that kind of prototyping of the experience in the real world then that's a shame. It should be by now. Kind of like going to Washington with no vision and asking for funding anyway.

Oblong Realizes Minority Report Interaction with g-speak

It seems the folks at Oblong have been working to realize an interaction approach similar to the one featured in Steven Spielburg's Minority Report film and you can check out some of their efforts here.

g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.

A Touching Brand Gesture

For a special, one night only event, BMW will host a "Night of the White Gloves" at its museum that will allow visitors to touch the exhibits on display.

The event is being held in collaboration with the Bavarian Association of the Blind. Those attending will be permitted to touch the 120 exhibits while wearing white gloves provided by their hosts. Visitor will also be able to touch the insides of the cabins, engines and luggage compartments.

Jürgen Steinle of BMW Design will be on hand to expand on the hallmarks of the brand's design heritage, while Ralf Vierlein, head of the Historic Vehicle Collection at BMW Classic, will speak on what makes a BMW a classic.

BMW will also be putting on display for the first time the GINA Concept Car at the event.

"The Night of the White Gloves" will take place on November the 21st at the BMW Museum in Munich.

Touching indeed.

Echochrome offers a new perspective on video gaming

Although somewhat puzzling initially, Echochrome offers Escher-like environments that players navigate by "filling" broken pathways as they change their perspective view on the scene. This title offers a refreshing angle on brain-enhancing gaming.

BMW GINA Visionary Concept Vehicle

GINA (which stands for Geometry and Function in Infinite Adaptation) may be a bit of an acronym stretch but then again stretching is quite appropriate for a concept vehicle with a flexible skin. Take a closer look at how the GINA Visionary Concept Vehicle is set to reshape automobile design thinking.

Building Anticipation

BMW appears set to reveal its GINA Light Visionary Concept Vehicle at a press release on June 10, 2008. Check out www.BMW-web.tv/GINA then for more. Until then, enjoy this pre-release video.

Visual Browsing Goodness from White Void

Whitevoid's website does a nice job of maintaining visitor's orientation. As you move through the site, stacks of content unfold and as you move back up levels in the site hierarchy, they zip back up before you are taken to your destination. Engaging and informative. The work is strong as well. Thanks goes out to Martin Kay for the heads up on this one.

Pure Visual Searching Goodness

Keen to add a visual element or some serendipity to your web searching? Try oskope.

Get Real

High fidelity rendering of girl follows your cursor. You decide on creepiness factor. Powered by Motion Portrait. This is a good exploration regarding the attention to detail and nuances needed to represent the human form in an appropriate way.

Getting Smarter

With the Smart fortwo becoming available in the United States, perhaps more sustainable attitudes towards transport will shift into a higher gear. Who knows, maybe we will see a new generation of innovative modes of moving designs like BMW's C1 coming into the marketplace . It won't be easy to overcome significant challenges, as evidenced by the Smart fortwo vs. Hummer H2 size comparison image below. However, with new advances in active and passive safety coming to the market each year, perhaps we can find smarter alternative modes of movement before gasoline hits the $5.00 mark.

MoMA Worthy Troika Newton Virus

Troika's playful Newton virus, which raises awareness of Apple's MacBook Pro built-in tilt sensor technology, is now being shown at the MoMA's Design and the Elastic Mind exhibition.

Sony Launches Xperia

Sony's Xperia X1 appears poised to compete strongly with the hipster while incorporating a large touch screen like the Apple iPhone. For those who are all thumbs, the X1's Arc slider design and QUERTY keypad may be just the thing they have been waiting to get their hands on.

The Big Questions

Designers begin by asking questions. It’s how we address some of the biggest, most complex challenges facing people and organizations today. This year, in keeping with the 2008 TED conference theme, IDEO posed a series of questions to TED attendees. Broad-ranging and widely relevant, these queries represent themes that inspire and inform our work at IDEO.

What's your big question? Visit www.ideobigquestions.com to contribute or download the nifty widget to keep big questions top of mind.

College of Design Visit

Recently, I had the pleasure of facilitating a two-day human-centered design workshop with Meredith Davis and her graduate students at North Carolina State University's College of Design. Energy and insights generated were impressive and inspiring. Thanks to all who contributed a post-it concept or two and for the opportunity to join you for what I hope you agree was an engaging couple of days. For more photo coverage visit here.

Seiko and Final Fantasy

This is an addendum to a previous post about the notable interaction design featured in the computer generated feature length film "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within". Seiko apparently produced a limited editions of watches similar in appearance to the one Dr. Aki Ross wore in the film. Kudos to Seiko for pushing the edge a bit on this one and getting something unique out there in the market. Now if only the film had a slightly better story line. Oh, yeah, and a holographic display on the watch would be cool too.

Back to the Future

Not sure just what is going on over at Cadillac headquarters these days but let's hope they keep it up! Ed Welburn and his design team continue to successfully explore the edged aesthetic reminiscent of some of Syd Mead's vehicle designs which inspired so many to think about what the future of vehicle design might hold. The CTS Coupe concept is another successful design exercise in that regard. Thanks to the folks at Cadillac for bringing back that feeling of future think once again. Now, if we could just start seeing more vehicles like this on the road...ideally with a hybrid power plant.

Dynamic X-Drive Indicator on X6 Coupe

BMW's new X6 Coupe will make its North American debut in Detroit soon. One small but notable bit of interface work that comes along with it is the dynamic x-drive indicator. It displays how torque is being supplied to each wheel of the vehicle. This is potentially a helpful way to keep driver's more in touch with just what their vehicles are doing, provided that it does not take too much attention away from the road itself.

Lamborghini Reventon

Inspired by military aviation and the stealth aesthetic, the Lamborghini Reventon is admirable for its purity of statement. Not a bad performer either as evidenced by its recent run against an Italian Air Force Tornado. View more here.

Sony Rolly

Regardless of how it strikes you from the perspective of an organization investing time and development resources into a product like this, the Sony Rolly is captivating to watch. A candidate for the bivouac's notable products category for sure. Thanks to Nicholas for the heads up.

BMW X3 Commercial with Techniques Revealed

The masters at Digital Domain brought compelling sequence to life with the introduction of the BMW X3 back in 2004. This extended version reveals a few of the techniques used. Nicely done.