Industrial Design in the Information Age

-- Professor He Renke, Department of Industrial Design, Hunan University

Since the 1980s, due to the rapid development and popularization of computer technology and the rapid development of the Internet, humanity has entered a new era of information explosion. This enormous change not only drastically changed the technical characteristics of human society, but also had a profound impact on every aspect of human society, economy, and culture. Industrial design, which is a blend of human technology and culture, has also undergone the impact and challenges of this dramatic transformation and has brought about unprecedented major changes.

Computer Technology Development and Industrial Design

The relationship between the development of computer technology and industrial design is very extensive and profound. On the one hand, the application of computers has greatly changed the technical means of industrial design and changed the procedures and methods of industrial design. Corresponding to this, the designer's ideas and ways of thinking have also changed a lot. On the other hand, high-tech represented by computer technology has opened up a whole new field of industrial design. The advanced technology must be combined with excellent design to humanize the technology and truly serve humanity. Industrial design promotes high-tech products. Progress has played an invaluable role, and the history of computer development itself illustrates this point.

Since the appearance of the first electronic computer in 1945, people have been committed to using their powerful functions to carry out various design activities. In the 1950s, Americans successfully developed the first graphic display. In the 1960s, Ivan Sutnerland of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in his doctoral dissertation demonstrated for the first time a series of principles and mechanisms of computer interactive graphics technology, formally proposed the concept of computer graphics, and thus laid the computer graphics technology. The theoretical basis for development has also opened up a wide range of application prospects for computer-aided design. Since the 1980s, with the advancement of science and technology, computers have undergone tremendous leaps in both hardware and software. Computer-aided industrial design has also benefited from its rapidity, efficiency, accuracy, precision, and ease of storage, communication, and modification. Widely used in all areas of industrial design, greatly improving the efficiency of the design. Due to the advent of computer-aided design, the way of industrial design has undergone a fundamental change. This is reflected not only in the drawing of various design drawings by computers, the replacement of sludge models with fast prototype technology, or the simulation of products with virtual reality. Demo etc. What is more important is to establish a parallel structural design system that integrates design, engineering analysis, and manufacturing into a single system, enabling people in different disciplines to respond to each other's information in a timely manner, thereby shortening the development cycle and ensuring design and manufacturing. high quality. These changes require designers to have a higher overall awareness and more engineering and technical knowledge, rather than limited to renderings.

The development of information technology and the Internet has largely changed the pattern of the entire industry. The emerging information industry has risen rapidly and it has begun to replace traditional industries such as steel, automobiles, petrochemicals, and machinery. It has become a new force in the era of knowledge-based economy. Motorola Intel, Intel, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, AOL, Amazon, Cisco and other giants of the IT industry are in full swing. Taking this as an opportunity, the main direction of industrial design has also begun a strategic shift from traditional industrial products to high-tech products and services represented by computers, which have played an extremely important role in the commercialization and humanization of high-tech products. The important role, and produced a lot of classic works, created a new era of industrial design development. Apple Computer in the United States is the most representative work in this area and has become the flagship of industrial design in the information age.

Founded in 1976 in the Silicon Valley of the United States, Apple Computer became one of the top 100 Fortune companies in 1979. Apple pioneered a personal computer and has set many milestones in the development of modern computers. It has played a key role in industrial design. Apple is not only the first in the world to introduce a plastic enclosure integrated personal computer, advocating a graphical user interface and application mouse, and the use of continuous industrial design language continues to introduce refreshing computers, such as the famous Apple II machine, Mac series Machines, Newton Pocket PCs, Powerbook laptops, and other efforts have completely changed the way people think about computers and how they use them. Computers have become very human-oriented tools that make daily work more friendly and humane. As Apple began to pay close attention to the details of each product and consistently followed the design in a series of later products, it became the most creative design organization ever.

The success of Apple Computer depends on the vision and innovation of Steve Jobs, one of its founders. Jobs deeply understands that products must have qualities that the general public can understand and appreciate. For high-tech products, the technical performance and specifications of the product are as important as its appearance and personality. Therefore, while trying to pursue technological innovation, Apple has attached great importance to industrial design. On the one hand, it invites world-class design companies to provide design services for them. On the other hand, it has organized its own high-level industrial design department, thus ensuring the company Unmatched design quality. At Apple, good design is a business strategy, not just an aesthetic choice. In order to ensure the consistency of computer software and hardware, Apple has developed its own system software, which is unique among computer manufacturers. The Apple software's graphical interface, moving cursors, dragging operations, drop-down menus, etc. have long been the industry standard.

In 1998, Apple introduced a brand-new iMac computer, which once again set off a revolutionary wave in computer design and became the focus of global attention. The iMac adheres to the purpose of the humanized design of Apple Computer and adopts an integrated overall structure and pre-installed software. Plugging in the power and telephone lines can be used on the Internet, which greatly facilitates users who use the computer for the first time, eliminating their fear of technology. In terms of appearance, the iMac uses a translucent plastic case, which is elegant and slightly childlike. The colors are tempting candy colors, completely breaking the previous PC's rigorous style and milky-white tone. Technology, high interest has been perfectly reflected here. On the basis of the iMac, Apple has successively launched ibook notebooks and G3 and G4 professional computers, which have had a great impact on the IT industry and have enabled more companies to see the enormous power of industrial design in information generation. Pay more attention to product ideas. It is no exaggeration to say that iMac will bring about a renaissance in computer design.

The soul of the iMac design is Jonathan Ive (1967-), head of Apple's industrial design department. Ivy was born in London, England, studied industrial design at Newcastle University and entered Apple in 1991. His first project at Apple's Newton handheld computer won the "Outstanding Product Design Award" from the American "Industrial Design" magazine and was permanently collected by the New York Museum of Modern Art. In early 1996, Ivey served as the director of Apple's industrial design department. At the time when Apple was in the most difficult period, the Industrial Design Department had high expectations. Ivey lived up to expectations. The Department of Industrial Design soon launched a student laptop eMate with a translucent plastic case that resembles a schoolbag. eMate has achieved great success and foreshadowed the advent of the iMac. In the process of designing the iMac, Ive tried to return to Apple's tradition of creating unique products rather than imitations. Ivey said that over the years, Apple has been trying to get rid of the existing computer standard model. With the iMac, Apple once again established its own personality. Ivy emphasized that the designer must be passionate. He believes passion is very secretive. Too much passion may bring trouble, but passion will enrich our hearts and help in effective communication. On the other hand, he also attached great importance to the needs of users. He said that we can't figure out who the user is. We should be clear about where the users are and what they need. When talking about the design of the iMac, he said: "I want the iMac to be such a design that users won't be afraid of it even if they don't know how the iMac works. I seek that kind of technology without technical understanding Intimate elements, elements that can resonate with people's past memories." The iMac did this.

In addition to Apple, other computer companies also pay great attention to industrial design to enhance the quality of their products and establish a corporate image, IBM is a typical example, IBM is one of the first large companies in the United States to introduce industrial design, in the famous designer Under the guidance of Neuss, IBM created the blue giant image. However, since the 1980s, IBM's industrial design has begun to decline, excellent design has become less and less, brand image tends to be blurred, which also reflects the company's business downturn, the spirit of innovation has gradually disappeared. By the end of the 1980s, IBM had not had much difference with its competitors and had merged into the "milky white" ocean. In order to change this situation, IBM's top executives decided to return to the basics of the design plan - reflecting the personality of IBM with consumer-oriented quality, intimacy and innovative spirit. Through the company's internal top-down efforts, IBM has finally broken through the design of the "Think Pad" notebook, achieving the reinvigoration of the IBM brand and shaping a contemporary, innovative and intimate image. Although Microsoft Corporation is a software development company, it also attaches great importance to industrial design. The company's "easyball" mouse developed for children tries to integrate the software and hardware of the computer into an organic whole. And create a relaxed and pleasant playfulness for children to operate. This product has won the American Industrial Design Excellence Award.

Taiwan’s computer maker Acer has also become a world-class company with a low-profile manufacturer due to its investment in industrial design. In early 1995, Acer foresaw the continuous expansion of the home PC market and decided to focus on the home PC market. So he commissioned the famous Frogdesign to create a new product line. Designers are guided by the needs of people and integrate culture, enthusiasm and stimulation to make personal computers truly personal. The result is a new product, the Aspire, which is located between home appliances and computers. This product is easy to use, suitable for home environments, and has a completely new look. Product modeling is characterized by the arc of the figure. The ventilation holes are randomly distributed, and round holes of different sizes resemble the cut Swiss cheese. The Aspire uses a blue body instead of traditional milky white. This unique design has achieved great success. The market response has exceeded expectations and won the 1996 Computer Design Award of Excellence for the Computer Category Gold Award.

After more than 20 years of development, the computer has become a household product in the homes of ordinary people from the sophisticated equipment in the laboratory. Its appearance has also shifted from a rigorous and rational high-tech style to a more liberal and colorful form. With the further development of technology, the forms of computers will be more diversified, and industrial design will have a long way to go.