Distinctive handheld devices
Inevitably, the appeal of Sony design—or rather, what we find appealing—lies in devices that we hold in our hands. Last year, I was appointed to a committee for Kokoku Hihyo (Monthly Advertisement Comment Magazine, Madra Publishing). We voted for the ten best commercials of 2005. The five top ads were all for products held in the hand. The fact that we hold them is very significant, and obviously, it’s a key field for Sony.
Distinctive portable devices must have a character that’s easily apparent because they’re small, after all, which makes this the business of character, so to speak. If a device’s character is not clear, somehow it’s harder to pick it up. Everyone wants Kamen Rider or Pokémon goods, for example, because they have a clear sense of character. I see something like this effect in portable devices. This is just what experience tells me, not based on any brain science. A notable example of this is the unusually strong desire among consumers for dedicated 1seg devices. I wish brain science or cognitive science could explain this well! My current theory is that although consumers obviously seek devices that are easy to use, another key to success is, as I’ve said, how portable devices assert a distinctive character.
Design evolution
I think conceptions of traditional design certainly have their place. These are significant enough, and designers must master related skills, among others, and uphold these ideals. Yet I sense that the forefront of design is constantly changing, and what’s most exciting is how designers are linking design that includes the unseen network environment with design of tangible things. We can’t touch the intangible design that encompasses the network environment, so packaging this into a shape we can actually pick up and touch—that’s the grand challenge involved. At the same time, it seems a good idea, as I’ve said, to follow the principle of subtraction, and not cram in too many functions.
Designers draw on experience for much of their work, but I think they could also benefit from a good understanding of concepts in brain science. In this field, we often see the words haptic and affordance. Haptic aspects of design deal with our sense of touch, and affordance relates to how an object’s properties (including its shape, color, and material) clue users in on how to handle it. Of course, designing is a bit more sophisticated than this, and individual designers do their best despite the complexity to produce each design. To understand diverse and complex design, we must find the right concepts or words. We must have keen insight. That’s why, although the inertia of pouring all your efforts into one new design after another is essential, it’s also critical to raise your metacognition—that is, your ability to scrutinize and recognize, from another perspective, our own behavior, ways of thinking, amount of knowledge, characteristics, faults, and so on.
