Products that inspire me
For a while now, I have been starting my university courses by asking students: “What is your favourite product and why?”. What I just found out is that I’m not really able to answer that question because there are just so many great products out there. The list would be too long. And the criteria? What is more important: great use of a technology or historical relevance? Concept or implementation?
So I decided to take some time and think about it, and after removing the trivial ones that everyone loves for the same reason, I came up with a list of six. These are not necessarily the ones I use the most, or I would ever use at all, but instead the ones that inspire me the most when I try to solve design problems, or when I have to evaluate my own work.
Braun Nizo S8
What’s it all about?
No “great product” list without at least one from Braun. They had some great designs back in the Rams era. But the Nizo line is bigger than that. Actually, these cameras were originally produced by Niezoldi & Krämer GMBH, a small camera maker from Germany, founded in 1925, debuting with their Nizo 35, advertised as one of the first amateur film cameras. “1–2–3, and you can make a film”. What they did was quite a technology innovation: they built a special clockwork drive that made it possible to use this camera without special equipment (like a crank and a tripod) and special knowledge. Still, it would be quite an overstatement to call these cameras “design icons” (check out the Heliomatic SR2 from 1951). They were complicated, hard to understand, hard to use, and really not a great commercial success. Braun bought the company in 1962 and saved it from bankruptcy. Based on the the original, truly advanced technology, and the Nizo promise of turning filmmaking available for everyone, combined with the vision of the early 1960s Braun (and the rare talent of Robert Oberheim) created the true design masterpieces known to every Braun fan and vintage camera lover. And commercial success followed — Nizo made 10 cameras a day in the 1930s — by the 1970s, the apex of the Super8 boom, they made 300.
I had the chance to use a Nizo only once in my life (it was a Nizo Integral 5, one of the last models Braun made) when I shot my first short film. And it truly lived up to the promise they made: it was not a home video camera for recording memories, but a great, empowering experience for novice or amateur filmmakers, with close-to-zero practice with analogue materials, of making a vision come true.
How it inspires me?
True innovation doesn’t only come from cutting edge technology. It comes from connecting that technology to people, and through that connection, empowering and enabling them to achieve things they could never do otherwise. It’s about turning ordinary people into superheroes.
X-Tigi S18 Powerbank (A.K.A. Galace SQ S18)
What’s it all about?
This phone doesn’t really have an official name. It is sold under different (probably fake) brands in different African countries by different carriers and resellers. Let’s just call it “the big black phone”. Emmanuel Quartey has a more detailed story about it, in short: this phone is specifically designed to solve the problems of people in (Western) Africa. It has a huge battery. Why? Because electricity in Africa is not perfectly guaranteed. There are long power outages in some countries, so you need a phone that can hold up for ages. Even better, this phone doubles as a powerbank, so you can even charge your other electronics with it. It houses 3 SIM cards, Why? Because it’s a great way to optimize costs — you can use different cards for different times-of-day, location, etc. In Africa, this is an important differentiating factor. Strong LED light? Well, during a 36 hour blackout, it’s a great makeshift lighting. It’s even coupled with a hook on the top, that (at least according to one interpretation) is designed to hold the phone. Still, my favourite feature in this phone is that it’s said to have a really superb FM receiver— again, in Africa, a big part of the population make a living in agriculture — so the weather forecast is crucial. The best way to get it is from the radio.
How it inspires me?
For me, this phone represents what true immersion, empathy, and understanding of people’s problems can create. I’m almost sure that this phone is not the product of a classic Design Thinking process — still, it represents what Design Thinking should create. True innovation comes from true understanding of true human problems — and sometimes, it comes from places you wouldn’t expect it from. A great inspiration for more is Toby Shapshak’s TED Talk about innovation in Africa, You don’t need an app for that.
The R language
What’s it all about?
If you have ever learned statistics, you probably know R. If you haven’t: it’s an open source environment for statistics. At the moment, it’s pretty much the de facto standard for scientific data analysis and sharing results. It’s quite old school (which is no surprise, as it was created in 1992, based on S, which was created in 1976), but the way it was created (and the way it works now) is really interesting. When John Chambers and his team created S, what they were trying to achieve is an easy-to-use, easy-to-learn tool for learning and using statistics, and also to make sharing knowledge easier. So what they created is really long user lifecycle quite similar to the journey of a video game. For me, it resembles Minecraft a lot. First, you understand the basics of how this world works (in R, the syntax). Then, you start interacting with it with the tools at hand (you type simple functions to do exploratory analysis). In the meantime, you don’t just get more familiar with the tool, but also start to have a better understanding of how data and exploratory analysis works (you run more complex analytics, maybe even some data transformation). And when you have really learned it (as in, you are able to create reusable pieces of code, maybe even your own libraries), you don’t just get better at using a tool, but you actually become a better data analyst, and a better researcher. What I personally love the most about it is the way it changes people’s way of looking at data — instead of closed, “scientists only” attitude of other platforms, it actively helps you share your findings and methods — and as a result, makes the whole scientific community more transparent.
How it inspires me?
Making products that can profoundly change the world requires designing for at least two non-trivial things: extremely long term usage (as in, a learning curve of years and a lifecycle of decades), and freedom to express. The makers of R mastered this by building a well-established long term journey in a strongly domain-specific software. What really proves that this was a success is that R is not only used by statistics professionals, but it’s also one of the primary tools universities use for teaching statistics as a domain.
Defakto Eins
What’s it all about?
Defakto Eins is a one-hand watch. It’s simplistic, it’s purist, it looks great, but it’s more than that. The concept behind it is this: “The lack of precision will fine-tune your intuition and decelerate your day. This one-hand watch will change your perception of time the good way — life your pace.” This statement, combined with the extremely minimalistic design makes this piece one of the most purposeful products I have seen lately. It has a very well articulated view of what the creator believes is a better way of leading your life, and uses the design to articulate that, but only that, and nothing more.
How it inspires me?
Artefacts, created by designers, profoundly determine the way we connect with the world around us, even with things as fundamental as time itself. There is no such thing as “just a watch”, or “just a phone”, or “just an app”. Every design decision we make will change the way people will live their lives (in some extent) — so every decision should be purposeful. Like the watch that changes your perception of time just by a very small design decision — removing one hand.
X.ai
What’s it all about?
It doesn’t seem like that big of a deal: X.ai schedules meetings for you with the help of AI. I have been using smart calendars/task managers for a while now. My favourite, Timeful (now acquired by Google and being re-released as Google Calendar features) actually changed my life. But X.ai is a different breed. What is special about it is that it doesn’t have any custom interface (as in app, website, anything), you (and people you have meetings with) communicate with it only via emails. Just like with an actual assistant. I have only been on the receiving end of Amy emails yet (but I’ll probably just pay if I don’t get the trial soon :) ). At first, it is quite an uncanny valley experience — I mean, how do you reply to an AI? What is the protocol for that? But after a couple of minutes of creepiness, it’s just the most natural interaction ever. No interfaces to learn, logins to remember, nothing to understand. What I love about it is that it really is what designers call a metaphor — and a very elaborate one. Based on just the technology (an AI that schedules meetings with calendar integration), nothing predestines it to behave like this — just like nothing in the internal technology of an operating system predestines it to be represented as flat desktop. And just by using the metaphor of a personal assistant, all the necessary knowledge is transferred to both primary (the subscribers of the service) and secondary (people they interact with) users. This basically eliminates learning curves, and helps integrate the technology, which is quite an advanced one, into the lives of people.
How it inspires me?
This is a great way of understanding product (and UX) design and really living up to that. Lots of times we say things like “Our job is to create the best ways for people to interact with technology/products/services” — but most of the times we mean “…interact with technology/products/services through our custom designed, optimized, special interfaces”. It’s an ego thing. Designing purely for people, having their needs and their lives as the top priorities sometimes means letting go of the most visible results of our work, and spending our time crafting email copy instead. And sometimes, it feels really great.
mi.mu gloves
What’s it all about?
Mi.mu is basically a glove for interacting with music in a more natural way. You can check out Imogen Heap showing them in action at TEDxCERN. What it does is it translates movements of the hand to music (with the help of proper skills and software, of course). It is really based on a very fundamental human experience with music — it is profoundly connected with our bodies. We dance to express this connection. Even if we don’t dance, we have almost irresistible urges to move just a little with the rhythm. Why couldn’t this natural connection be used for creation, or a broader self-expression, too? It empowers people to create in new, more natural ways. Create music that is based on a fundamental, visceral intuition.
How it inspires me?
Great design and great products don’t have to stop at giving people ways to accomplish simple tasks. They can inspire people to create in ways they haven’t before, things they haven’t been able to create before. Connect with not just the outside world, but also with their deep self. Building on the ways people already interact with the world and taking these connections to the next level can help create truly inspiring things.
So this was my list. Do you also have something that inspires you? Please share it!
Let me know your thoughts. Really. You can also follow me here or on Twitter @csertanakos. It’s okay to 💚, too :)
