I've had a few arm-chair designers (and a few professional ones) ask about Zune and design. Curious myself, I sat down with Steve Kaneko: Design Director, Entertainment and Devices Division.
You can find his bio here (scroll down some). Now the interview:
Ok, before I ask you anything, I have to ask the burning question: why brown?
There were many who thought we were crazy when we proposed the brown (“suede” to us staffers) colorway. Why brown? Because love it or hate it, people feel something. Artists and musicians take chances everyday, and so will we. What few people haven’t seen yet is that we didn’t stop with just brown, we encased it in an “anti-freeze green” double-shot. There’s nothing like it out there that resembles the warmth and grittiness of certain styles of music. It is both formal and informal. And it appeals to men and women. It’s a color that’s both everyday and high fashion at the same time.
What role did design play in the project?
I think of the Zune culture as design driven. People here really believe in delighting users, are concerned about aesthetics, and have a holistic view of the brand experience – end to end. Design was there from day one when J Allard and GM Don Coyner decided to jump into this. Industrial Design had the longest lead time so the ID activity had no choice but to ask the fundamental questions: “who we are and what will we stand for?”
Was there a centralized design team in charge of all design aspects, or did separate teams design those elements?
We got some early concepts from a couple of firms before we had real product constraints or even new what our feature set would be. These concepts were useful but we ended up designing 90% of the device, in-house. Our internal designers and engineers have been working with an external firm to design the Zune accessories.
How did design work with the product planning team? How did you agree on the feature set?
Planning was embedded in our process as we designed Zune. We rely on them for understanding the customer base and to identify who our experiences should be targeted to. Agreeing on the feature set was both complex and easy. With Zune, smart people from all disciplines got in a room and hammered out what we’ll build this year. If there was any debate – we had a leadership team ready to make a call quickly so we can get on with it.
How important was it to have a unique visual identity?
We think establishing our own viewpoint as a brand, and that is the source for visual differentiation. I think the problem with so many devices (phones and pc’s included) is there are so few philosophically new viewpoints informing design aesthetics. Everyone is playing in the same sandbox of materials and colors that our customers are drowning in a sea of sameness. It was important to have our own visual identity, if it didn’t compromise doing the right thing for the customer in regards to ergonomics and ease of use.
How did design influence the Zune brand?
Like all great brands, the Zune brand we’re building is a combination of outside influences and inside influences. We work hand in hand with marketing and see marketing as inseparable from product design and development.
Thanks!