With the aim of bringing the ultimate sensory experience to our customers while also presenting them with cutting-edge innovations in craftsmanship, we initiated a partnership with Bang & Olufsen ICEpower® , one of the
best-known sound system
manufacturers in the world.
At their very first meeting at CeBIT,
Bang & Olufsen ICEpower® design guru David Lewis raised several questions with Mitch Yang, the president of the Asus Design Center. Among the first discussed were, “Why must all laptops look alike?” and “What’s stopping us from creating a laptop which compliments the decor of a home while also offering exceptional audio and visual functionality?”
We would look for the sustainable ideas that gives the product the unique reason to exist which every product most have. A sustainable idea makes the product stand out from the rest, let the product be easily recognized. The product should be different, but not strange. In other words the difference should be understandable and make sense. The idea should be long lasting.
For the ASUS high end notebook David Lewis had in mind the customer that want a bigger laptop good enough to enter the living room and take the central position. The user care about what he has in his house and do want to have quality items. Also he may not be afraid to stand out a little form the crowd.
Our experience with Bang & Olufsen ICEpower® taught us a great deal. We learned that the Scandinavian approach encompasses many factors that are not normally encountered in traditional computing design. The idea that designers should try to make the most out of the material’s innate texture and functionality was quite novel, as was the notion that all superfluous design should be avoided.
Furthermore, the requirement that products should serve a lifespan of 5 to 10 years served to raise the bar on our definitions of what quality entailed.
These concepts have now been incorporated into the philosophy of the Asus Design Center, taking us a step further in our work. The work with Bang & Olufsen ICEpower® has bolstered our focus on designing products that are both technologically advanced and aesthetically pleasing, and only increased our dedication to constantly designing with the needs and wishes of people at the very forefront of our minds.
The revolution in design stemmed from rethinking four core elements of laptop design. Firstly, the very “concept” of a laptop was placed in question. The project began by challenging idea that a laptop is no more than an accessory or tool at the most fundamental level.
David Lewis envisioned a laptop which contributed to the aesthetic beauty of the home environment, regardless of whether it was
currently in use or not. Secondly, the “form” of the laptop was revised, meaning that the laptop would be capable of providing a groundbreaking, fully immersive high-defition widescreen experience.
“Material” referred to the attention placed on even the most minute details, such as the flawless grace of its glossy surfaces and the smooth, silky texture of the keyboard. Finally, the “interface” was redesigned from the ground up. Twin touchpads, inspired by both pianos and DJ turntables, were included to give the user a more intuitive means of control.
As well as that, the two speakers were not placed in their the traditional position underneath the keyboard, but were instead built into either side of the screen, facing the user. The result was an interactive experience that was unprecedented in the world of mobile computing - a laptop that had earned its place of prominence in the home.
