There are many compact home audio systems nowadays that try to integrate audio from iPods and FM radio. But in almost every product I checked out, there was some compromise that sacrificed connectivity or sound quality.
I wanted true stereo separation that is not possible with small all-in-one units. I wanted to feel the sound. I wanted “easy to use”, (difficult to quantify, I know). What this meant for me was an elimination of the “digital stuff” of audio setup (apart from the iPhone of course). I didn’t want a glorified clock radio.
And it still had to be a compact system to satisfy Sarah’s desires, and the constraints of our living room.
Back in December, Sarah bought me this very cool 1970s Sony FM tuner from Hawthorne Vintage. This unit is radio only (no amplifier) and offered a great retro centerpiece that was very easy and satisfying to use. Tuning the radio is a fun experience itself: turning the physical knob, watching the large dial turn and hearing each station blur past, aligning it so that the signal is strongest. It’s an activity that I think is missed on modern digital systems. It’s a bit like the fun you get from a manual transmission on a car: its probably not the most efficient system, but it can be more fun.
Next I set about finding the appropriate speakers to go with it. A subwoofer was out since there was no place for it. I settled on these AudioEngine A2 speakers purchased from Amazon. In addition to their great reviews for sound quality, I purchased them for their extremely simple and iconic design. They were just “speakers”. They sound great, and for the most part look great. The company did decide somewhere along the way to slap their logo on the front in the most unconsidered way, which does detract from their appearance.
So overall I am very happy with this setup, apart from the logo. Sometimes you just have to create your own setup to meet your needs.
A photo-illustration composite.
This illustration started as a sketch I created about 5 years ago in an old sketchbook. I completed it using textures and found-images painted together in Photoshop.
Courtesy of Gizmodo.com
Gizmodo has a nice overview of a topic I’ve been considering for quite some time: the complexity of Japanese cell phone interfaces. This is an issue that has seemingly plagued these phones for quite some time, but has recently been thrust into the limelight by a certain touchscreen phone designed in Cupertino.
Now, if you believe the rumors of the iPhone’s $150 million development cost, my guess is that most of that cost was not for the hardware design. It would not surprise me if the majority of that cost was for engineering the iPhone’s software stack.
This scale of expense begins to make sense when considering every layer of the iPhone–its OS, through the application UI and graphic support layers, to the apps themselves– are engineered for user experience first.
Seems obvious at first, but this type of no-compromises design approach to even the smallest details of the iPhone software experience has enormous ramifications on the customer’s emotional connection to the product. Imagine having a discussion with a software engineer to create the “jiggle” effect on the iPhone’s home screen icons on a “normal” product development cycle. Without the enormous investment in the iPhone’s software stack that makes this feature possible, it makes complete sense why this level of detail hasn’t made it into past products.
So now, as with whenever a paradigm-shifting product appears in the market, the industry will play catch-up.
http://gizmodo.com/5069366/why-zen-software-design-does-not-come-from-japan
PS: Don’t want an iPhone? Get a CiPhone!
This blog is truly coming soon. After years of useless silence on the web, I finally have some concrete plans for this site. Generally the content will cover observations on design, photography, and music. But a component of this blog will also be in the form of a sketchbook to capture thoughts and ideas relating to product design. Stay tuned.
