Rethinking Size: Sizing Strategies for Creating Living Spaces
What size should a product be? One of the first things everyone thinks about
in the early stages of developing a new product is sizing strategy.
Is it something that you want people to carry around to use, or to put in
a definite, fixed place? And where do you want it positioned in the store? In
what kind of situation do you want people to pick it up?
Height, width, depth. It is simply a question of the total of these three
measurements, but there lies the message containing the developer’s intention.
It’s not unusual for habit to be the determining factor in deciding
a product’s size. Think of pens that tend to be about 14cm long. Many manufacturers
never even think about why that size is used. But if you take the trouble to
look at how people live and behave, it is perfectly clear that pens could come
in a wide variety of lengths.
People’s lifestyles are changing by the day. That being the case, questioning
size standards that have been used until now and rethinking the whole thing will
also expand opportunities for developing new suggestions for use.
In the course of every day life, what do people do and what size of product
are they looking for? What kind of size are they looking for in their home space
and their work space? Taking another, much closer look at what consumers do,
and rethinking sizing, is the clue to a new approach to markets. Where do people
want things to be within their living space? This main feature analyzes this
and introduces examples of new sizing approaches.
(Takehiko Imai, Kenichiro Ota, Hiroshi Maruo)
• Home Sizing
- Sharp Internet AQUOS
- Epson Colorio me:
- Coca Cola Japan Midipet
- Ajinomoto Glyna
- Tombow Irojiten
- Meiji Seika Chocolife
Mitsubishi Motor Triton
• Pocket Sizing
- Shu’s Selection Mobile Flats etc.
- Tombow PFit
- Honda Plus Card Size Pet Bottle
- Taiho Pharmaceutical Pelex Troche
• Mimesis Sizing
- Taiho Pharmaceutical Zenol xum FX
- Sony Plaza One Second
- Glico Bleo
- Waterman Audace
- Pilot Reje
- Capsule Letter
- Plantronics Plantronics Discovery 640
- Ryohin Keikaku Supplement Refill Container
Epson Direct Endeavor ST100
•Palm Sizing
- Words Gear Words Gear
- Sharp W-ZERO3
- Sony VAIO Type U
- SK-II Air Touch Foundation
SPECIAL FEATURE
Roundup of Emerging Design Ventures
Discussion with Naoki Sakai on Design Management: Part 7
Akihiro Kuroda, President,
Kokuyo Co., Ltd.
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