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Consumer Electronics Art Design

Published February 18th, 2008 in Tech & VC

95% of consumer electronics aesthetic design is flat-out boring. The lid of every laptop is a wasted opportunity for artistic expression. They are canvases that are ignorantly left blank.

I wish the industrial designers behind consumer electronics devices would take a page from skateboard designers (or dare I say: skateboard artists). What if the cover of my laptop could look like these:

decksfk9.jpg

Or what if my monotone iPod skin was designed by a tattoo artist? Or if the design of my digital camera said, “I’ve been loved by my creator” instead of “I take great photos of family gatherings.”

I’m not advocating the change of functional industrial design. I don’t think consumer electronics ease-of-use and functionality should be sacrificed in favor of aesthetics. Instead, I’m advocating the end of gray, silver, beige casing.

3 Responses to “Consumer Electronics Art Design”  

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  1. 1 michael galpert Feb 18th, 2008 at 9:47 pm

    I think we are at a tipping point of sorts where this will be mainstream in the US in 3 years

    Microsoft is currently making the zune hip by enabling artistic engravings
    http://www.zune.net

    and I think sony in japan sells awesome artistic laptops for their vaios.

    In the meanwhile you can always check out 3rd parties such as

    http://www.decalgirl.com

    or

    http://www.gelaskins.com/

    that can do the trick.

    I’ve all seen some really awesome laser etchings from Philip Torrone over at Make that you might enjoy

  2. 2 jeremy Feb 18th, 2008 at 10:32 pm

    i agree! one of my sisters is an artist– im going to have her draw up a design for my next laptop. you might like this site: http://engraveyourtech.com/

  3. 3 Andrew Parker Feb 19th, 2008 at 7:23 am

    Both great recommendations. Thanks!

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