OLYMPUS TECHNOZONE Vol.52 2001-12
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Cameras No Longer Have to Be Black.
The Olympus "[mju:]" Comes in Champagne-gold.
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![[mju:]](/en/magazine/techzone/vol52_e/img/myu.gif) [mju:]-II 170 VF (2001, design byAkinori Mitsuse) |
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----The [mju:] II 170VF was also awarded the G-Mark this
time. Design plays a crucial role in the success of the [mju:]
series. When did the [mju:] series take its current form?
About five years ago, it began with [mju:]
II
----Did you make the body color champagne-gold at
that time?
The Zoom 105 3x zoom model was the first to
come in champagne-gold. Until then, common sense was that all cameras
had to be black, so Mr. Yamamoto's idea was a real breakthrough.
----Where did the idea come from?
I don't really want to say this, but the[mju:]
itself was meant to give its user an illusion, so to speak (laugh).
It looks smaller than the actual size and it looks metallic even
though it isn't made of metal. Shortly before we launched[mju:
], another company released a camera made of metal. There were
people who were still assuming that cameras had to be black and
made of plastic, saying, "This is what we offer and this is
how we are supposed to compete." But, inside I felt this was
risky. Because we didn't think we stood a chance of success with
ordinary shape and paint, we pretended as if we didn't know any
better and submitted a plated prototype with rounded corners for
color specification. And when we did, it really worked. This is
how we came up with the champagne-gold body. It was expensive paint,
so people were telling us that it would cost more than metal.
The design group had proposed cameras painted
in various colors in the past, but each time, the developer side
rejected the idea because cameras were supposed to be black. But
since the launch of [mju:]-Zoom
105 in 1997, if we ever proposed black, they would question it
and want to know why. (laugh)
----What a dramatic change!
Before we started development on [mju:]-ZOOM105,
I went to Europe and the United States and visited camera shops
to do some research. I talked to salespeople who handled a variety
of cameras and asked how Olympus's design compared with the others.
They were very straightforward and I came back with good practical
information that was very helpful in the design of [mju:]-ZOOM105. |
