OLYMPUS TECHNOZONE Vol.55 2002-10
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INDEX
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The
goal was to create a design with an appealing character
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When I think back to my own elementary school
years, I recall that microscopes seemed highly mechanical, difficult,
and too precise. I like microscopes myself, but I think our first
priority in this project was to create a product that would seem
more approachable. We wanted the product to encourage children
to pick it up and handle it. Our first idea was the blue section
in the middle. We made it barrel-shaped to create an attractive
plump profile.
Microscopes bought for children have always tended to be put away and forgotten
after a brief period of use. We thought if we made the new product reminiscent
of a cartoon character, children would want to keep it close at hand.
----Like Doraemon!? (Doraemon, a rotund robot cat, is a
popular Japanese cartoon character.)"
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The digital microscope MIC-D has a USB interface
and can be hooked up to a personal computer for viewing images
on the screen.
(click on image to expand it) |
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We analyzed the essence of popular product
designs. Our feeling was that people basically like rounded shapes
and the MIC also had a spherical motif.. This provides a sense
of stability. And the resulting product seems to have a body and
a head.
A cartoon character called "MIC-kun" has been created for the web site.
When I see that, I know we were right to build cartoon-like characteristics into
the MIC-D.
There was considerable debate before the MIC-kun
character was finally adopted. Some people thought the eyes were
scary, while others liked the character and thought it had impact.
Some said that MIC-kun's appeal seemed to grow on you after a while.
If we had emphasized only the cartoon character
aspect, the product would have seemed childish. A sense of quality
is also essential. That is why we used die-cast materials for some
components so that parts of the MIC-D would always feel cold to
the touch.
Indeed. But there were many problems to overcome.
Many of the shapes were difficult to engineer. I was always asking
Koji to sit with me at the CAD screen to discuss various problems.
Strange curves also create problems at the
manufacturing stage, as it becomes difficult to stabilize the assembly
process.
For example, this blue silicon part is almost
10mm thick. When I first thought of it, if they had told me it
could not be done, I would have had to do it all over again. But
I believed, without any logical reason, that we could do it.
Over 70 percent of science teachers in elementary
schools and junior high schools in the Kanto region are women,
and their average age is over 40. Our first priority was to create
a design that those teachers would immediately see as being both
clean and easy to use. We chose a basic black and white color scheme
to match the colors of other Olympus microscopes. We added the
blue section as a kind of highlight.
We had to choose the shade of blue used on
this area carefully to avoid creating a toy-like appearance. We
took great care over the precise coloring, and I visited the rubber
manufacturer numerous times to make color adjustments. |
