There’s something subliminally alluring about brilliant design.
We rarely know why it pleases us, but when it does, we’re irresistibly desirous.
Shape, size, texture: all are capable of sucking us in and seducing us.
Subjective, of course, but our minds are wired to instinctively know when something is beautiful.
Designers of cars, furniture, and fashion have been leveraging these most human of emotional responses for more than a hundred years.
Now tech, too, is getting in on the act.
In a competitive market, it seems form is as key as functionality.
“The look and style of a product is hugely important to its user,” says Torbjorn Karlssen, Product Manager at Swedish-based global audio and video collaboration endpoints giant Konftel, where design is in the DNA.
“A demand for style and aesthetic appeal has its roots in the consumer market, but people want that experience in the workplace now too. Ours are enterprise products but their design is consumer-led.
“Of course, the functionality and the quality is where any product starts but, for us, the design is not a second thought.
“The conception, the innovation, the manufacture: the process has a critical design imperative running right through it from beginning to end.
“For us, it is always about the combination of cutting-edge technological performance and understated elegance. Both are given equal focus.
“It’s simple: our products have to be beautiful as well as functional.”
A Scandinavian touch
It’s likely that Konftel’s Swedish origins and Scandinavian sensitivities play a major role in its success.
It’s multiple Red Dot award-winning range of audio and video conferencing devices are uncomplicated and super-cool.
Bold yet beautiful; delicious yet discreet.
In its development stages, the latest – the Konftel 70 – was codenamed internally ‘Stingray’ by virtue of its striking sleek, triangular form. A coveted Red Dot design award is testament to its visual appeal.
Sitting elegantly yet imposingly in the centre of the world’s more discerning meeting room tables, it oozes style and, some say, helps set a positive tone in the room which promotes dynamism and confidence among those present.
“When we design, we are always thinking of the environments our products will occupy and the emotional impact they will have on the user,” says Karlsson.
“Organisations are investing significantly in high-quality, high-design new office spaces to take account of the new post-pandemic hybrid model of increased remote working and video conferencing.
“We believe it is hugely important for our products to look good in those crisp, contemporary new environments; to complement the space and help create a certain mood.
“Our products make a statement. They say this is an organisation which values quality and sophistication. It helps send a message to employees that they are valued.
“It’s no longer just very senior people who take part in video conferencing. Today, everyone is in and out of conference calls and using conferencing equipment.
“Of course, the sound and video quality is paramount, but significant added value is also derived from the equipment being beautiful.”
The role of fabric
Touch, too, is part of the mix.
Konftel cleverly integrates fabric into the design of its range: giving a softer, natural, more organic feel.
To emphasise elegance, the purely functional components, such as speakers and microphones, appear to have been somehow magically concealed, so as to accentuate a sense of luxe simplicity.
“Our designers are encouraged to be free and to express themselves,” says Karlsson.
“They understand that their contribution to the success of any product is huge.”
Not that simply looking good guarantees that success, of course.
Konftel’s award-winning OmniSound technology inside all of its climate neutral products would doubtless have something to say about that.
Design, though, surely IS giving functionality a run for its money.
Combine the two, and things REALLY look good…
