“This is everything a corporate design team dreams of doing…they changed the vocabulary and strategy of management with design innovation fuelled by user understanding.”
--Alistair Hamilton, IDSA, vice president, corporate innovation and design,
Gold
Computer Equipment
Lenovo Opti Desktop PC
CREDIT: ZIBA Design, Inc. and Lenovo Group Limited (China)
The design objective of this modular multimedia PC was to respond to the unique needs of Chinese consumers--specifically power users--and harmonize with Chinese culture. The team resisted a one-size-fits-all solution and instead sought cultural insight to drive the design. Through extensive cultural research, designers identified the visual expressions and colors that best express the values of this user group, including complexity, color, rawness, power and control. The system also offers a unique modularity allowing users to easily modify and upgrade components and configure the system to fit their personal space requirements. Opti's demo at the 2004 Beijing Tech show helped reposition Lenovo from a price-driven clone maker to a visionary innovator. The Opti also gave Lenovo its first experience with a Western-style approach to design and business development.