I found a really great interview with the designers of the Vaio P series on the Sony Design website. This is a very interesting read. I will probably be porting alot of those stories from Sony Design over here because I think that people can really identify with these products after reading them. Be sure to check out our other Vaio P Developer Story post as well. Enjoy.
PCG-C1MZX invited you to take your digital photos and videos with you, for the first time. The U Series introduced a grippable mobile computing format. VAIO models have been there at every turn in the history of ultraportables. The eagerly awaited next stage in this evolution is the P Series, no bigger than a comfortably sized keyboard. Less is more in this polished design, but the VAIO P Series is full of Sony’s customary attention to offering people something more.
Shinichi Ogasawara, Chief Art Director
Tomoaki Takuma, Senior Producer
Shinichi Iriya, Producer and Senior Designer
Miho Akita, Designer
Yoko Iida, Designer
Just what many have craved, keyboard-sized mobility
Ogasawara: To exchange email, view online photos or videos, or check something online, many people just reach for their mobile phone. But that certainly doesn’t make ultraportables any less useful. It’s easy to imagine where they make sense. Relaxing in your living room, updating a blog with a lot of text, for example. You can’t easily jot down notes on a mobile phone, and a full-sized notebook would be overkill. That’s when the convenience of ultraportables is very tempting. No other tool comes close, in these situations.
Wireless networks and blogs are more popular than ever, in fact. It would be no fair if techies had all the fun with ultraportables. Subnotebooks can be much more than outdoor gear for tech enthusiasts. What this category needs is something like everyday stationery anyone can just reach for to do a little writing. That’s the thinking behind the VAIO P Series, a project born from this necessity.
With this as a priority of ours, we reviewed a range of input devices and looked into quite a few ways people can enter text. We felt out the possibilities ourselves, so to speak, by making many 3D models at actual size and trying them out. The VAIO P Series keyboard represents a solid decision that proved its worth through this in-depth process. It’s not a cheap component by any means. And that’s how we arrived at the concept of a keyboard-sized unit that offers the great mobility of an ultraportable.
A pure expression of the concept
Takuma: Finding a usable depth, narrow enough to pick up one-handed, was something I spent time on in product design. If it wasn’t this size, each time you picked it up to take with you, you’d have to reposition it to hold it securely. This shape eliminates the hassle. Casually lift it from a table, without any effort, just as you would pick up a wallet or organizer—that was a goal. You’d be surprised how many 3D models we made studying the size. Keeping screen size, battery and hard disk capacity, and other aspects of usability in mind, we picked up each one during testing as we narrowed down the perfect size.
The keyboard itself features isolated keys. It’s a traditional format for Sony, introduced in notebooks years ago, and it helps express a sense of originality and distinctive VAIO styling. Women with long nails will appreciate how this kind of keyboard prevents the discomfort of your nails getting caught between keys. It’s also nicer to touch the tip of the stick pointer, which is subtly knurled. This makes the pointer durable, easier to keep clean, and more comfortable as a finger rest.
Look at the body, without the screen, and it seems as if we cut the keyboard out of a regular VAIO notebook. Imagine carrying just a keyboard with you. That’s the concept, and I think the VAIO P Series is the purest expression of it.
A showcase of refined aesthetics
Takuma: Aesthetically, we wanted to set a new standard in design for ultraportables. It’s minimalistic design, ultimately natural and backed by decisions that seem inevitable for such a tool. In this respect, it’s like a fine fountain pen.
The seamless, smooth top cover seemed fitting. But at the same time, we had to combine different materials: a magnesium alloy to ensure durability and plastic surfaces for better wireless LAN reception. This called for difficult fabrication, combining two materials with different manufacturing properties. On the bottom cover as well, we took care to conceal screws and vents. It’s something already done on mobile phones, so there was no excuse not to try it on computers.
Notice when you pick up the product yourself that we’ve also moved stickers of authenticity out of the way. You know, those stickers ensuring you it’s a genuine version of the operating system or processor. We’re usually under considerable pressure to put these in a prominent position. But in the VAIO P Series, they’re in the battery compartment, which is essentially out of sight.
From any angle, the VAIO P Series looks perfectly natural. Nothing sticks out, grabbing your attention. But behind the scenes, it took a lot of effort to achieve this—extra care by our designers and engineers, persistent negotiation with business partners, and so on.
Unearthing colors that excite discerning consumers
Akita: Potential owners of VAIO P Series models probably recognize beauty and know a good thing when they see it. They value the subtle gleam of authenticity, something essential that took time to create. With this in mind, I found inspiration for the body colors in ores and valuable minerals. White, red, green, and black (the last from Sony Style). That’s the four-color palette we used for the VAIO P Series.
Each is simple, but far from bland. Why do valuable minerals capture and hold our attention? The coloring, depth, and luster changes subtly with the light or viewing angle. This play of colors inspired the expressive tones of the VAIO P Series, which reveal a variety of appearances and will earn a place in their owners’ hearts. All surfaces look presentable, and it seems as solid as an ingot. For these design qualities, we managed to create glossy surfaces both in front and back.
That was much easier said than done. The VAIO P Series top cover is made of different materials than the bottom cover. Different materials call for different coatings and manufacturing processes, and we must work with different business partners. It’s no easy task to have matching colors. Again and again, we checked the prototypes and adjusted the hues. Even apparently trivial tasks took a lot of time and effort.
After this, we coordinated the colors of the bezel and stick pointer with the body color. These little details show our regard for VAIO owners. As you see the VAIO P Series in various lighting conditions, I know you’ll appreciate it.
Years of ideas launched in a single product
Iriya: In this project, we also customized the desktop wallpaper to match the body colors. The version for a particular body color comes preinstalled. They’re stylish and feel more substantial than regular VAIO wallpaper. The decision flies in the face of convention, though. Manufacturers usually install the same wallpaper to streamline production, and brighter graphics tend to look better in stores. But we were encouraged by the strength of the product itself and our unspoken agreement about our customers’ eye for beauty.
The VAIO P Series is also special because it introduces many ideas we have been studying for years. One example is side-by-side windows. To view two open windows at the same time, just press a dedicated button to tile them on the left and right. The screen is 8 inches wide but its high resolution (1680 × 768 dots) presents a fair view of both windows at once. You can take advantage of this when referring to a webpage on one side while writing in a file on the other.
There’s another button just for accessing the xross media bar. Even when the full operating system is not running, you can access music, photos, video, and the Internet. Instant Mode is also found in previous VAIO computers. Not only is it convenient on the VAIO P Series, it offers a more consistent view of media when you take the little notebook to your living room, where a Sony TV or other products have the same interface. These features have great potential to make the VAIO P Series much easier to use, as an ultraportable.
Only the beginning of the story, for fashion-minded owners
Iida: In this project, we were busier than ever exploring notebook fashion accessories. We designed a full range of cases in particular. Besides traditional leather cases, there’s a gold-colored leather case, a leather cover, and nylon pouches. Applying leatherworking techniques to work with this material took some effort, but we created several attractive cases. They caught everyone’s eye in our department.
In fact, we were exploring accessories even before the appearance of the notebook was finalized. Our brainstorming sessions involved women who were heavy notebook users. Men inevitably tend to be more biased toward technical specs, such as the memory or battery capacity. But for the women in our groups, getting a new possession is only the beginning of the process of personalization. Get a new mobile phone, and you can get a new strap to go with it. Another possession, another chance to put your own signature on it.
We gleaned valuable insight from these meetings, and we applied the knowledge to create several non-commercial sample cases. The cases were individually crafted by experts to explore style. We used exotic material (such as crocodile and rabbit leather) and a little finesse to fashion clutches, shoulder bags, and other accessories. They were so impressive that the managing editor of a magazine covering development pleaded with us to let him purchase one, at any cost. It reminded me how powerful desire for the finer things or things that express your individuality can be.
Ogasawara: The VAIO P Series is a new landmark in the ultraportable scene. Designers and engineers in several fields collaborated from an early stage in development, reaching beyond the boundaries of any single field to create a highly polished product. It’s an excellent example of Sony style and traditions. In fact, that’s just how we introduced the legendary VAIO 505, which heralded the age of truly mobile computers. Although the market is crowded with products using efficient, next-generation processors, we’re confident that design sets the VAIO P Series apart.
