Neko
Supreme Overlord
Feb 8, 2004, 5:08 AM
Post #1 of 1
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PLANTATION, Fla. – 26 January 2004 – Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today announced the publication of “Bionics in Action: The Design Work of Franco Lodato”, a new book about the chief designer of the company’s iDEN® Subscriber Group and the practice of bionics, which studies the relationship between design and nature.
The book was written by Jens Bernsen, Kt, M Sc, the internationally acknowledged design strategist and writer. It follows Lodato’s career designing consumer products ranging from shaving razors to mountain climbing axes to frying pans to mobile phones, while demonstrating consistency of design philosophy even among the most diverse products.
Says Bernsen: “Writing this book was a gift. Franco Lodato is unique as a designer because he is deeply committed to the idea of using the designs of nature - physical, chemical and electric – as a source of his designs, rather than simply paying lip service to this idea. Lodato is to the design world what Santiago Calatrava and Renzo Piano are to the world of architecture.”
“Bionics draws from the simplicity, efficiency, functionality, and beauty of design in nature and applies these principles to the design of everyday things,“ said Franco Lodato, IDSA, Creative Director of the Future Design Lab, Motorola’s iDEN Subscriber Group and subject of the book. “No matter what product you are designing, nature is always the best database. There is more in the world to be discovered than there is to be invented.”
Examples of bionics at work in nature include the camouflaging effect of zebras’ stripes, which are designed to confuse their prey yet help young zebras recognize their mothers. The opposite effect holds true for flowers, which are brightly colored to attract bees. Each is a communication method with a purpose and function as well as an aesthetic appeal. Bionics applies the design philosophy of animals and plants in nature to the industrial design of products, making them attractive yet functional and efficient.
In the book, Bernsen writes, “Nature prefers simplicity. Yet, it achieves simplicity in a demanding way by always acknowledging the complexity of the purpose at hand, whether in one single organism or in the interplay between a multitude of living species in a habitat. That is the guiding principle of the designs of nature. That is nature’s timeless way ... this is not a choice between form or function. In nature it is always the two simultaneously.”
These principles can be applied to even the most high-tech products. At Motorola, Lodato works on future concepts such as wearable computing systems that integrate wireless goggles with mobile phones. The result of applied bionics to the business of mobile computing is a new class of products so elegant and inconspicuous that they are evolving into wearable communications devices, such as goggles that show holographic displays, take pictures, and transmit audio. These future technologies may one day be integrated within the human body, according to Lodato.
The book includes a preface by Paolo Pininfarina, chairman and CEO of Pininfarina Extra, the industrial design company behind such iconic cars as Ferrari and Maserati.
“I can see a great deal of similarity between Franco’s work and the work done by Pininfarina in over seventy years in the field of industrial design,” Pininfarina writes. “When I see that Franco carefully studies how fish move in their aquatic environment, I cannot help thinking of the intuitive aerodynamic research that inspired my grandfather, Pinin Farina, in the Thirties to develop advanced shapes which would be able to guarantee the maximum aerodynamic performance of vehicles.”
A native of Italy, Lodato is a graduate of the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan and the Venezuelan Institute of Technology. He holds degrees in both design and biology, as well as patents on many well-known household products.
The book is published by StoryWorks.DK.
About the Author, Jens Bernsen, Kt, M Sc EE
Jens Bernsen is the author of a dozen books on design, including such titles as “DESIGN: The Problem Comes First”, “Every New Idea...”, “Designing Names of Products and Companies”, “Sound in Design” and the designer portraits “Hans J. Wegner” and “Verner Panton”.
Bernsen is founder of BERNSEN DesignStrategy A/S and StoryWorks ApS. He served as Director of the Danish Design Centre from 1977 until 2001. He has received several awards for his work including the Worldesign92 Award from the Industrial Designers Society of America “for having taken DDC from infancy to world leadership”, the AIA Institute Honors (1992) and a Danish Knighthood (2002). Bernsen lectures and advises companies on design strategy, concept making and communication throughout the world.
About Motorola’s iDEN Subscriber Group
Motorola’s iDEN handsets combine the capabilities of a digital wireless phone with “always on” Internet access, text pager, and two-way radio to enable users to instantly communicate with one or many individuals at the push of a button. For further information on iDEN handsets, visit www.motorola.com/iden.
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