Blurring the lines

Industrial design is turning stereotypes upside down.

Traditional gender stereotypes in product design just don't cut it anymore — and pink is definitely out. As Jeanna Kimbré, manager of colours and materials at Sony Ericsson in Lund, says: "Why does a woman's phone have to be pink?"

The answer is simple: it doesn't. Kimbré says products can target women without putting them into categories.

She thinks that the Sony Ericsson Z300 mobile phone does just that.

"It very much caters to women — it fits in a handbag and to the size of the female hand," she says. "But it doesn't have to be pink. It's silver and grey but still has a female touch."

Product design is also becoming more universal. Elisabeth Ramel-Wåhrberg, industrial designer at Ergonomidesign in Stockholm says: "We make products that are for people to use." Unless there's a specific reason to do so, she doesn't divide products into male and female.

Nevertheless, good design recognises the differences between men's and women's physiology. Maria Benktzon, also an industrial designer at Ergonomidesign, describes an injection device they designed for osteoporosis patients, many of whom are older women also suffering from arthritis. The prototype they were given to work with came with a top trigger that proved to be difficult for some women to release.

"We found that if you create a side trigger where you can use the strength of all of your fingers, then you can include all users," Benktzon says. "The way that we work with real end-users in development work can lead to innovation and change of stereotypes."
Gender angle

There is ambivalence among women about being labelled 'a female designer'. This is something that Magnus Mörck, associate professor at the Centre for Consumer Science at Gothenburg University, found out when interviewing several designers in a research project on gender and design.

He cites the example of Volvo's 'Your Concept Car' (Volvo YCC), which was designed by a team of eight women and was launched in March 2004. "Its female design crew thought it was good car design, not 'female car design'," he says. "Being put into a category like this may make you feel that you're not fully professional, but someone subordinate."

Many designers agree that diversity can lead to innovation in design. Jonas Bylund, one of the founders of the branding and design agency Syntes Studio in Stockholm, says: "I believe that heterogeneous environments are healthier, when it comes to both gender and nationality. We all carry different backgrounds, experiences and stories, and I think this diversity leads to a more creative atmosphere."

Customer-based innovation

Electrolux, one of the Swedish industrial giants, explicitly avoids gender-based design, but embraces values such as sustainability, which was identified as one of the key components of the Electrolux Thoughtful Design Innovator strategy.

In an effort to increase its customer-based design, Electrolux has developed four customer profiles — Anna, Catherine, Maria and Monica — based on home visits and interviews with around 150,000 consumers.

Anna wants to get the chores over as quickly as possible, while Catherine is a neat freak. Maria's life centres on home and family and Monica is super-efficient. These profiles allow Electrolux to deliver products based on what real consumers actually want.

Emotional design

The design studio Folkform, which won the 2006 FutureDesignDays Award for up-and-coming young designers, has created a series of furniture made out of masonite decorated with organic materials.

Anna Holmqvist, industrial designer and co-founder the company, says: "Our masonite project is an example of emotional, but also innovative design. Traditionally the Swedish industrial design scene has been very much about functionality and engineering. Now it's more about bringing emotional and human values to products."

Unique approach

She continues: "Maybe women are more willing to show their emotions. When it comes to product design we have a tendency to speak to emotions rather than functionality."

Bylund agrees that women bring a unique approach to design — although he's quick to point out that differences between individual designers are greater than differences based on gender alone.

"You have to connect to people in a more sophisticated way, and that involves great compassion for the end user," he says.

"I guess it's classic to say women are good at multitasking, but it's exactly this ability that is necessary if you want to create great product experiences."

— Courtesy: www.sweden.se.