Appliance Design - September 2008 - (Page 33) INDUSTRIAL DESIGN & HUMAN FACTORS more wear resistant than the more expensive, and heavier, steel. Keronite used on AZ91D magnesium alloy can make the material harder and more corrosion resistant. Within the past few years, molders have learned how to overmold elastomers onto zinc and magnesium die-cast parts, providing yet another option for designers of portable electronics. Beyond properties and processes, perception also plays a role, as materials become a way for companies to brand their product. Apple’s new iMac computer features an all-aluminum housing, which helps the product stand out from its competitors using plastic. Aluminum may even help from a functional standpoint, providing inherent shielding and improved thermal dynamics. But, Chris Lefteri a design consultant and author based in the U.K., says that today the specifying materials are not just about its physical properties, but also how the materials can help strengthen the brand. He says Apple’s use of aluminum ties in with the softer side of material selection, which he says is not about mechanical properties, drop tests, or other hard data sets, but about how a product between designers and engineers, whether they makes the consumer feel. This increased awareness of both the “hard” be in-house designers and engineers or as part of and “soft” side of design has changed and a custom/design firm relationship. In every case, blurred the lines between industrial design- industrial designers and engineers must hash out ers and design engineers. In the past, design the form and the function, what works best, what engineers focused on the internal function of looks best, and how this can be done at cost. This balancing act between aesthetics, costs, a device, and then handed it off to the industrial designers to create an attractive form to and function requires constant adjustment, as envelop it. (With both leaving it to a manufac- new options enter the field of play. The designer turing engineer to figure out how to make it.) might want a particular color or special effect But today, such roles are less constrained and in a polymer, for instance, but not be able to more overlapping. Chris Cavello, president, get that look because the pigments needed Mixer Group, Austin, Texas, says that an ordi- to achieve the look may alter the polymer’s nary engineer just worries about making the mechanical properties. Or, the designer might thing work, and an ordinary designer just wor- want a particular functionality, but they may ries about making it pretty, but a good engineer not be able to obtain those goals within the cost is sensitive to aesthetics and a good designer structure. Design is about managing the varying compromises or the interactions of these understands how things work. More and more often, firms are employing decisions with other goals, says Cavello, that is designers and engineers that are familiar with the core of the design process. Lefteri says that it is critical that in addition each other’s disciplines, says Hayes Urban, senior designer for Design Edge, also of Austin. There to material properties, designers should learn is a definite trend toward professionals with about the manufacturing processes that turn multiple skills, he says. This expanded knowl- raw materials into finished products. Like the AD09061DESC 7/31/06 9:48 AM Page 1 edge set is important in the evolving dynamic materials themselves, new ways to produce HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC/R TEMPERATURE SENSORS Zettler Controls has the highest quality HVAC/R control products for all your application requirements. Temperature Sensors · Wide range of unit housing materials · Wide temperature range (from -40°C to +300°C) · 0.1 to 1M Ohm resistance range · Long term stability · Precise temperature measurement · Custom probe length and thread sizes · Variety of thermistor casings Direct competitor replacements available. For Information log on to www.zettlercontrols.com Applications Include - Heating - Central Air - Water Temperature Control Systems - Appliances ZETTLER CONTROLS, INC. 75 Columbia, Aliso Viejo California 92656 Phone: 949-360-5840 · Fax: 949-360-5839 · www.zettlercontrols.com www.applianceDESIGN.com applianceDESIGN September 2008 33 http://www.designconcepts.com http://www.zettlercontrols.com http://www.zettlercontrols.com http://www.appliancedesign.com
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