Jonathan Biddle – Made in Taiwan

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Designing a Notebook
The penny dropped when my own Father announced that his company was ordering them for their employees; the heat was really on!

Rewind; the Vostro brand, specifically established to provide Small Business owners with IT solutions. Until this point, the products were good value and worthy, but the brand had a pretty low profile. We needed a hit.

The insight; a large segment of the small-business market are highly customer-facing, and they need products that shout ‘confidence’. We needed a thin, light, ‘cool’ notebook that could survive life on the road, had the power to punch through work, and that would make no excuses in the business-class lounge.

Process

Designing a notebook computer is about more than a nice sketch. The two most important things that the Dell design team needs to drive are the architecture, and the specification of the product. Drive poorly, and you end up with a product that is optimised for the factory instead of the user, and crammed full with every possible feature, port and widget. With notebooks especially, it’s what you choose to leave out that makes the product.

Working with layout teams at our key suppliers and employing new ‘Hyperbaric’ cooling technologies from Intel, we followed precedents set by the Dell Adamo notebook by kicking out the area behind the hinge; the reality is that business owners need traditional network and VGA cables. We also knew that if we could get all the ports away from the sides, we would be left with a blade-like profile, really allowing the thinning effort to shine. However, we also wanted an ‘honest’ front section, eschewing chamfering and other cheats to make things appear thinner than they really are; the ‘dipped’ front portion also houses the antennas and provides a degree of drop protection.

Breaking traditions of delivering ‘black boxes’ we wrapped the device in a jacket of anodised aluminium. The procurement team really delivered the bacon here; no one expected we could get a completely aluminium chassis in this price bracket.

Opening it up, we wanted a clean, uncluttered environment for getting work done. Getting brutally simple, we hid the hinges away from view; this took engagement with secondary and tertiary suppliers in the USA and China, shaving 0.05mm at time from the zinc alloy and designing one of the smallest hinge profiles ever seen in a notebook. This eventually became an iconic design feature of the product.

But it’s also about getting work done, right? Perceived quality of keyboards is closely related to the stiffness of the chassis. Magnesium is the hero here; it provides by far the best stiffness-to-weight ratio, and allowed us to go even further with the thinning. The aforementioned ‘hidden hinges’ help keep it sober and professional.

Camping out at the supplier in Taiwan, and with frequent trips to China to work with suppliers, we finally delivered a product that landed Vostro on the map, scooping multiple awards and praise from the press.

But nothing quite beats seeing my Dad using one.

Media
- Dell Vostro V13 Hands On: Bruce Wayne’s Laptop – Gizmodo
- The Vostro #v130 gets @guykawasaki’s seal of approval – Flickr
- Workbeautifully.com – Featuring an interview with yours truly
Awards
2011/03/27
Lipstick on a Pig – Taipei Floral Expo 2011

I had deep reservations with the Taipei Flora Expo, even before getting the tickets.

China gets the Olympics; Taiwan gets the Deaflympics and World Games. Shanghai gets the World Expo; Taipei makes a ‘Flora Expo’ for itself. I don’t see anything more than a cynical distraction from real issues, and a vote-grabbing exercise; ‘lipstick on a pig’. Rather than actually fixing the environmental, architectural and pollution problems of Taipei, just put on a 400 million US$ flower show. And then tell the people in Taiwan it’s an ‘international’ event.

Despite the claims of corruption and environmental destruction, vast queues have regularly formed both inside and outside the event for the last few months. So, instead of just sitting in my apartment all cynical, I popped along with Yuyin to check it out.

Welcome, one and all!

The exterior of the Future Pavilion

… the outside, formed from recycled plastics, is likely to stick around after the event.

Yuyin, and the best colour of leather ever.

The Taiwan Pavilion (joking, joking!) … although wouldn’t it be cool if it was; I think the government takes itself too seriously for that to ever happen.

Roof detail of the Taiwan pavilion. Made from basket-like materials, for some reason.

Some level of coherence in the public building structures …

… reflected in the details of the drainage. Rather nice, I thought.

Different varieties of plants on display.

I think I actually want to make a clock, after seeing these fake clocks made from security mirrors

I think it’s great that Taiwan is making an effort to become progressive, innovative and ‘green’, but I think there are more authentic, effective ways than this. Let’s hope there is at least some legacy.

2011/03/26
Wulai Weekender

First cla ssic Lars situation: Three taxis, three couples, three kids, looking for a restaurant in a car repair area.

BAM. Gone as soon as you realise it started, weekends with the old Taipei crew are always a riot of food, laughter, cheap beer, good whisky and trips to the sweaty parts of the island. This time was no different. Well, except for the new addition of children to the mix.

Ostensibly here for the bike show, Anke was meeting with her Taiwanese employer here in Taiwan; an electric bike technology organisation. Lars popped over with her, providing baby sitting services for Linnéa, and new addition Luc. With the addition of Edgar, we suddenly had a trio of little critters running around and demanding the attention of our weary digital cameras.

Mere minutes in, I was already in a taxi, picking up Yuyin and racing across the city in search of a Gongbao Chicken recommendation from Mattieu. Dispite noisy disapproval from the cab driver, as he claimed there was ‘nothing there’, the flotilla of taxis made their way across Taipei. Circling around the area once, I took control of the situation, and pointed us back in the opposite direction to the reliable (but still delicious) ‘rechao’ on Leli Rd. Sorry to be a party pooper!

Reminds me of a photo I took of Linéa a couple of years ago.

Cute as a button.

I admire Lars’ new camera.

Luc is kind of a chilled out hippie baby.

Green with pride

Looking to the stars with Lars.

Real focus of the weekend was returning to Wulai, of course. Beloved for it’s completely crazy and lovely public hot springs, fabulous landscape, and easy access to Taipei, I make it up there with some regularity. Through what can only be described as mistakes of planning, I managed to find ourselves a pretty awesome hotel, with a huge mega room (naturally complete with KTV) for the two families and myself to crash. While I feared for the worst regarding sleep, Michael took care of it with a bottle of two of good whisky. Out like a light.

Garnished with smoked chicken, and washed down with a dip in the hot springs, it was one of those classic weekends that can’t really be summed up. Awesome.

Edgar is like a mini version of Michael, but with a better sense of humour.

Our excellent hotel, Melody Villa – prepare for crazy flash and music onslaught. Are they all from one web designer?

Peepo

Colours of Wulai

In the rush to leave the restaurant, we almost forgot Linéa.

Absolutely no bungee jumping allowed.

The hot springs were no different from usual; lovely organised chaos. The only mistake we made this time was bringing food in (‘hey we know what we are doing!’) which inevitably resulted in coffee filling one of the pools, and bits of waffle floating around for everyone to enjoy.

Yeahhhh.

I have about a thousand of these shots, as I was playing with my new waterproof (and ugly) camera.

Sugar and spice and all things nice.

If the kids were superstars already in Taipei, nothing prepared us for Wulai. Never alone, without comments about their skin or eyelids, you knew they were around due to loud screams of ‘hao ke’ai o!‘ (how cute!) echoing around the valleys. Luc and Edgar, while a mere five days apart, are built rather differently; Edgar like a little German Budda, and Luc like a tiny hippie cherub.

Chilled out Luc.

Never anything less than fascinated and smiling Edgar.

Checking out the waterproof camera.

Man time.

No trip to Taiwan would be complete without a visit to a nightmarket. While not really quite a nightmarket, Wulai’s old street sufficed, and provided us with some tasty treats for later on the evening.

Wulai old street.

Racing car start.

Luc doing some window shopping

Views up one of the side streets to buckets filled with eggs.

Convenience store.

See you next year I hope!

2011/03/20
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2011/03/05
Gaomei Wetlands

Yuyin and I enjoyed the long weekend by heading down to Taichung for a friend’s wedding. It was awesome to meet some of her university buddies, and they let me know they liked me by proceeding to get me nice and drunk. In 100% recovery mode, we headed out to Gaomei wetlands on the coast; a protected area of marshlands and salt flats.

While some of the local guys were not entirely convinced – “what are they actually protecting, here?” – I had a happy time looking out the flat lands and thinking of home, and The Fens. A nice day out, even with a dickie stomach and funny head.

Dawn of the Triffids

Family day out

Groundwork

Chairs not allowed

Jump!

2011/02/27
Austin Gun Club

Ladies welcome.

I have never in my life shot a proper gun before. Air rifles, yes. But never anything of the sort that could do anything more than kill a pigeon.

It was therefore with some trepidation that I joined the guys for a team off-site, shooting an assortment of guns at one of the local ranges. Interestingly, my trepidation was matched by the guys originally from New York, Boston and Chicago; basically anywhere without straight lines on their border maps. America really is two places, and our team is split neatly down the middle by who packs heat, and who chooses not to.

While I suggested this event, I actually expected someone to come up with a better plan. Turning up, I and my boss both looked more than slightly concerned by the other guys unloading cases of weaponry from their cars / trucks. Several levels of insight were unpeeled by our team members, as guys I would never has pinned as NRA members pulled out huge rifles and packs of pistols. Truly amazing, and a look into a different culture.

Stepping into the gun shop itself, we definitely left Austin city limits. The guys behind the desk eyed us as we made our way to the rental counter, and grudgingly agreed to my suggestion of being allowed to take photos of the team. Nothing unfriendly; but I guess when both parties could take out a small town with their weaponry, you are likely to look at people twice.

After being being pointed towards one of the pistols and walked through the finer points of loading, I was invited to disarm the safety, aim, and fire. Somewhat like the first moment you hit your first surf wave, it’s all so familiar, but at the same time terrifyingly alien. Squeeze the trigger, grip as hard as you dare, try to predict how hard it is going to kick … and … BANG. Just like that, I shot my first bullet.

Guns work in ways that you can’t immediately appreciate in a movie. Semi-automatic pistols have collections of moving parts that can easily (and did) cut your finger as they explode backwards. Revolvers require an amazing amount of travel before they finally fire. The amazing elk rifle that one of the guys brought could easily bruise your shoulder if held incorrectly. The plethora off different bullets, accessories, optics, holsters and storage boxes was to peer into an abyss of expense. And the vintage rifles that some of the people were firing were really rather magnificent to behold.

After all that, two groups of people met to shoot some bits of paper; those without guns, and those with. While I still don’t agree with the gun laws in place in America, and I don’t understand why someone would want to own a device that is specifically bought to maim or kill another human, I came away humbled, pleased that I had the opportunity to learn something about my other team members, and hell, had one heck of an enjoyable time blasting away.

Before.

Insert movie quote here.

The first of several victims. I was actually quite impressed with myself; by the end I was able to group my shots together surprisingly well.

One of the guys’ travel guns. Yes.

Taking stock after the event.

2011/02/12
Superbowl XLV

Sunday was, naturally, Superbowl. The Pittsburgh Steelers played against the Greenbay Packers, in a northern-states head-to-head. This was my first Superbowl, so I was pretty excited to join in with the junk food, half-time adverts and shouting at an inert black box. I had effectively no idea what was happening the entire time, asked countless silly questions, and was probably more intrigued by some of the strange advertising; which was, I must say, a let-down.

Still, it was lots of fun to be there with committed Packers fans, and a bunch of work friends. You can’t but help be swept up in the sheer enthusiasm and pomp of the thing.

Team Latitude enjoy an afternoon of sport (on the sofa)

Insanely excited kids, air pumping and whooping at about age four.

Welcome to America, folks.

2011/02/06
Enchanted Rock

West of Austin is Texas Hill Country; an area of rugged hills that reaches as far as the suburbs, and provides access to some pretty splendid hiking and biking. One of the tourist honeypots of the area is Enchanted Rock, an enormous granite rock dome, rising 130m above the surrounding area. We thought it would be a grand day out for the Bogners, Lattos and, well, Biddle. Perhaps due to the ‘snowpocalypse’ of the previous week, there were fewer people venturing out – and this combined with the fantastic weather and cool air, made for a great day.

ENCHANTED ROCK. YEAH!

It was steep!

Skylar has different ideas on the route. “Should we stop him?’

Les Bogneurs

The girls were on fine form!

Rugged, yet thoughtful. The designer’s designer.

Flyin’ high!

Which way?

Whoa!

Eric gives me the thousand-yard Texas stare. The children’s clothing draped round his neck finishes the look.

GOOD TIMES

Practising for when he needs to work at Dell.

Peekaboo!

Different shades of cuteness.

Yay!

The adventurer sets off once again

Pistols at dawn.

Granite

After, we headed to the truly bizarre Trois Estate … home of a faux-real Texan Mexican ranch church grotto cap-gun museum wine bar. All slightly unhinged, but lots of fun.

Accessories.

Doors leading somwhere

Silly moos.

Silly cow.

Dinner was at one of the ‘seven’ true Texan barbecues; Coopers. I have to say it was not a patch on the truly carcinogenic Louis Mueller’s … I still dream of the steak brisket I had there.

Staring at the stuffed animals on the wall.

Admiring their collection of barbed wire history.

Main street, Llamo, and time to head home.

2011/02/05
Snowpocalypse Austin

The weather on this trip to the USA has been pretty insane; sub-zero conditions, chilled winds, freezing roads, and more than a little danger. For anyone from a cold, wet country, you might take temperatures of a mere -6 degrees celsius in your stride. Such lows literally bring Texas to a sliding halt, though. There is zero infrastructure for handling the ice on the roads, people have no idea how to drive in such conditions, and the number and width of roads makes gritting a pain; forget about salt.

Walking out on Friday morning onto South Congress, I was presented with a comical scene of cars sliding around; many failing even to make it up the slope of the bridge to down-town. Indeed, a pick-up truck with a Mexican family in it was totally stuck, unable to move. With the whole family in the front, no weight in the back and no experience in these conditions it wasn’t perhaps a surprise. With a look of horror on the face of the driver, I pointed at the son in the back and we bumped, pushed and cajoled the vehicle up the slope, and he gave me a friendly wave goodbye. Job done. I must admit that I did not, however, help the Mercedes that got itself into the same situation a minute later!

Mercedes, stuck half-way up the incline.

Messing around in the snow.

An unusual site in Texas!

An Austin snowman! – shot with iPhone + Instagram

Icicles– shot with iPhone + Instagram

Foot prints – shot with iPhone + Instagram

2011/02/04
Innovation is Fracturing

The pursuit of cheaper, faster manufacturing has lead to an enormous shift in the economies of the ‘old’ Industrial nations. After losing basic manufacturing and support roles, the West is now haemorrhaging advanced development and design functions to the manufacturing companies of Asia; in many cases run by Taiwanese business owners. Most of the major technology brands now have significant development operations in the region, and their role will only develop further.

So, is Western design and innovation dead in the water?

Cultural Exports

The West (and Japan) have proven adept at innovating ‘platforms’. Technical platforms include HTML, GSM phone standards and television. ‘Cultural platforms’ are just as important, though; hip-hop, fixed-gear bikes, haute-couture fashion and social networking all started life in the West, and went on to stimulate globally influential industries around them; as evidenced on the streets of Taipei today.

Fixed gear bikes – the idea imported from Europe. The bike made in Taiwan.

Given the amount of technical expertise and knowledge on the ground in Taiwan, you would expect a similar amount of ‘platform’ innovation to be flourishing. For one reason or another, it isn’t. This innovation requires an empowered workforce, willingness to start small (rather than ramping-up to volume production), great marketing teams, access to sales channels, and amongst a multitude of other economic and cultural factors, the willingness to play – you ain’t going to invent the first MP3 player without first loving music, and you aren’t going to assemble the first mountain bike without ‘wasting’ a whole bunch of time with your friends in the hills.

But there is innovation here; just not in the ways we think about it. For example, the iPhone ‘platform’, while masterminded in California, was enabled by a dozens of Taiwanese technology vendors over many decades, and the gradual honing, optimisation and refinement of the component parts and assemblies was essential in its birth and development. It is this ‘incremental innovation’ competency that companies in the West are exporting to Asia.

Now, ‘Platform innovation’ and ‘incremental innovation’ are geographically decoupling, eliminating the ‘water-cooler’ conversations between marketeers, designers and engineers that so often lead to leaps of development.

Learning how to work with these guys in China will be increasingly important.

The Last of the Machinists

Consider the ‘old guard’ design houses in America and Europe; IDEO, Frog, Seymour Powell and the rest. The senior leadership of these organisations likely gained tacit hardware knowledge in an economic environment built on manufacturing and engineering expertise; it’s even possible that their own parents worked in technical or factory roles. But what happens to innovative industries when the keepers of this tacit knowledge retire? For economies that pride themselves on ‘innovation’ and design services – the UK and USA included – I believe the consequences are severe.

It’s part of the reason why, seven years ago, I decided to move to Taiwan.

Dual-Stream Innovation

Decoupling of ‘platform’ and ‘incremental’ innovation, difficulty in stimulating the ‘water-cooler effect’, and erosion of tacit knowledge, means many innovation-focused companies will struggle to do business in the way they used to.

Apple and a few others have been able to leverage a split innovation model; offloading the burden of innovating the countless component parts that individually might not contribute much to a product, but together form a synergetic whole; and retaining core competencies of layout, computer processors and mechanical aspects such as part tooling. By doing this, they are able to ride the wave of ‘incremental innovation’ provided by the immense volumes of an entire industry, push suppliers in a very targeted way, and make the platform leaps when they are ready. The result; a product like the iPad delievered to a pretty low cost for the consumer; and still a healthy margin.

Tooling in China. Supplier in Taiwan. Computer company in the USA. And a customer somewhere else entirely. Complicated!

But what about companies smaller than the Fortune 500 behemoths? For the UK at least, we need to become far more willing to invest time and effort in Asia, forge partnerships, work out what incremental improvements we can outsource, and what platforms to retain. The resultant development model is not the same as the one we learnt in university, and it is not the same as innovation process touted by the big innovation companies in the 90s. It’s a messier, more complex, interlinked model, spanning companies and international boundaries.

Western design and innovation is not dead, but it will need to become braver, more flexible and more cosmopolitan.

2011/02/02