Asus: The Joy of Design

Asustek Computer's headquarters and design center in Taipei's Kuantu are where the company's most confidential projects are developed. Eric Chang, who last year was promoted from director of the design center to general manager for mechanical components, is in charge of the critical task of mapping out design trends of IT products for the next three to five years.

With 50 designers under him, as well as several hundred other workers responsible for such processes as case assembly and mold fabrication, Chang heads Taiwan's largest industrial design department. Add on the production facilities and the labor of over 10,000 workers, and you have an efficient and effective synthesis of technology, design and production. "It's very important to make technology the bottom line. Before any product brought out by Asus is sold, it must first pass a series of lab tests, including its resistance to pressure, heat, impact, and compression. Asus' strength lies in its ability to make all its products commercially viable, no matter what their design.

The average age of the members of the design department at Asus is just over 30. This attractive designer, Pan Shu-yin, was on the design team which worked on the Lamborghini notebook project.

Low-key luxury

At the end of 2004 the Italian luxury sports car company Lamborghini commissioned Asus to design a notebook computer. The responsibility for coming up with the design fell on deputy manager Wei Hsuan-wu, who happens to be an avid collector of model cars. After making a detailed and thorough study of his collection, he went to the Lamborghini dealership in Neihu and asked the salesperson what kind of person comes in and spends over NT$10 million for one of his cars. His goal was to determine how to best integrate the luxuriousness of Lamborghini with the staunch pragmatism of Asus.

The computer comes in either brilliant yellow--Lamborghini's signature color--or in trendy carbon-fiber black. Its appearance is as striking as the notebook with red trim made by Acer when it teamed up with Ferrari.

"After completing my illustration I asked the structural designer what he thought," laughs Wei Hsuan-wu. He answered, "However you draw it, I can make it. But when I showed him my illustration he immediately exclaimed with exasperation: 'How did you manage to draw up a computer which I can't possibly make!'"

The problem with his notebook design was the back cover of the LCD screen. Wei's design called for a black metal mesh which would allow the backlight to shine through it. It needed to be both strong and attractive without increasing the thickness of the notebook, presenting a serious challenge. After deliberating over the problem for several weeks, the structural designer finally decided to use an alloy of magnesium and aluminum, which is not only sturdy, but also maintained the attractiveness of the original design. When the king of a small African country saw the computer in Italy, he immediately bought four of them (at nearly NT$110,000 each).

"Using new materials--or using old materials in a new way--is really the basis of competitive design," says Chang. The materials lab of the design department at Asus has accumulated over 1,000 different types of materials. If one of their designers sees a new material, all he has to do is purchase it, bring it in, and apply for reimbursement. Amongst the items brought in are new perfume bottles and socks impregnated with bamboo charcoal.

Chang notes that prior to 2002 the information products made in Taiwan were more or less the same, and mostly made of plastic. Afterwards, everyone began to try out new materials, with Asus at the front.

In the field of science and technology the use of leather is uncharted territory. Thus, in order to understand and differentiate the distinguishing characteristics of leather, the company brought in a master craftsman who spent a year teaching the designers how to work with leather, beginning with how to make a leather bag. Only after a full year's training in leatherwork did they begin to incorporate leather into the design of a computer. It's estimated that the company invested over NT$10 million and 20 months in the research and training program. The result is a computer with leatherwork so flawless and exquisite that even the seams around the corners are impeccably crafted, inviting the admirer to pick it up and give it a closer look.

"Innovative design is just a process of dealing with a wide variety of risks," explains Chang. When a new project fails, your investment goes down the tubes; but when a project succeeds you get a big return. This is how to maintain long-term competitiveness.

"But," he stresses, "design is not a cure-all; if it doesn't harmonize with the company's unique constitution, it can ruin the enterprise." The purpose of design is to develop new products for the upcoming one to two years. So in order for a designer to work on two or three projects an investment has to be made, but there is not yet any return. An enterprise without substantial resources will be under a lot of pressure. Thus most companies will take the safest course: determining what are the best-selling products and designing something similar.

"The electronics industry relies on the incessant introduction of new products to stimulate sales and maintain the momentum of production. So when a sales plan still hasn't seen much results after, say, ten days, two months, or half a year, many managers will begin to have second thoughts, or even be ready to call it quits. Most companies can't allow their designers to work on the same project for very long, and don't have the patience to overcome difficulties. But we are willing to keep a record of all our failures, which we then carefully examine to gain valuable experience," says Chang.

Asus has created a notebook with the fine craftsmanship and sumptuous appearance of the Italian sports car Lamborghini. Both soft to the touch and aesthetically pleasing, it comes in either brilliant yellow or carbon fiber black.

Four approaches to design

Eric Chang once worked for Acer, where he was responsible for the Aspire computer line. In comparing the production philosophies of the two companies, he finds that Asus takes a "seamless" approach. It produces a complete line of products in which, for example, a notebook with a 15-inch screen is available from the bottom of the line right through to the top, providing a breadth of choices intended to appeal to the whole range of consumers. Acer, on the other hand, takes more of a "mass production" approach. They have fewer platforms, since they favor quantity over variety, and also make quick delivery a priority. Thus their product line is highly unified, with little difference in appearance.

An enterprise's overall outlook, then, will have an influence on its approach to design.

Asus' niche is its exceptional design team, which accounts for its skill in translating the languages of the marketplace and engineering into the language of design.

Seven years ago the design department at Asus had only three members. Right from the beginning, their goal has been to rival the design departments found in developed countries. Due to a lack of personnel at that time, however, the company sent some of its designers to a design company in Britain. After several months of on-the-job training they returned to Taiwan with a design program, and over the next year and a half the company gradually recruited a full complement of design personnel.

"At that time, we hired new designers based on only one qualification: a passion for design," recounts Chang. The design staff included one member who had a background in mass media and subsequently studied design abroad, but who had never designed a single product before joining Asus. They also had designers who had experience in such fields as mathematics, architecture, psychology, and visual communications. Moreover, one-tenth of the department's personnel were foreigners, all of which made for some rather lively brainstorming sessions.

"Design is a type of life experience," says Chang. Every year the company sends its designers to furniture exhibitions in Italy, car exhibitions and watch and clock exhibitions in Germany, and video game exhibitions in Tokyo. They learn about what other designers are doing, and then share their insights with their colleagues.

But doesn't designing computers and mobile phones day after day deplete one's creativity?

"This is a real problem in the electronics design field in Taiwan, and it's something I'm always thinking about. The scope of possibilities for designers is Taiwan is too limited, and people spend their whole lives designing nothing but IT products. I've begun to contemplate how to soften up the designer's brain and make it more flexible." Chang brings out a few of Asus' side products--a pencil case made of a magnesium and aluminum alloy, which also serves as a lunar calendar and ruler, and a clothes hanger for a cheongsam (a woman's long gown).

If Chang's hints are anything to go by, it seems that Asus is poised to enter the household products market alongside of Working House and Muji. Chang calls design an ability which adapts to the ever-changing conditions of life, so if we ask again in half a year or so, perhaps we will get a more definitive answer.