Motorola Designer is
the Subject of New Design Book
“Bionics in Action: The
Design Work of Franco Lodato”
explores the relationship between
industrial design and the designs of
nature
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.
About
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) is a global
leader in providing integrated communications and embedded electronic solutions.
Sales in 2002 were $26.7 billion. Motorola is a global corporate citizen
dedicated to ethical business practices and pioneering important technologies
that make things smarter and life better for people, honored traditions that
began when the company was founded 75 years ago this year. For more
information, please visit: www.motorola.com.
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Editors’ Note:
To schedule an interview with Franco Lodato or
request a copy of the book, please call
954-723-6333.
Media
Contacts:
Lea
Faso
Motorola
954-723-6333
lea.faso@motorola.com
MOTOROLA
and the Stylized M Logo are registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office.
All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners.
© Motorola, Inc. 2004.
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