It's a sad truth that - far too often - remarkable creations are taken for granted

Think back to when you last encountered a remarkable device...

Whether it's an electronically-controlled valve or a new software toolset, the makers of ingenious things do not do enough to educate people about the ingeniousness of their creations.
In an ideal world the creators would go beyond highlighting the advantages of how their creation delivers results for end-users - they would also celebrate the means by which their creation manages to deliver those advantages technologically.
They would share stories of the pains taken to engineer the product and the challenges overcome in bringing everything together.

Quality visualisations typically fulfil these roles:

• Demonstrating functionality
• Highlighting key physical specifications
• Displaying maintenance procedures
• Raising team knowledge levels
• Showcasing project intent

On this page I will set out an argument that there is a significant need for manufacturers to display the ingenuity behind their products (and, to an extent, the people behind that ingenuity), because such technology makes our modern civilisation possible.
I propose that by doing so correctly, it would not diminish the esteem with which an ingenious device is held, nor would it reduce the footing of the designers/manufacturers in the minds of customers.

Celebrating Technology

The arrangement of technology inside a Smart Phone should be appreciated by everyone who uses one, but very rarely (if ever) do we see a presentation of the components inside an iPod or iPhone - they are revealed only during a battery change or a teardown in a technology magazine.

The crux of the issue seems to be this: a key aspect of Apple's aesthetic is that all the inner workings of their ingenious devices are inaccessible - albeit very impressively inaccessible - shoe-horned into a sleek, beautifully designed and expertly constructed cocoon.

    - Their devices are marketed in terms of the direct benefits to the consumer.
    - The iPod was famously promoted via "1000 songs in your pocket".
    - The brevity and directness of that succinctly communicated benefit is almost as iconic as the product itself.
    - Nobody can argue at the effectiveness of that approach - their success speaks for itself.
    - A good many technology companies are following Apple's example and becoming highly successful in their own right.

And yet we see a marketing/design philosophy running parallel to this - embraced by Dyson - wherein the inner workings of a device are displayed so that consumers can appreciate the technology in action; they marry the exterior design aesthetic with the interior physical functionality of their creations.
Dyson product visualisations feature high quality cut-aways and the physical movement of airflow and motors are presented in luxurious detail.

I strongly contend that the latter philosophy is a vital ingredient in fostering a society that celebrates technology as opposed to merely 'consuming' it.

There exists a significant societal imperative at play here. There is a real need for manufacturers to display the ingenuity behind their products because they create and evolve the technologies that make our modern civilisation possible.

Whose role should it be to actively celebrate Technology?
Technologists? Government? Media? Individuals?

The important task of sharing such information with the marketplace should really be done in-house, but few manufacturers can spare the resources to do that consistently - I argue that it should be funded via public education initiatives because it falls squarely within their remit; the source of the word educate is 'educe' - i.e. to draw out from within a person their animating spirit of curiosity - to let them build, create, and positively reinforce itterative improvent on what they create.
'Education' should not be about dispassionately imposing curricula as defined by Education Boards, which tends to kill that animating spirit.
What better way to accomplish this than induce the creators of such technologies to enthusiastically share their creations, backed by high quality visual representations which serve to make explanations more accessible.

Nevertheless, we must do what we can in the meantime; Real World Interactive exists - in part - to build bridges of appreciation between creators and consumers.

Thank you for reading this far!


By C. A. Vulliamy
Professionally visualising ingenuity for the worldwide web since 1999.  

info [at] realworldinteractive.com