[100 Challenge] DanJi’s reading note_64

Learn from the brand
My perspective on work, my attitude toward life
Author Kim Do Young
Publishing Wisdom House
Issuance on January 26, 2023.

01 Good enough in and of itself - Nespresso Nespresso
02 Being above context - Valmuda BALMUDA
03 Having your language - Apple APPLE
04 Breaking the Story - Ted TED
05 Mature the identity. - Beauve Clijko Veuve Clicquot
06 Making a sequence - Anteroom Hotel Kyoto Hotel Kyoto Hotel Anteroom Kyoto
07 Rendering Thoughts - Pixar
08 Being an icon - Converse CONVERSE
09 That the form completes the essence - Bang and Olufsen BANG & OLUFSEN
10 Designing expectations - Jordan JORDAN

And what's even more surprising is that it's Balmuda's way of planning products. Gen. Therao is also well-known for not doing market research. He believes it's better to imagine what consumers want than make what they desire persistently. Of course, those comments are not the only ones. In the past, Steve Jobs said, "Consumers don't know what they want," Henry Ford said, "If you asked the public, they would have asked you to make a faster wagon, not a car." It's an important reminder that innovation is not a better thing but a whole newness.
However, there is something a little strange. Unlike Ford and Apple, which have made innovations in the automobile process, Balmuda always makes their products in existing industries. To be precise, I strongly feel that everyone is digging only into areas that are losing interest. Especially since the household appliance market has already been in extreme saturation for more than 20 years, in this fierce and bloody competition, making a product without doing market research and listening to customers is a decision that seems reckless but very reckless, but Balmuda's products are always enthusiastically praised by fans.
What's more interesting is that it's a brand with a unique attraction that makes anyone, even if they're not Balmuda enthusiasts or eulogists, feel good about it at least once. It allows many people to turn on the antenna of positivity.
How on earth does Balmuda make a reversal in this antinomic situation? I think the reason is to understand the "context." Bermuda is a brand that understands this context very well in every aspect that a product can give, including design, functionality, experience, etc. It has the appearance of a lovely sculpture. Still, its designs function to create a design that perfectly melts into every space, and rather than trying to have a better technology than its competitors, its designs embody the feeling it wants to convey. Instead of creating something new in the distant universe, they chose to prove their meaning in the lives that have always existed. So, while Terraogen may not do customer or market research, it may be doing more thorough research into the context of the times than anyone else. Also, when a timer that looks like a volume control button is activated, an analog sound clicks, and a light, refreshing bell rings when the bread is complete. Wada Satoshi Wada Satoshi of Balmuda, who was in charge of the product planning, also said that when he designed the sound, he homed in on the directional lights of the "Piat Chin-Quecento" car. So, it would be correct to say that he designed it until he waited for the bread to be baked.
I once read a story in a book that the most significant criterion for distinguishing between Asians' and Westerners' way of thinking is relationship. It is said that Westerners are immersed in the existence of "I" and look at the world, while Asians have long tried to understand the world in the relationship of "we." To put it in a wrong way, you tend to be overly attentive and wary, but if you pay attention to the good things, it is also the result of realizing early on that nothing exists alone.