Go the Distance With the Details

Dan Harden

Principal, Whipsaw Inc.
San Jose, California

If there's anything anyone in this field is chasing, it's Apple's quality and simplicity. Pick up an iPod, and you get it, you feel it, you sense it. But let's not forget that these things are made in China. It's nothing different from what everybody else is doing. The difference is that Apple will spend a lot of time and a lot of money to train quality-control standards. Unlike smaller companies, it can afford to get to the microlevels and really think through how a button feels. As a result, it has made digital audio seem so easy, so fast, so seamless.

When the iPod first came out in 2001, it had a pretty serious impact on Rio Audio, who had been one of the first to offer an MP3 player in the late 1990s. Rio came to us in 2002 and basically said, "We need serious help. Our market position has slipped, and we may even go bankrupt." We helped them beat Apple to market on a mini-hard-drive player by a year with the Nitrus. We were working on the Nitrus's successor, the Carbon, when Apple shot back in 2003 with the iPod mini. Suddenly the philosophical underpinning became, How could Rio possibly compete with this powerhouse Apple? What do we need to do to make a dent in this behemoth?

We decided that we had to be radically different from Apple. Where Apple was sort of the ivory tower, we were going to be the dark rebel. Where Apple was very geometric, we were going to be smooth and curvy. Apple was so enamored with absolute pure, minimalist design that some designers may argue that ergonomics were compromised. We also saw an opportunity to beat Apple in materials and battery life.

Overall, we had to be very careful not to let the temptation of adornment get ahead of us. Every single feature on the Carbon had to have a purpose. Some companies have reacted to the iPod by loading up with features, but that can backfire. It'll become kitschy and tasteless. The control and discipline in the details had to convey Rio's commitment to quality in the design. We went to Asia and worked very closely with the contract manufacturers, holding them accountable to the quality standards we set. It cost an additional 25% of the total design fee, but we were able to design out mistakes this way. That was crucial because Rio doesn't advertise. The Carbon had to be its own salesman.

In so many different ways, designing the Carbon was the ultimate. It was a slam-dunk for Rio. But it can make you sad as a designer because you know your baby is going to live for only a year or two. At the same time, technology changes so fast, you'll always get another chance to do something great. Above all, you have to stay honest about the user's needs and design a product that is appealing whether the user is tech savvy or not.

Dan Harden, 45, started his own firm after 10 years at frog design. The Carbon is the second-best-selling midsized player, behind only the iPod mini.