1990's

“Distortion-Free” Viewing with a Priority on Picture and Sound Quality

Beginning from the concept that “high sound and picture quality is a television's ultimate goal,” the team responsible for developing this Gao (“image king”) television pursued a completely “distortion-free” design that eliminated any element that might divert viewers' attention from the program they were watching.
The design focused attention squarely on the screen by enclosing it in the thinnest possible frame with an unobtrusive black matte-finish. Special sheeting covering the speaker panels on either side of the screen hid the sound holes from sight and gave the impression that the sound was emanating from the screen itself. The stand was made narrower than the television in line with the design concept that assigned the highest priority to the screen. The television's “360-degree” design, pleasing from any direction and enabling it to coordinate beautifully with virtually any interior, was another key feature. The arched back-cover design reflected a pursuit not only of beauty but of rationality as well, since this shape enabled the set to fit easily into a corner.
Our design department had been fine-tuning the “distortion-free” and “360-degree” design concepts since the latter half of the 1980s. The integration of these two concepts in this ear- and eye-pleasing Gao model helped it achieve a cumulative production record of 3 million units.

Home and Street Beautification through “Architectural” Gutter Design

The rain gutters of the past did little to enhance a house's appearance. With the launch of ArchisCare, which was designed as “a rain gutter that doesn't look like a rain gutter,” however, the rain gutter was transformed into a component of architectural design.
ArchisCare's sloping roof appears to be an extension of the house's roof, and its flat bottom is aligned with the eaves, integrating it into the architectural design. A stiff steel center core keeps the gutter straight, and the use of internal suspension clasps that are nearly invisible from outside to fasten it to the eaves assures a neat external appearance. Detailed attention is also paid to functionality, as seen in the creases added to the underside of the gutters to prevent raindrops from forming dirty spots.
This groundbreaking product that introduced architectural consideration of the rain gutter was awarded a 1991 Good Design Landscape Award.

A Luxury System Kitchen That Changed with the Lighting

This luxury system kitchen, in which cabinet doors that looked like polished stone combined with imitation granite counters in a stately yet modern design, achieved considerable popularity in a high-end market that was dominated by foreign manufacturers.
A new material called “meteorite” produced by mixing and compressing wood flakes and resin was employed for the cabinet door surfaces. A transparent polyester coating was then applied and polished to a mirror-like finish, making the wood flake particles sparkle and creating a totally new grained look. The color changed subtly when struck by sunlight or interior lighting, enabling family members to enjoy different kitchen atmospheres in the morning, afternoon and nighttime.
The “FD system” adopted for the kitchen permitted smooth movement around the kitchen and ample room for variations by offering a selection of kitchen units, “free plans” designed to respond to the requirements of virtually any kitchen configuration and combinations of units with varying depths. A high degree of design freedom was yet another special feature.

A Form That Explains Use

The triangular form of this fax machine, reminiscent of the Japanese katakana syllable (he) when viewed from the side, not only provided strong visual impact but offered a number of functional benefits as well.
First, it occupied very little space, an appropriate feature for a home fax machine. Documents inserted at the top slid smoothly downward and out through a slot at the bottom under their own weight during transmission. The cylindrical back indicated by its shape the proper place for the paper roll, which could be installed easily with one hand.
Household fax machines, though gaining popularity quickly, were still new at the time, and this product with its shape indicating its use was welcomed by consumers who were not yet used to faxing. Although it was the first personal fax machine we released, the KX-PW1 was an immediate hit. It became the best-selling product in its category just three months after its release.

A Rounded Form Expressing Powerful Sound

The latter half of the 1980s brought a rapid succession of changes in the CD-radio-cassette player resulting from progress toward multifunctionality. Beginning in 1990, our products saw their popularity soar due to an innovative “cobra top” system that organized all but the basic functions on a panel that could be opened and closed.
Launched in 1991, the RX-DT707 featured a cobra top that could open and close with an electric motor. Hiding the double cassette deck under the cobra top instead of positioning it up front made it possible place a bolder emphasis on the speakers. The powerful rounded form, which produced the impression that the player's whole body was swelling with sound, gave visual expression to the full vigor of the sound it produced. When the cobra top was closed, on the other hand, the lively atmosphere created by the buttons, dial and liquid crystal display receded, giving the player a calm appearance.
This unique design with its stress on vigorous sound and its electric-powered opening and closing panel made the RX-DT707 a hit product that exerted a strong influence on subsequent CD-radio-cassette player designs.

An Air Conditioner in Harmony with the Home and Its Surroundings

The design of this air conditioner stressed harmony between the home and the surrounding environment. Clever advertising pointing out the simple design and “chee-size” (a pun on chisai, or “small” in Japanese) of the outdoor unit drew people's attention to the air-conditioning unit installed outside their home as well as the unit installed inside.
Conventional outdoor air-conditioning units were primitive-looking machines with round, metallic-screen grills mounted on long horizontal bodies, but the introduction of new technology made it possible to reduce the size of the CS-G25V dramatically. The design featuring a square grill with a hound's-tooth check pattern placed on a square front panel harmonized with both the home exterior and the neighborhood scenery. Taking a hint from airplane design, the designers shaped the cross-section of the molded grill to resemble an airfoil, thus smoothing the flow of the exhaust air that passed through the metallic screen and reducing noise. The piping and wiring were also neatly contained under a single cover.
Similar innovative thinking was applied to the indoor unit. The bars over the air inlet duct were slanted to hide the duct's dark interior from view from below. The continuity and refined spacing of the slanted bars helped to establish an elegant harmony between the air conditioner and the home interior.

Simple Beauty Achieved through Painstaking Attention to Detail

This high-grade refrigerator was developed with careful attention to detail in pursuit of simple beauty. These efforts with their theme of high quality exerted a strong influence on subsequent refrigerator designs.
The high-end refrigerators of the day generally had multiple doors, but the NR-B500 was given only two doors to enhance its aesthetics. The surfaces of the doors were covered with sheets of glass to prevent visual distortion when light was reflected off them, giving them a high-precision flatness. Viewed from close proximity, they exhibited an exquisite surface depth only glass could achieve. To neutralize the glass's characteristic faint green coloring, a pink coating was applied to the back of the glass, giving it a light grey appearance due to the combination of complimentary colors.
A bright white light shining on hardened glass shelves in the refrigerator's upper compartment brought out the natural appearance of the food stored there. The lower compartment comprised a uniform set of white drawers that expressed cleanliness. The freezer, a part of the refrigerator that is frequently used by every member of the family, was positioned down below to facilitate easy access.

Contemporary Lighting Recalling Tea Ceremony Hospitality

This lighting fixture series was developed in cooperation with Sabie, a group dedicated to reviving the aesthetic sense and values of the tea ceremony in contemporary life. In accordance with three concepts advocated by Sabie, “protect,” “break” and “separate,” we set out to incorporate the tea ceremony's spirit of hospitality into lighting fixtures.
To “protect,” we followed the etiquette and rules of the tea-ceremony arbor by pursuing traditional beauty with lighting that incorporates Japanese paper, wood, lacquer and woodworking techniques from ancient times. To “break,” we intentionally shattered the values associated with conventional lighting by designing lighting fixtures that stress the pleasant, comfortable feeling dim lighting can provide. To “separate,” we parted with the traditional Japanese use of space and etiquette and replaced them with a blend of Japanese and Western aesthetics to discover a more hospitable and comfortable allocation of space appropriate to today's homes.
Many more products have been designed since 1994 as part of this project that started with a reassessment of the nature of lighting in ordinary homes, and the series has earned a place as a representative series of Japanese luxury lighting fixtures.

A Cylindrical Camera Body Revealing the Benefits of an Aligned Optical Axis

This video camera with its cylindrical shape gave direct expression to the merits of the “aligned optical axis” along which the viewfinder and lens are connected in a straight line. Positioning the lens in the same line of vision as the view through the viewfinder made it easier to follow moving objects and prevented blurring when zooming.
The idea of employing a cylindrical shape was born when a designer picked up a paper cup and looked through it as if through a viewfinder during a discussion of new video camera designs. Connecting the viewfinder and lens linearly created a powerful impression. Since the body could be folded up and down, various shooting methods, such as holding the camera up high and shooting downward, became possible.
The high-impact design of this first video camera to adopt the DVC digital movie format was highly acclaimed, and the “aligned optical axis” has remained our basic video camera style up to the present day.

A Supple Massage Chair Design That Redefined the Market

The Urban EP578's contoured reclining-chair design, condo sizing and low price gave the stodgy old massage chair a positive new image. Unlike its massive predecessors with their pompous designs intended to evoke a sense of luxury to match their special functionality, it used armrests and support legs formed by pipes and open space surrounding the legs to introduce a graceful new lightness. Its simple construction also helped reduce production costs so significantly it could be sold for about one-third the price of conventional massage chairs on the Japanese market.
This design combining a relaxed feel and nimble look also attracted a new market segment to the massage chair, resulting in its rapid popularization among ordinary households. Sales in Japan soared to the 10,000-a-month level, and the EP578 became the best-selling massage chair ever.

Restraining Fatigue with Optimized Balance

This rechargeable electric power tool can be used to drill small-diameter holes in materials such as concrete, mortar and brick as well as to drive screws. It earned acclaim for its high-performance and cordless mobility, its compact design for working in tight spaces, and the low degree of user fatigue it caused.
The cylindrical body and the battery case are located above and below the grip, respectively, to balance the weight distribution during use. The muscle movements employed for work at different angles — including upward work on ceilings, sideways work on walls and downward work on flooring — were analyzed in order to minimize fatigue, even during lengthy jobs, by creating the most appropriate grip shape and angle as well as optimal weight distribution. The front grip serves both to protect the user's hand and the operation switch from dust and material fragments while drilling and to enable the user to hold the drill with two hands.

High Impact Imparted through a New Magnesium Alloy Surface Treatment

This portable MD player achieved a small size equivalent to that of the face of an MD jacket.
A concentric hairline pattern resembling the pattern on an MD optical disk was engraved (by circular fabrication) onto the square body, giving it a high-impact appearance. Circular fabrication on highly rigid magnesium alloy creates a uniquely beautiful luster, but the process is extremely difficult, and discoloration due to oxidation occurs the moment the metal comes into contact with air. Implementing this design consequently required development of a new material fabrication and surface-processing technology, an effort that took nearly a year. The remote control's LCD was set at an angle so that it appeared at the top when the control was clipped into a shirt pocket, enabling the user to view the screen while controlling the player. The simple shape of the cross-key control also permits easy sightless handling.
The MD jacket size and the beautiful finish contributed by the treatment of the body's surface made the product a popular hit, and circular fabrication on magnesium alloy became the face of our portable MD players that followed.

A Classic Example of Added Value through Universal Design

This shower unit was developed based on the completely new concept of enabling users to take a shower while seated.
Heated water from the nozzle enveloped the whole body, warming it nearly as fully as a bath. Besides benefiting elderly people with weakened legs, disabled people and pregnant women by enabling them to enjoy a shower safely, it also helped people with cardiac problems by mitigating the heart-rate increase associated with showering. In fact, it was ideal for anyone who wanted a quick shower. Since both arms could be folded back against the wall, it fit easily into a space beside the bathtub, an advantage for households with both normal healthy members and members requiring assistance.
The development of this product, a classic example of Universal Design that brings new value to increasing numbers of people, began in the shower research section of Panasonic Design Company. The design team considered a mini-room equipped with a shower nozzle at first, but they soon scrapped this idea due to the high cost of commercialization and replaced it with the concept of a chair with a multiple-nozzle-equipped arm. This innovative concept opened up new possibilities for installation and use in existing bathrooms, and the product was successfully commercialized as long as seven years later.

A Dishwasher/Dryer Designed for the Special Conditions of Japanese Kitchens

The dishwasher/dryer first appeared on the Japanese market around 1990, but the small size of Japanese kitchens and the limited free space they afforded prevented its acceptance by homemakers from making much progress.
Introduced into this environment at the end of the decade, the NP-33S1 was an innovative dishwasher/dryer with its depth successfully reduced to just 33cm. The realization that many kitchens had an open space measuring about 30cm beside the sink led to the design of a machine that could fit into a space that size. The door, whose waterproofing alone presented significant challenges, was given an impressive front-opening design for easy loading and unloading and built to fold up and back to prevent contact with kitchen cabinets. The top was gently rounded to avoid a squeezed impression when the machine was placed in a narrow space.
The NP-33S1's compact design dramatically increased the number of homes in which installation was possible and helped to make it a major hit product. The style it established became the prototype for the dishwasher/dryers manufactured in Japan in the years that followed.