Creation of Digital Archive of Japanese Products Design process Okamoto Rina Keio University Graduate School Policy and Media Course Program of Environmental Design Governance 1. Introduction: Background and the Purpose of this Report Recently, the number of its corporate archives by the enterprises (especially manufacturers) keeps increasing. However, these archives are generally like catalogues and frequently they don t emphasize the process of designing or manufacturing products. As a part of the project Design base creation in Akihabara, I defined a digital archive that focuses the design process of Japanese products in postwar days, namely, digital archive of Japanese products design process and aim to produce it. In this report, I produced prototypes of contents of digital archive of Japanese products design process and designed the way for it. Moreover, I suggested the meaning of the design process archive by indicating possibility of using it. Review: Existent digital corporate archive Recently, corporate archives or museum archives keep increasing. Especially, many big companies are rapidly forming corporate products archives, because the transition of the lifestyle that started at the high economic growth period of postwar stopped and enough amount of products were accumulated. We can see dynamism of the growth of Japanese technology in the accumulation of those products.
Case1: CANON CAMERA MUSEUM Fig1, 2 Public contents in the Internet. Presentation of all models of CANON's cameras and corporate history CANON CAMERA MUSEUM Case2: Matsushita Electric Industrial s company history digital archive In-house contents in the Intranet. Presentation of materials about corporate history and founder Case3: Nippon Style Fig3.4 Nippon Style Public contents in the Internet. Presentation of Japanese products symbolizing change of Japanese lifestyle postwar. Case4: Dai Nippon Printing SHASI no MORI Public database of corporate history published by DNP Originally, archive is to preserve materials and arrange them. But we paid attention not only to materials as result of action but also to the process of production, because we noticed that the wisdom helping breakthrough and tacit information for manufacturing products rises to the surface by dividing
and demonstrating the designing process in detail. It might be profitable for manufacturing products (not only of today but also of the future) to formalize this tacit knowledge that has been unconsciously shared. The accumulation of the designing process will also help to grip the tendency of the manufacturing products in Japanese culture as tourist attractions. Now we are editing the design process of Japanese products, mainly consumer electronic produced postwar. We also aim to design the production technique of this archive to edit the creation process of various products that gave the impact to Japanese society. Definition of digital archive of Japanese products design process and its objects Digital archive of Japanese products design process is a digital archive edited focusing the design process of Japanese epoch-making products (for example, electrical appliance or electric parts). Each contents has common format to demonstrate each designing process. Definition of Japanese epoch-making products is a little vague, but it s decided by their newness or social impact. Method: 8 frames-storyline Before producing the prototypes, I supposed a storyline consisted of 8 frames. I obtained the basic idea from the manufacturing process of a general industrial commodity. Contents of 8 frames: 1. Social background 2. Grasp the situation 3. Formation of product s concept 4. Production of prototype 5. Outbreak of problem 6. Grope the new solution 7. New form / Completion of product 8. Change of society Social background Fig5 design track (INOGUCHI, 1971) 8 frames storyline to edit creation process Grasp the situation Formation of Production of prototype product s concept Outbreak of problem Grope the new solution New form / Completion of product Change of society Fig6 8 frames-storyline
Prototype Using above storyline, I made prototype of contents based on an interview to producers. Material is speaker G-205, the speaker invented for Japanese first domestic transistor radio TR-55. Design process of speaker G -205 (Foster Electric C om pany) ~1954 Production of Social background Grasp the situation Formation of Radio becomes popular by Request for manufacture prototype product s concept national policy of micro speaker Frame is reduced to the Micro speaker able to put After warm society was Developers answered limit out privatized We try it Scale-down each part necessary compass for Domestic electrical and try to reduce the entire radio appliance became size. Research of existing mainstream technology and simulation ~1954 Problem :Difficulty of com patibility of size and tone quality 問題の発生 : サイズと音質の両立が困難 OKAMOTO OKAMOTO Rina: Rina: この部分の長さが長いほど 写真入れ替え写真入れ替え大きな音が出る 図式 : フォスター電機水口様提供 Outbreak of problem The sound is small and the band balance is bad Grope new the solution 1.Review of sound quality of corn paper (acceleration of development cycle by adoption of domestic production) 2.Design without pole peace 1954.3 New form / Completion of product Re-design of sound circuit and magnetic circuit Adopted for transistor radio TR-55 1955.8 Change of society A minimum speaker without the Paul peace is made standard. Sale of mimicry, price competition Change of lifestyle by mobile radio When the speaker is downsized, the sound becomes small and especially the bass becomes extremely small. A big speaker is more advantageous for tone quality. However, it is a small speaker that is requested. The magnet (which decides the length of speaker) was plane as much as possible. However, it cannot carry out the function as the speaker of the radio because the sound within the range from 400 hertz to 5000 hertz cannot be produced when the magnet is plane any further and a magnetic circuit is thinned. Fig7 8 frames-storyline of speaker G-205 Solution1:Im provem ent of C orn-paper 解決策 1: 1 コーンペーパーの改良 お札と同じ技法で 引き上げるように梳く断面図縁部分を薄くして低音を出す図式提供 (2 点とも ): フォスター電機水口様コーンペーパーを透かすと 縁部分が薄くなっている The Vibration System was the key to produce low tone. Production of the Cone-Paper of those days was depending on subcontract. They tried to quicken development cycle of Cone-Paper with smoothen the feedback by making it to domestic production. Optimizing the thinness on the edge, the material and the shape of the corn paper, they improved the output of low tone. And by increasing content rate of Japanese paper from lack of knowledge of papers, the acoustic effects have improved and was suited with the characteristic of the transistor by chance. The company's first in-house development product was adopted for G-205. Simultaneously, the reliability of the speaker has advanced too. Fig8~12 speaker G-205 story (second half) Solution2:Im provem ent of m agnetic circuit Removalof P olepiece and m iniaturization 解決策 2: 2 磁気回路の改良 ポールピースを取って小型化 The length of magnet could be left enough by polishing black rust of magnet, making the magnet the same diameter as the Polepiece, and put the same function with Pole Piece. This method is standard now. It was not in the record whether they acquired the patent. In a tendency at that time, there was no trend to acquire the patent and monopolized it. 図式提供 : フォスター電機水口様 Completion of Transistor radio TR-55 of Tokyo Telecom m unication- Engineering 東京通信工業 TR-55 の完成 Afterwards Foster and Speakers フォスターとスピーカーのその後 フォスター薄型 TV 用スピーカ 433994 画像出典 : 東京通信工業 TR-55 カタログ The first transistor radio in Japan was completed. The small-sizing and lightening of Radio advanced by adopting the transistor, and it becomes the first personal electronic equipment. Thou, the diffusion of family radio was reached to 74%, personal radio,excepting personal made by Amateurs, wasn t existed at that time. Afterwards, the commercialization of the transistor radio leading the world contributed to the rapid development of the electronic industrial products very much. ( 国立科学博物館産業技術史資料情報センターアーカイヴより ) コーンペーパー生産も自動化へ抄紙機導入各種トランジスタラジオ画像出典 : 昭和二万日の全記録第 10 巻 講談社平成元年 The lifestyle has vigorously changed by personalizing and portablization of radio. As technology side, polepiece was standardized, and the speaker was widely developed. Succeeded Foster came to be trusted as a pioneer in the micro-speaker market, and eminence and sales was extended by original product development since G-205. Afterwards, the material of the magnet jumped in prices for war, and the review of the change in the material and the structure is urged. Discussion of findings: Adaptability of 8-frame storyline In case of speaker G-205, 8 frames-storyline functioned. In the same way, Stainless steel sink (first mass-produced stainless steel sink for public housing, produced in 1957) could be captured as 8-frames storyline. These products are common in the following points;
Developed after the war, high economic growth and supply shortage period More innovative and newer case On the other hand, in case of more contemporary products like cell phone or digital camera, they go through the compressed processes in the first half and go through more multiple processes in the middle part. These contemporary products are common in the following points; Developed lately, saturation and differentiation of products period Refinement of existent models Adaptation of 8frames-storyline IXY Digital EOS }Kiss(digital single-lens camera, 2000s) FOMA (cell phone series, 2000s) Formation of Social background Grasp the situation Production of prototype product s concept Intervention of Sales division (Marketing) cover Estimation division with knowledge accumulated manufacturing by then Outbreak of problem New form / Completion of product New form Competition with other brands / Completion of product (by a case) defeated and forgotten Change of society Fig13 8 frames-storyline of IXY, Kiss, FOMA Possibility of using digital archive of design process: Analysis of variation of design process along flow in age From context of the previous paragraph, I expect the cause of the partial compression and the omission of the design process of contemporary cases is below: Efficiency improvement in design process by accumulation of manufacturing knowledge Meeting between different divisions based on the marketing system Not only the accumulation of production knowledge, but also introduction of a system of marketing had given production big influence. Below is transition of Japanese market postwar. Age of production Postwar days~1960's (Period of shortage) Age of sales 1970's~around 1985 (Period of promotion) Age of marketing around 1985~ (Overflow of products)
It may be said that manufacturing process that was linear became multilayer after marketing (concretely, introduction of a meeting and evaluation between different organizations or market research) was generalized. Moreover, with the same product, manufacturing processes are greatly different by full model changeover or a minor change. In the case of a minor change based on the production knowledge of an existing product, a manufacturing process is promoted efficiency of and tends to shorten. Promotion of efficiency of a process is effective for competition between brands. Present analysis is still insufficient. But analysis and comparison of the change of a design process will clarify a change of production with a flow of the times. I think that digital archive of design process may help it. Possibility of using digital archive of design process: Adaptation to Sustainable Knowledge Globe By collaboration with Toyoaki NISHIDA laboratory (Kyoto University), we take contents of digital archive in the three-dimensional archive system Sustainable Knowledge Globe (KUBOTA, SUMI, NISHIDA, 2005), for smoother understanding and pleasant reference of contents. We have adopted prototype of contents to the system experimentally and now we're investigating understanding degree and feeling of use. Sustainable Knowledge Globe has the structure that a user can mine information depending on his interest. If affinity of contents and Sustainable Knowledge Globe is good, we will push forward investigation and want to pursue ideal method collaboration. Development on Sustainable Knowledge Globe Possibility of free data mining Separate grain Story flow Grain of information Bunch of knowledge Single frame as Story Fig14 image of development on SKG
Fig15, 16 Sustainable Knowledge Globe Conclusion In this report, I defined digital archive of Japanese products design process based on the present conditions and produced prototype of contents. And I showed use possibility of digital archive by performing analysis of a design process and adaptation of contents to an archive system. Foresight of this study The interview of manufacturing becomes difficult by complication of manufacturing system (for example, production business to business or business to business to consumer ) and competition of manufacturers. Actually, in our digital archive, contents bias to old cases. I insist on the merit of collecting design processes and comparative study about these processes. And I make effort for accomplishment of digital archive of Japanese products design process. Reference Book & Journal - Inoguchi (1971) Solid Product - Kubota, Sumi, Nishida (2005) Sustainable Knowledge Globe: The Sustainably - - Developed Time-Spatial Memory Web (2007/8/15 reference) - CANON CAMERA MUSEUM http://web.canon.jp/camera-muse/ - Nippon Style http://www.nipponstyle.jp/ - DNP SHASHI no MORI http://shashinomori.dualchives.jp/