Design Matters

We just announced a new ThinkPad line optimized for small business called the SL series. Quality, affordability, service and support are critical factors to small business notebook users, and Lenovo’s ThinkPad SL series combines all of those. We designed the notebooks for the unique way these users work – whether at home, the office, the park or a coffee shop. The notebooks also excel with their enhanced multimedia capabilities. Nice speakers, high quality microphones and an optional webcam provide excellent support for internet voice and video conferencing. The keyboard continues the quality tradition with the legendary ThinkPad feel. Last but not least, the stripes are back.

The SL designs also include a black mirror finish top not seen since we retired the S30 ultraportable. You may remember this one from 2001. Sure it may attract a few fingerprints, but it looks fantastic. All the other series continue to be matte finish. We also hid the hinges and used a latchless closure to further simplify the appearance and draw attention to the new ThinkPad logo. It now features a unique red LED embedded into the ThinkPad signature replacing the typical red dot over the letter i. When powered up it glows constantly reminding everyone who has the ThinkPad in the room. It also cleverly communicates overall system status. When the lid is closed and the ThinkPad goes into standby the LED begins to slowly pulse like a human heart. We spent a lot of time on this feature working with both development and marketing. It’s not easy squeezing a LED into the display cover. In the end I think it adds value and richens the brand experience.

Avram Piltch , a reviewer from Laptop magazine , perhaps said it best “The coarse, rubberized plastic of the traditional Lenovo lid has been replaced with a shiny piano-black surface that sports our favorite design change: a sexy ThinkPad logo where the dot in the letter “I” is a laser-red light that reminds us of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s eye in The Terminator. ”

Collectively these design extensions have been recognized by the targeted small business customers as being appealing. For the tried and true ThinkPad loyalist, we still have you covered with the more traditional design details you have come to expect. I love our new X200 almost enough to surrender my X300. Almost.

David Hill

Color coding has long been used by designers to enhance both the usability and appearance of a product. Traffic lights, fire extinguishers, jumper cables, electrical resistors, and of course computers all use color coding. One of my favorite examples of color coding is the now classic calculator designed in the 1970’s by Dieter Rams for Braun. The subtle colors used for grouping like functions are beautiful and provide wonderful utility. Only Rams would think of using a rich chocolate brown and forest green on a black product. His use of brighter colors denoting keys of highest importance adds a beautiful spot of color. I really like the bright yellow “equals”key. I’m not the only one to notice the power of this design. Apple clearly borrowed from this design classic for the iPhone calculator interface.

Samsung and Bang & Olufsen have also used color for very similar reasons on their remote controls. They both look great.

For many years ThinkPad has also used color on our keyboard. The enter key is currently a rich muted blue and we have historically used a subtle grey to group the function keys. I think colors like this are useful and add visual interest. I’d love to get your feedback on this topic.

David Hill

We often get questions about the layout of notebook keyboards from our customers. People want to understand what drives the location of certain keys. Many times this is very difficult to explain. Key location is not always related to detailed human factors or usability analysis. History often plays a role. Have you ever tried to rationalize the QWERTY layout to someone who has never used or possibly even seen a typewriter? Fortunately most of the questions we see center around the location of very specific keys rather than global questions like the validity of the QWERTY layout.

In keeping with our continued desire to gather input from the readers of Design Matters, my team has created a detailed survey on this subject. Your input can help us get your favorite keys in the rights places. You can take the survey here. Thanks for your interest and time.

David Hill