Field Trip: Harvey Norman

The purpose of this field trip was to expose ourselves to the existing products out there and to identify trends and forms right now in the market. It was a long time since I last step into a Harvey Norman store and a few things caught my attention, probably besides the new renovated store that looks extremely clean and bright.

 

1.Back to the 80’s

 

When I first entered the store, the first few products that greeted me where retro-themed pastel coloured products.

They were not products from one specific brand, but from a variety of brands. All making the same retro-themed kind of products. But I have to admit that the soothing colour and the elegance of the product do make the product pleasant to our eyes. It made me walk towards these products because they had a clear style that is different from modern products; the hard metallic grey ones with lots of buttons.

They made almost any household products into pastel colours. I like how they created a variety of colours to attract users of different personalities. The colours are strong, vibrant and there’s a sense of happiness within these products.

These refrigerators are clearly from the 80’s are they are being brought back to life now. I like how smart the company is in bringing old antiques back with a modern touch. You won’t feel old-fashioned when buying these products, ironically you would feel ahead of time by buying these products instead of the conventional ordinary refrigerators that you would see everywhere now.

 

2.Organic Shapes

 

The next thing that attracted my attention is the organic forms of the products. Brands are looking into smooth forms that doesn’t show much buttons for aesthetic purposes. Here are a few examples.

I really like how they use simple shapes and forms to create such an elegant and easy to use product. It is really cool to see how the designer manage to blend in the buttons together with the form so it does not seem like it is out of place.

 

3.Colours

 

The last point that I want to bring up is the vibrant colours of products inside the shop that makes the whole shop look very eye-catchy and lively. Brands like to explore and create different varieties of colours for users to choose from. It enhances the user experience and value adding the overall product by giving a choice of customisation. Colours definitely attracts me and I am drawn in by vibrant colours.

 

Overall the field trip was great and I had a few inspirations. It opened up my eyes to see what is out there in the market now and it is a product designer’s job to design what is out there in the market tomorrow or in the near future. 

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