Seiko Instruments Inc. (Abbreviation: SII; President, COO & CFO: Yukihiko Chayama; Head Office: 8, Nakase 1-chome, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba Prefecture; Tel: 043-211-1111) will commence providing outside parties with creative, advanced industrial design services that have been developed to a high degree through SII’s wristwatches, jewelry, consumer products, industrial devices and systems, starting September 2003.
While SII has been providing services related to graphic and space design for outside parties in the past. SII has now reorganized the existing design division that provides comprehensive and integrated design performances, including those in the product design field, and supports clients in solving their corporate design problems.
Since its foundation as a watch manufacturer, SII has worked over decades in the design of compact, and highly-precision products with outstanding features such as touchable, sensible, and manual handling. SII has sublimed these works into “wearable” designs. For example, the “Wrist Companion (prototype),” a Bluetooth-based wrist communicator, received the “Best of CES” award in the telephony category at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in 2001; the “Wristomo,” a wristwatch-type PHS (Personal Handyphone System) mobilephone terminal was released by NTT DoCoMo in May of this year. At the same time, SII has been making full use of design technologies that emphasize user perspective and behavioral characteristic in the design development of various B to C (Business to Consumer) and B to B (Business to Business) products.
In today’s market, “user-friendliness” is a critical factor for evaluating products in addition to “specifications and performance.” To establish “user-friendliness” in every product, there is a considerable need for better incorporation of consumer affection and emotion, that is, “sensitivity-driven design.”
A design that not only simply highlights individuality but also incorporates sensitivity backed by highly enhanced user-friendliness may well be the key element that leads to a significant increase in the product added value.
SII is now actively engaged as a business in responding to such market trends.
SII Design (Design Division of SII) has 33 industrial designers, encompassing a total design capacity, from research and concept development to modeling, production follow-up based on a close interface with clients’ engineering and production engineering teams, and manual development. The division also draws fully upon the strengths of the various respective design areas, such as graphic, space and Web design functions, to ensure a smooth transition into product promotion after product development.
SII Design will provide in-depth business design services including original product development, character development, brand development and CI (corporate identity) development. SII will put forth design service based on its business policy and assist its clients in solving their problems in the design areas.
Services to be provided by SII Design
•Wristwatch and accessory item comprehensive design, modeling and prototype fabrication, production follow-up
•B to B and B to C industrial comprehensive design
•Packaging and manual development associated with commercialization and merchandizing
•Sales promotion items; catalogs, advertisements, promotional tools, Web sites, expositions and events, images and CG, etc.
•Research, analysis and concept development which support product planning
•Brand consulting, CI consulting
Product examples (focusing on industrial design)
•Product design “Wristomo” (NTT DoCoMo), a wristwatch-type PHS mobilephone terminal
•”Wristomo” screen interface design
•Product design of “Wrist Companion” (concept model), a wristwatch-type information communication terminal with built-in Bluetooth devices
•Wristwatch product designs such as “appetime,” “Think The Earth” and “Complex”
•Product designs of electronic dictionaries, credit card authentication terminals, printers, data communication terminals, analytical and measuring instruments, etc.
* “Wristomo” is a registered trademark of NTT DoCoMo, Inc.
Service start date
September 2003
Contact Information
Press Contact
Seiko Instruments Inc.
Corporate Communications Dept.
Kano, Yako
Fax:+81-43-211-8011
E-mail:pr@sii.co.jp
Product Inquiry
Seiko Instruments Inc.
Watch Design Dept.
E-mail:design@sii.co.jp