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Forum: Pentax K-01
02-07-2012, 04:45 AM
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This is an interesting thread. I would like to chip in with my thoughts but please don't treat this as a hostile post and please no flame or personal attacks :) This is just another point of view here.
I work with Architects very closely in my field of work. I am not an Architect however. I am just a lowly engineer. So together, we design buildings like hotels, condominiums, airports, skyscrapers, houses and the like. The Architect is usually directly commissioned by the Client to deliver a architectural masterpiece satisfying all the criteria as stated during the appointment. I have a lot of respect for good Architects in my field. My understanding is that these kind of projects generally falls under 2 broad categories.
1. Projects that are constructed for a single purpose or a single client (such as an airport, a bungalow house, a hotel and perhaps a school) and
2. projects that are constructed for mass production (such as a condominium building, an office building with office lots for sale, etc).
Perhaps lets just narrow the project scope down a bit.
For a bungalow house design say, the Architect will deliver a couple of designs for the client to comment/choose. User opinions are important here as they are the only end user who will occupy that building. The Architect will try to accommodate as best as he can the wishes of the client. Afterall, a happy client is a happy paymaster. So if the Client wanted a house with a 2 storey void and a spiral staircase, I am sure the Architect will create something that works.
For a condominum project, the Client usually has already in mind the type of people they might want to sell to. If it is a medium range condominum, the client may target medium incomers and if it is a luxury condominium, the client may target the high flyers. The Architect may then do market research (often helped by the client's marketing department) to establish the kind of things the target audience may be interested in, in order to differentiate their design from the crowd so to speak. The Architects may or may not do consumer research themselves, i.e. they may not go on the street asking people's opinion what kind of condominium apartment one would like, neither will they go on internet forums soliciting ideas from people like you and me in order to know what floats our boat, and they probably will not setup polls for people to vote what they want and do not want. If they do, they will probably never finish their design ever. We are all individual beings with very different thoughts and needs.
Understanding what the end users want for a project like a condominium is the Client's responsibilities, not the designers themselves. The Architect translate that sets of desires/wants into a workable solution. So if the Client knows that most users wanted a condominium with large kitchens and big balconies and the buyers are prepared to pay money for, this becomes one of the things the Architect has to design for, or at least have to show serious considerations in their design, unless there are physical constrains that render these cannot be done - either due to budget constrains, technical limitations, etc.
Similarly, Marc Newson is appointed by Pentax to deliver a camera design which pentax already knew who they wanted to market for. Pentax has not done a mirrorless body before and they want to make this unique and differentiate themselves from the crowd (pentax's motto is "Be different", is it not?). They may not be able to conceptualize a body that is cool and yet workable within the constrains of the k-mount. So a designer's help is in order here. Why they choose Marc Newson and not someone else? I don't know but why not Marc Newson?
Pentax can design the camera in house of course, but the design may be too monolithic in this case (it will prolly just look like a shrink down K-r if we ask pentax to do it themselves)....this is the reason why we Engineers do not design buildings even though we build them. Engineers are builders. Engineers are not designers, no matter what we think of ourselves.
And Marc Newson now being tasked to design a camera, obviously has a dateline to meet (don't we all) in order not to upset pentax's delivery schedule. Will he be able to go on the most famous and friendly pentax forums on the internet, maybe disguising himself as a user amongst us, soliciting ideas from the forums what pentaxians want and do not want? yes he can. But is he expected to? probably not in my opinion. if a camera maker wants to know what their users think, it should be pentax themselves coming on pentax forums asking users what we want. But that obviously is not happening judging from the many grieves all of us have (me included to some extent).
But saying it is Marc Newson's fault in delivering a design that does not appeal to some, is not a fair statement IMHO. I believe Marc Newson is doing the best he can, given the kind of constrains pentax has given him.
I once had lunch with a few architects from a very well known architectural firm based in London. I respected them because they are good Architects. One of the senior architects shared a joke around the table. He said that he once walked down a street not too far away from one of the buildings he designed (a building he is proud of) and came to a bus stop. There are a couple of locals waiting at the bus stop. So he asked one of them what he thinks of that building up the hill. The guy replied that he never take notice of that building because it is just so boring. He then asked another lady waiting at the bus stop the exact same question and the lady replied that that is one of the most ridiculous building she has ever seen and exclaimed that the Architect must be mad to design something like that. The Architect did not get upset but shared that he just had a good laugh after knowing what others think of his design.
The fact is that a design may not work for everyone. Some may love it, some may be indifferent to it and some may even hate it. But this is okay, because we are all individual beings with different thoughts.
So the pentax k-01 is in my mind a uniquely design camera. It may not be well loved by everyone but let's give Marc Newson some credit of delivering Pentax's first mirrorless camera. Time will tell if the camera really fails in the eyes of pentaxians,
Sorry for the long post :)
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-18-2011, 06:44 AM
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Santa's not real? Say it ain't so... I just saw him in the mall yesterday!
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