Top of the big era

With the successful listing of Ziweixing and Ziweixing International, Zhou Buqi's next big move is to promote the listing of Aster Group.

For this purpose, he personally participated in the design and development of AsterPods, a Bluetooth wireless headset product under Aster, as a product manager. The Chinese name is "Aster Headphones".

Aster has two major brands, Aster and Motorola, and the Chinese names are Aster and Motorola. One is high-end and the other is for the mid-to-low end. As can be seen from the name of this headset, it is mainly aimed at the high-end market and the price is at least several hundred yuan.

This time when he returned to China, Zhou Buqi mainly had to meet with the team to determine the final version of the headset.

After more than 40 adjustments, he finally got a solution that satisfied him.

Next, he can carry out engineering debugging.

"The mainstream aesthetic of hardware in the world now is based on the Nordic style of minimalism, and the main color is white. Our designers must study the aesthetic trends of Nordic countries, which have formed a global consensus on high-end aesthetic trends."

Zhou Buqi finally decided on the final version of the headphone design. He also needs to come up with some conceptual arguments to position the long-term product replacement.

"We are not masters of aesthetics, but it doesn't matter. We just need to copy and extend our products. Our product designs, not only for headphones, but also for mobile phones, speakers, electronic watches, tablets, chargers, and even packaging boxes, must have a similar design style. To put it bluntly, we need to copy!"

"There is no imitation of similar products. We can look at the windows, floors, clothes, shoes, hats, school bags, furniture, refrigerators, color TVs, and sofas designed by Nordic designers. We can draw inspiration from all aspects. This is the main trend of modern products around the world."

"Don't be embarrassed. The market determines product design. We are not artists. What we have to do is to show art on the application side. Just like the concept of science and technology, technology companies do not need to do too much academic scientific research. What technology companies have to do is to realize scientific results on the technical side and apply them in the market. The best product designer must not be an artist, but an intermediary between art and the market, and a 'product manager' of art."

Zhou Buqi set the tone for everyone.

This is the general trend of product design style and a modern international trend. It is impossible for Boss Zhou to continue to be the chief designer of the headphone business at Aster. After designing the style of the first AsterPods, the general framework was determined.

Unless there is a major change in the future, it will not be changed and will continue along this route.

A designer named Li Jiaming asked: "Should we follow the direction of Apple?"

This is not only his question.

In fact, it is also the feeling of every designer present.

They are all experts.

When Boss Zhou said this, the first impression in everyone's mind was the design concept of Apple products.

Is Aster going to copy Apple completely?

Zhou Buqi was not vague and said frankly: "I believe there is no need to hide this point. We can all see that Apple's products are indeed unique in the field of design. More than ten or twenty years ago, it was the world of Japanese companies such as Sony and Panasonic. Now it is different. The hardware products that can best represent the global aesthetic trend are Apple's series."

This will make some people unconvinced.

One designer asked, "So what are we doing, Astar or Apple? If we imitate Apple, how can we build our own brand of Astar? How can we promote our own design concept?"

There were also many company executives present.

Hearing this, a product vice president named Chen Dong said, "Why are we imitating Apple? This is not true! The reality is that Apple has been imitating us, and this is obvious to all around the world. From fingerprint unlocking to smart voice, as well as large screen design, ceramic shell, glass shell design, and multi-color style, which one is not Apple following us?"

Zhou Buqi nodded, looked at Chen Dong, and ordered, "On this point, we need to hold a meeting at the company level to reach a consensus among all employees. Many colleagues seem to have some misunderstandings like the outside world."

Chen Dong accepted immediately, "I'll arrange it later."

Zhou Buqi returned to the previous topic, "Apple is not a design concept, Let's talk about the iPhone. Is the current iPhone the same as the previous iPhone? Can anyone tell me, from the perspective of product design, what is the difference between the iPhone of the Jobs era and the iPhone 6 that is a global best-seller this year? "

The designer named Li Jiaming replied: "There are indeed many differences. Jobs is a fan of Japanese aesthetics. So the iPhones of the Jobs era are all Japanese aesthetics, childish, small and beautiful, emphasizing naturalism. The current iPhone 6... seems to continue the style of the previous generations, but in fact, from the perspective of design concept, it has completely changed and has become a more practical Nordic style. "

Then, he briefly talked about the difference between the two.

The Japanese style and the Nordic style are very similar, both of which are cold and indifferent, but there are also subtle differences.

For example, windows.

Japan advocates small windows, which will give a hazy feeling of gray and light when the sun shines in, which is a typical Japanese aesthetic; Northern Europe is different. It is close to the North Pole and has very little sunlight. What they pursue is cleanliness and transparency, large windows, floor-to-ceiling windows, and as much light as possible.

In the concept of mobile phone design, it is the difference between small-screen mobile phones and large-screen mobile phones.

When Jobs was alive, he sneered at the large-screen mobile phones of Aster series of Aster, thinking that this thing was simple and crude and lacked artistry. Only small screens can have a warm and natural feeling and can be held in the hand in a very natural state.

It is different now. This year's iPhone6 ​​has completely subverted the design style of the past Jobs era.

Learning from Aster, it has also moved closer to the Nordic style.

Playing with large screens, playing with multiple colors, playing with multiple materials, and playing with irregularities.

He talked a lot and said it very professionally.

Zhou Buqi doesn't have much knowledge about design, but he has more contact with Apple people and understands them better. "It's true. Jobs is a supporter of Japanese aesthetics. Jobs' iPhone imitates the design of Japanese hardware products, but it is better than the original. And the positioning of Estar's mobile phone has been Nordic style since the beginning. Do you understand? The change of iPhone6 ​​is not that we are imitating Apple. On the contrary, it is Apple that is getting closer to us!"

It makes sense.

This makes everyone excited.

After all, for many highly educated people, especially those with high artistic sentiments, plagiarism is a torture. The collective backwardness of Japanese hardware products is not due to cost and product quality, but actually due to the persistence of design and the rejection of plagiarism.

When the Japanese style is no longer popular around the world, they will find it difficult to cater to the market if they do not change. After getting used to the avant-garde design of domestic mobile phones, you will feel like you have traveled back to several years ago when you look at Japanese mobile phones.

Zhou Buqi continued, "Apple's changes are mainly two-fold. The first is that the iPhone 5s is less competitive in terms of sales. Asda's Aster series and Samsung's Galaxy series have more market share in the high-end mobile phone field. The market requires Apple to make changes, and they must compromise on design."

"The second point, and the most critical point, is that Jonathan, the chief designer during Jobs's period, left Apple. Cook appointed a new chief designer, which led to the revamped iPhone 6 that is selling well around the world today. This can be said to be Cook's biggest subversion of Jobs. The market has proved that he has done a good job."

"From this we can also see what commercial companies care about most? It's the market! What the market likes is what we want to do. Today, the Nordic style is sweeping the world, so we will do the Nordic style. Tomorrow, if the Indian style leads the world, then we will change to the Indian style. . There is nothing to be ashamed of. The pursuit of design is essentially the recognition of the market. This is not an artist's studio, but a large company with tens of thousands of employees. Our products have the responsibility to support tens of thousands of families. "

"I know that many friends in the design industry have nothing good to say about Cook. But I think he has done better than Jobs. If Jobs were alive today and insisted on his Japanese aesthetics, Apple's market value would not be so high. Cook's compromise has allowed Apple to gain market recognition again and again. When we design products, we must also balance the concept and the market. Designers should have the thinking of product managers. "

"I believe this headphone product can lead an era. At least, if Apple wants to launch a headphone product in the future, it must imitate us! We can wait slowly, we can open our arms, and we welcome every competitor to copy!"

...

After the meeting, Zhou Shaoning looked for Zhou Buqi with worry.

The iPhone 6 is popular all over the world.

The sales of this year's latest Aster 6 have dropped by 27% year-on-year, which is very troublesome!