Research led elevator interior design for OTIS to revamp their product offering for the Indian market.
I did this project while I was working at ONIO design as a senior industrial designer. This was a complete end to end project from research to design and engineering to creating final marketing materials. This was an extensive four year long project involving multiple stakeholders.
Role:
Working with the research team to formulate design strategy based on research insights.
Design and ideation.
3D modeling and creating hyper realistic renders
Color, material and finish strategy.
Assisting the engineering team with CAD for manufacturing.
Assisting the engineering team with prototyping.
Creating marketing materials from printed brochures and panoramic rendering for VR.
Working with the research team to formulate design strategy based on research insights.
Design and ideation.
3D modeling and creating hyper realistic renders
Color, material and finish strategy.
Assisting the engineering team with CAD for manufacturing.
Assisting the engineering team with prototyping.
Creating marketing materials from printed brochures and panoramic rendering for VR.
GLIMPSE OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS
Extrapolating visual design cues from market emotion
Based on the research insights we extrapolated visual design cues to give form to consumer aspirations. For example, "wellness" was a strong emotion emerging from the research insights. To capture it in form, we proposed seamlessness and rounded corners as a universal design detail across all elevator designs to reflect that emotion. Lack of visible nooks and crevices along with soft rounded corners create an inviting and comforting environment in an otherwise claustrophobic space. Additionally it also introduced a new market definition in the elevator design space in India. We laid out our design guidelines under the phrase "Organic continuum" which reflects thats aesthetic.
GLIMPSES OF PROPOSED CONCEPTS
We proposed 6 concepts in total for OTIS Gen2Nova 8 person cab. Shown below are the 2 selected designs for the basic, economical cab with basic materials and finishes. We proposed to use stainless steel in brushed and mirrored finish for more higher ranges of the these models. The control panel for each design is in stainless steel by default for greater resistance against wear.
Concept 2 and Concept 4 are now launched in the market under the name Aura and Atmos respectively. We made some slight modifications to the CMF after a stakeholder showcase based on the feedback received from architects, real estate developers and passengers.
In ATMOS we introduced mirrored back panels in stainless steel instead of powder coated panels and introduced a new CMF.
In AURA we replaced every powder coated panel with brushed stainless steel and mirror stainless steel for the accent panel with a custom laser etched pattern.
