Going for Gold – The ASUS P1 Portable LED Projector

The ASUS P1 Portable LED Projector was recently awarded the 2012 iF Design Gold Award, and ASUS Design Singapore senior industrial designer WF Loi had to opportunity to collect the award on his team’s behalf at the 2012 iF Design Awards ceremony held at BMW Welt in Germany. We caught up with Loi in Singapore to find out what goes on behind the closed doors of ASUS Design Singapore when it works on a project like the P1.

“Everything begins with ASUS Design’s “Start with people” ethos, and that is to create something that is both unique and provides users with the best experience possible,” he explained.

This is the initial stage, where the research team conducts studies to determine what their target audience needs. For the P1, they found out that Pico projector users want that perfect blend of portability and performance.

But of course that’s easier said than done, and the design team had the unenviable task of packaging the P1’s high performance components into a form factor that could easily slip into a briefcase. Rounds of testing and refinement of the various prototypes and concepts were conducted by the industrial design and user experience teams before the P1’s final lines were cast in stone.

“It was not a matter of squeezing in the components into a compact, portable design; but more of giving it a premium feel akin to that of a DSLR camera. We came up with a simple magnesium and aluminum body that draws the users’ eyes towards the lens,” said Loi.

This approach worked, with the P1’s simple lines accentuated by minor touches like its intricate vent design. The resulting product has a professional feel about it, with clean lines that draws eyes to its focal point – the lens.

The design team paid a lot of attention to the nitty gritty as they sought to enhance the entire product experience; and the devil is definitely in the details, with the user interface and the control panel’s size, shape and layout getting a thorough once-over from the team.

It is more than just a case of form following function – from its physical lines to its control elements; the P1’s overall design contributes to its professional-grade capabilities. These range from its easily adjustable flip-down stand, evenly laid out control buttons, all the way to its intricate internals that feature thermal conductive magnesium alloys which aid in heat dissipation.

All the nitpicking proved worth it in the end, with the P1 bagging the Good Design Award in Japan on top of the iF Design Award. It may be early doors yet, but from the way things are looking, the ASUS Design Singapore office might want to pencil in a trophy cabinet for their next design project to house these awards.