Designing in detail for people and planet

Isn’t it funny how much thought, care, detail and hard work goes into the very best technology? Because appearing effortless, ironically, doesn’t come easy. Every product we manufacture starts life as a big idea, but even at this conceptual point, every aspect is interrogated, every impact explored, investigated and understood. No stone, as they say, is left unturned.

But what are our researchers and engineers looking for? Fundamentally, it comes down to performance, usability and impact. Of the three, performance is most obvious – we want our products to be the best of the best and to meet every customer’s highest expectation. But usability and impact are equally as important, just more complex to explain.

Perhaps it is simplest to begin with usability. Because, after all, isn’t that what drives performance? Well, yes and no. Consider our new imageFORCE C7165. Yes, it is deservedly applauded for its speed, quality and operability, but what you may not know is that every element of its build was conceived using the principles of Universal Design. This means that we take a completely user-centric approach and so before a single concept enters the design stage it has been painstakingly scoped out for inclusivity.

We deep dive into research, seeking to understand how a wide range of users might interact with a device. This means consulting with people of all abilities and backgrounds on how they might prefer to use it. For imageFORCE C7165, this translated into a number of physical adaptations to make it easier to use, such as an assisted way to open and close the document feeder and designing it so that it is easy to lift for every user. Paper drawers can be opened and closed with a gentle touch and power switches and operations panels are positioned with access in mind.

These things all seem obvious, but it’s the tiniest details that can often have the biggest impact. For example, even the LED indicators have been considered, so they aren’t painfully bright, but can still be clearly seen. And every interface is designed to be simple, intuitive and fully accessible for all sensory profiles and a huge number of languages. And these examples represent only a fraction of the work that actually went in to making this device an inclusivity success story. But it does give you an idea of our meticulous attention to the minutiae.

However, if we want to step for a moment into mind-blowing territory, in parallel with all this work to achieve maximum accessibility, the same product is going through a similar process of design innovation and scrutiny to minimise its environmental impact too. Every millimetre is pored over to understand how its components, function, shape and size can be adapted to optimise energy efficiency, make better use of materials and ensure that parts can be reused, repaired or recycled in the future.

Because, somewhat surprisingly, one of the most important challenges that we need to meet when we are exploring future products is what happens to them when they are no longer required. We, of course, design our products to last, which means they can meet the knocks and bumps of life with ease, but can also be repaired when necessary. We put every potential product through a ‘life cycle assessment’, which includes looking at every likely component material and, using real-world data from our suppliers, analysing all possible CO2 impacts. And if it looks like a product is not going to meet our standards for environmental performance? That’s where the story ends. It is simply never made.

The imageRUNNER ADVANCE DX C5860i is the perfect example of this in action. Compared to its predecessor, it’s 25% lighter. How? Because, upon examining the outer frame, it was discovered that there was no reason it couldn’t be thinner, and the change would make no difference to how the device functioned. It would, however, make a difference in terms of both raw materials used and how it is shipped, reducing its overall CO2 impact. The same machine was also fitted with a new kind of motor that controls its electric current, resulting in a further 13% reduction in CO2 emissions.

Some might call it a ‘cycle of continual innovation’, but that doesn’t really do justice to the scientists, engineers, technicians, specialists and wider teams who dissect every Canon product and device, then apply the very latest knowledge and research to designing far beyond practical improvements. Together, the collective might of their micro-specialisations is making a very real difference. In fact, over ten years, Canon office equipment achieved cumulative energy savings of 7,047GWh – the equivalent of around 3,184,000 tonnes of CO2. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Calculator, that’s the same as the electricity usage of 628,382 homes for a year. You see, details matter.

Learn more about sustainability at Canon.