Epson P5000 Photo Viewer final - This is a description of the process to redesign Epson's line of incredible photo viewers. These products are highly esteemed by those in the professional photography world due to their amazing display, storage capacity, and durable construction.
Original photo viewer (P-2000) - This was the original product that Epson came to us with. Worked beautifully, but the aesthetics were aligned towards the 20-something gamer set (think Sony PSP), rather than hard-core in-the-field pro photographers. Our biggest challenge was really to align the aesthetics with the core demographic.
Some photography inspiration - We immediately took inspiration from the kind of professional tools that photographers already have around them. A professional's tools are fundamentally different than the average consumer's tools: they are used to make his/her living, and so must be incredibly dependable...
more inspiration from Leica - Leica products have incredible attention to detail and build quality...we wanted to echo some of the same principles in the new Epson product...
initial sketch exploration - some quick pen studies around the given package...exploring breaking up the large brick form, button placement, sculptural elements...
refined concept sketch 1 - Moving into more refined hand sketching...taken to this level before going into Painter.
refined sketch concept 2 - this concept uses side-bumpers on the face to give some protection and grip to the front surface
Painter shading - Taken into Painter, a color vignette is applied over the top...starting to work out little details like the screws around the nav cluster,
Painter orthos, concept 2 - These Painter orthos explore all sides of the product, help to show part breaks, control clusters, various access doors...this concept is most similar to their current P-2000, just a bit ruggedized...
Painter Orthos Concept 1 - This partially became the chosen concept (mostly in the nav area)...
Painter Orthos concept 3 - This was ultimately the chosen direction...Epson liked the metal chassis top and bottom, w/ the side grips...reminiscent of 35mm cameras...
Initial Alias model - Moving into Alias...working out various access doors, latches, control locations....this file was then rendered and built into an appearance model.
Alias model, rear - back view, featuring an expandable rear housing for more battery life, card slots, microphone/speaker, and illuminated power toggle. (Painter works excellent for adding glow, don't bother doing it in the rendering)
front rendering, black version - Epson ultimately wanted 2 versions of this viewer, a high end version w/ more storage (with all-black metal housings), and a mid-level version (with gunmetal housings)
Note the cool C-ring battery access bolt on the lower right corner...
Orthos - As you can see, all sides of the product have some kind of functional detail, much like a 35mm camera...this kind of navigation-by-feel is critical for professional tools...
Final product shots - Here is some final photography of the actual products, the all-black version is the high-tier model, the silver/black version is the mid-tier...
Model photography - These are actually photos of the appearance model that our model shop created, based of my Alias file...
Again, final product photo....details are slightly changed from our final concept, but the basic idea is there unchanged...just some minor tweaks around the nav cluster...
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Epson P-5000 Photo Viewer