Although the design of the A-series lineup including AE-1 and its successor, the A-1, was well-received among users, the Canon camera design department was aware of the limitation in the conventional design method. In automated cameras which no longer require a winding lever or rewinding crank, the mechanical design applied to the A-series cameras would result in something like an empty shell. Design is meaningless without contents. Different contents shall be met with different designs; consequently, the high-tech cameras with advanced technologies deserve their own designs. The camera design department had confidence that they were the ones who could break through the barrier with pride of success achieved in the design of the A-series. The camera design department successively developed design models for the new concept camera, though their activities were not necessarily encouraged within the company. There was already an established design concept for the advanced SLR cameras on the market and half of Canon's overall sales were brought by such camera sales. Against this situation, the camera design department proclaimed its design policy, which worked as the guidelines for the next-generation cameras: "as long as a camera functions as a tool to extend the roles of human hands and eyes for image reproduction, it must be human-friendly." Thus the earliest idea of ergonomic design, which is incorporated commonly to many products nowadays, emerged through the development of the T90. |
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| Enhancing the capability of image reproduction requires a camera to be multi-functional, but the camera does not qualify as truly "multifunctional" if its versatile functions make the operation complicated. Look at the Canon A-1 at the right below. The A-1 is the first model which realizes the fully-automated, computerized control with multiple functions. When the A-1 was launched in 1978, it dominated the market with a catch phrase, the "camera robot." “Multifunctional” was directly reflected in its design style deserving its name "robot." Still, there was a room for improvement in terms of easy operation. |
| After the A-1, Canon pursued the easier-to-use camera design through the T-series (the T50, the T70, and the T80). The catch phrase, "Canon camera is becoming more and more like the human hand" was created when the T50 first came on the market in 1983. "Harmony between the automated control and the use's will" was the development concept for the T90, the final model in the T-series. The design target was to integrate the user at the highest possible level with the camera which is armed with the advanced technology. The prototype of the T90 was created, upgrading the basic design of the T80. However, with its focus on top-notch technology, there was a concern that it might give the user the impression that it was excessively function-based. Canon camera design team searched for a solution to make the camera friendlier to people, and at the same time to innovate based on the design concepts of all cameras to date. Under the situations, the idea came about to bring Luigi Colani, the standard bearer of bio-design, onto the team. |
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