It’s difficult to translate abstract ideas you learn online into something practical and applicable to your everyday life.
Having one example isn’t always enough to demonstrate the power of an idea.
You need consistent reinforcement to drive home the point.
In our previous article on niches, we discussed how you could unlock your unfair advantage by embracing your niche interests and combining them with your chosen medium of expression to do original work to set yourself apart from the crowd.
We talked about Steve Jobs and how his interest in calligraphy influenced the Macintosh.
We gave you some actionable steps for identifying and leveraging your niche interests for doing original work.
But how do we apply it for ourselves?
Hence why, for today’s article, we’d like to showcase another standout case. This time, a company, that used its niche interests in video games, music and design to create a unique product that had never been seen on the market.
Introducing,
The OP-1 by Teenage Engineering
This is the flagship product developed by Swedish consumer electronics and manufacturer company Teenage Engineering. They started working on this in 2005 and didn’t publicly release it until 2011.
This product weighs less than 1kg and is roughly the same size as an iPad Mini yet boasts a high specification that places this product in a class of its own.
Gerry Meyer III of Module Labs Design did a brilliant breakdown of the product.
Here are our key takeaways from his review
Minimalist Aesthetic with Vibrant Accents:
The OP-1 has a clean, minimalist design with a cool light grey colour scheme across the outer housing, keys, and knobs. This sets it apart from more traditional synthesisers while allowing the keyboard keys to use light grey without requiring a separate colour. Strategically placed vibrant accents, like the multi-coloured knob tops, help important controls stand out.
This aesthetic is heavily inspired by Japanese minimalism which emphasises minimalist, sleek looks.
Solid, Thoughtful Construction:
The OP-1's outer case is made of thick, CNC-machined aluminium that feels smooth and rock solid. Friendly design details like rounded corners, a debossed logo, and a chamfered bottom edge give the synth a premium, floating appearance. This level of thoughtful design and quality construction is evident in every aspect of the OP-1.
Intuitive, Accessible Controls:
The OP-1's controls, from the four versatile knobs to the buttons and keys, provide an inviting and responsive tactile experience. The knobs have a smooth yet precise feel, with quiet clicks that give users tangible feedback.
The buttons and keys feature an interesting mix of square bases and rounded tops, maintaining a modular aesthetic while adding ergonomic affordances.
Personality-Filled, User-Friendly Interface:
The OLED screen is the heart of the OP-1, featuring quirky, animated graphics that bring the synth to life in a more accessible, exploratory way than traditional technical parameter displays.
This user-friendly approach, combined with Teenage Engineering's ongoing support and feature updates, creates an engaging and memorable synth experience.
The different animations that happen when you generate sounds are fascinating. It reawakens the dopamine hit we used to get from playing my PS2 and my Nintendo DS.
They’ve made each feature of the OP-1 feel like a different level to a video game.
What's interesting about Teenage Engineering’s is that their product range revolves around pocket-sized electronics, as shown on their website:
Why pocket sized electronics? Why music? Where did this inspiration come from?
They looked within themselves for inspiration.
Now, as cliché as that statement is, it's true. Something to understand about the founders of Teenage Engineering is that they are all 90s kids. They lived through the internet and computer revolution and have said that they were heavily inspired by Sony’s Walkman and the Sinclair ZX81.
We wonder if you can notice any form of semblance between these products and the ones that Teenage Engineering creates. Inspiration is only inspiration. You still have to come up with ideas and then realise them through the innovation process.
Their niches are music and video games
When we first stumbled upon the OP-1 and saw the user interface, we thought to myself that this must be some sort of abstract video game console.
The graphics remind me of 8-bit video games, the way each function looks like different video game levels with specific buttons you must press:
Source: Designboom
And of course, the beautiful OLED screen which makes one feel like they’re holding onto a futuristic handheld gaming console.
However, upon further inspection and seeing that it was a synthesiser, it helped me put the dots together:
The four co-founders previously ran a computer games company called Netbabyworld between 1999 - 2003.
They have backgrounds in electronic music ranging from working with records to building electronic synthesisers growing up.
Watching them in interviews, they are joking around with each other, drinking beer and even dressing like teenagers and this is their genuine expression of themselves.
The whole idea behind Teenage Engineering is that they are like teenagers who are naïve and don’t know what they are doing but will try anyway. Here's what Jesper Kouthoofd, co-founder had to say:
“Company culture is like when you’re a teenager, you have this energy and will to try things, but you don’t have the full knowledge or skillset. It’s this discovery phase in life: going all in with open eyes and an open mind. teenage engineering is an attitude like, Maybe we haven’t done it before, but let’s try. Let’s just do it.”
So, using their mediums of expression which consisted of:
Software
Hardware
Industrial Design
Graphics
Business
along with their niche and backgrounds, they gave birth to a new type of product that had never been before, and it did incredibly well.
Applying this concept for yourself
We hope that this case study has provided more clarity on how you could combine your niches and mediums of expression to create something great.
Has this article given you any ideas? We’d love to hear them below.
Until next time,
Design Zindagi Team
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