“My challenge as a designer was to create a polarizing design while incorporating all the necessary functional requests for PlayStation 5.” said Senior Art Director Yujin Morisawa at the Corporate Design Center of Sony Interactive Department while evaluating the design of PlayStation 5 as a design that harmonizes functionality and esthetics.
Yujin graduated from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia and has been working as an art director at Sony since 2002. He became the senior art director of Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2017 and he has been managing hardware (HW) design related to the PlayStation 5 console.
PlayStation 5 has gained public attention due to its unique design. Due to its unique design, some people thought that there would not be many PlayStation 5 sales. However, supplies are not catching up to demands due to its high popularity. Some people are even selling the console online for more than $1,100 (1.2 million KRW). Its store prices are $455 (498,000 KRW) and $575 (628,000 KRW). People’s attention naturally heads towards the console’s design and level of hardware completion.
According to Yujin’s explanation, PlayStation 5 is also an extension of PlayStation’s traditional design as he just added functionality and esthetics on top of the traditional design philosophy.
“Sony has been seeking a bold and unique design for PlayStation.” said Morisawa. “It has also been seeking beyond expectations for PlayStation 5 by overcoming limitations of actual object.”
The concept of PS5’s design is “5G alternate reality”. Its outer appearance displays a possibility of next-generation console games. PS5 is based on gaming experiences that are currently shared and experiences that gamers will experience in future gameplays. The console is designed as a door that leads to different dimension while the DualSense wireless controller is designed as key that will open the door to a realistic world. Curved space is based on a geometrical build.
PS5’s design does not simply push for uniqueness. Yuijn had closely worked with the company’s engineering team in order to harmonize the design with functionality. His goal was to draw a possibility of next-generation gameplay as much as possible.
“Every line was a result of detailed calculation to adjust a balance between design and engineering design.” said Marisawa. “We applied latest technologies in order to present the best game experience to our customers.”
He also said that he had thought about various technological elements with the engineering team as there was not a clear boundary between design and engineering design and that the form factor that he and the team have developed accommodates functional requests of the system and maintain a bold outer appearance at the same time.
Recently, some people started to think whether defects that were found in initial supplies were caused by the unique design. Some people also did not like about a loud fan noise as it bothered their gameplay. However, this noise is caused by the fact that PS5 has different types of cooling fans.
Regarding ODD and issues that may be caused by different parts, Morisawa said that parts are installed in their optimal spots so that they can provide best performance for best gameplay and that the process of designing PS5 had focused on maximizing experiences without limitations for players while sharing similar thoughts as them.
Staff Reporter Lee, Hyeonsoo | hsool@etnews.com