Video: How to design a TV, the European way
Chief Designer Rod White explains how he and his team get Philips TVs looking just right
“We need to start wide. We should be dreaming, with one foot on the ground.”
According to Rod White, that’s the kick-off point for Philips when approaching the look and feel of any new TV. He heads up the team responsible for the process, distilling the trends they sniff out at home design and fashion shows into tropes that can be applied to the traditional TV template – or used to change that template completely.
Industrial design is of critical importance to Philips TV: a calling card 125 years in the making. Born in Eindhoven, the brand now draws on the best TV technology from across the world, but its European Design philosophy is stronger than ever.
But just what does it mean for a design to be European? As far as Rod White is concerned, it all boils down to four key elements, as you’ll find out in the video below…
It’s a golden age for TV design. As screens slim down to near the point of nothingness and bezels get skinnier still, the industrial designer’s drawing board is having a real workout. Design matters more than ever as TVs move beyond being technology boxes to become cherished interior objects – and, in the case of Philips OLED TVs with Ambilight, remarkably high-performance ones at that.
In case you aren’t familiar with Ambilight, it’s Philips’ unique way of enhancing the TV experience. LEDs along the back edges of the TV shine light on to the wall behind it, replicating what you see on-screen in real time, creating a wash of colour that expands far beyond the TV’s bezel.
It’s designed to add atmosphere to the on-screen action, inviting you into the viewing experience, and makes the screen appear much larger than it really is. And it works particularly well with an OLED screen, as OLED’s self-lighting pixels allow the bezels to be vanishingly thin. “Because the of the bezel reduction,” says Rod White, “it’s a truly immersive experience: a seamless spread of light from the set on to the wall behind. The picture quality from the OLED panel works in perfect harmony.”
As Rod White puts it, “People want to show off their car, and they want to show off their television at home. They want to have friends round to give them a spin. We want a product to deliver that sense of pride.”
>> To find out more about Philips OLED TVs with Ambilight, click here.
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