Hollywood writers are tormented by "Notes," industrial designers are tormented by Client Input. Both of those things ensure your first draft of something, no matter how inspired, will never see the light of day in that form.
Even the irreverent Art Lebedev Studio, one of my fave design firms, is not immune to meddling and production realities. I was interested to see they posted shots of a water heater they designed for Chinese manufacturer Haier, but first showed their early concepts:
Unsurprisingly, the client took the safest (and presumably least-expensive, from a manufacturing standpoint) route, opting for a cylindrical design in which distinction is relegated to the fine details. I've only posted a few shots here, but click over to the Studio's site and you'll be shocked at how much visual documentation they provided.
As for the finished product, ALS did the control panel up in simple style, but I was happy to see they still talked the client into a largely invisible cap resembling rippling water. It's one of those cool little details that does nothing for the bottom line, but does everything for a designer's soul.
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