Unwrapping CMF Design on Higher Price, Higher Quality? 拆招CMF設計談貴就一定好？

[ 彩材拆拆 x 𝗨𝗡𝗪𝗥𝗔𝗣 𝗖𝗠𝗙 ]
𝙲𝚑.𝟹𝟽 𝚄𝚗𝚠𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙲𝙼𝙵 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚐𝚗 𝚘𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚎, 𝚑𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢?
Ch.37 拆招CMF設計談貴就一定好？

^{CMF is a specific discipline within industrial design that focuses on the development of a product’s color, material, and finish. Unwrap CMF writes about little stories of CMF Design for those who are interested in learning more about this niche field. Comments and inspirations are welcome!}

Higher price, higher quality?

In most cases, it really is true. Delicate CMF details often require additional processes, which means the cost of time and the investment of precision machines; consistent color and material performance are only possible with the investment in all-around quality control. Therefore, the higher cost of materials and processes are usually reflected on the higher perceived quality of a CMF detail.

But as CMF Designers, let us not forget: every material and process comes with its pros and cons.

Real wood has a nice organic touch feel, and its price is more expensive than other wood-looking plastic products. But at the same time, real wood also has many unavoidable shortcomings. For example, the pattern of real wood is out of control by the manufacturers – it is guaranteed that each piece will come with a different pattern. Whether it is real wood or bamboo, due to the formation of the natural material, it comes with the risk for cracking and can bent easily under the influence of air humidity. These material characteristics make real wood not suitable for product categories that require extreme precision. Therefore, even though real wood has this “rich-looking appearance”, we don’t normally see it being used on consumer electronic products such as mobile phones.

On the other hand, CMF details at a lower cost are not necessarily cheap-looking. When I visited Sephora recently, I noticed Dior’s lip tint has a new version of the logo treatment. They removed the metallic screen-printing logo from the old container. The Dior logo is now directly injected within the tooling and has a nice polished finishing. Because the design detail and the CMF spec complement each other so well, the new logo has successfully raised the perceived quality of the product. It doesn’t look cheap just because it skips the metallic screen-printing process at a lower manufacturing cost.

When designing the CMF details of a product, as a CMF Designer, we should always evaluate the pros and cons of each intended material and process, and make the best decision based on whether they are suitable for the product or not.

Meanwhile, in the case of a tight budget, our goal is to try our best to present the smallest details with the highest possible quality. When the budget is sufficient for pricy options, it is a MUST to make good use of them and maximize the perceived quality, so that we don’t waste the money already spent on these materials and processes. Ka-ching! 💸💸💸

Continue reading:
Ch9. Unwrapping CMF Design on All-In with Efforts without Cost

^{CMF為Color Material and Finishing，譯為色彩、材質、及表面處理工藝，屬於工業設計旗下重要的一環。Unwrap CMF（彩材拆拆）將圍繞著這個主題，以淺而易懂的小故事拆解 CMF設計師的日常。}

貴就一定比較好嗎？

在許多時候，還真的就的確如此。精緻的工藝往往需要額外的工序，也就代表高階機台和時間成本的投入；色彩和性能穩定的材料，代表其背後的品質管控的投入所費不貲；也因此，呈現質感越好的工藝往往能反映在材料或製程的價格上。

但身為CMF設計師，我們要記得：每一種材料和工藝都有它的優缺。

實木的質感溫潤，價格比其他仿木紋的塑膠製品更為昂貴，但同時實木也有許多不可抗力的缺點。比如，製造商無法掌控將每一件木製品的紋理做到完全一致。而且無論是實木或竹製品，因其材料的自然結構導致可能開裂的風險，又容易受空氣中的濕度影響而造成彎折，這些材料特性使得實木不適用於產品精密要求極致的產品類別。也因此，即便實木帶有「富貴相」，我們還是比較少在手機上看到實木的運用。

以另一個方面來說，便宜的工藝也不一定代表廉價的質感。前陣子到美妝店時，發現迪奧的唇蜜換了新版的logo工藝，新的瓶身移除了舊款的金屬絲印logo，從而在模具內直接注塑射出拋光的迪奧logo。因為工業設計的外觀和CMF定義相輔相成，而使得新的logo反而提升了整個產品呈現的質感，並沒有因為少了金屬絲印的工序、製造成本變便宜了，而就看起來廉價。

在設計產品的CMF細節時，作為CMF設計師，我們應衡量各種材料和工藝的優缺，並評斷它們是否適合我們的產品。

同時，在預算不足的情況下，應盡可能的在可選的材料和工藝內，將微乎其微的細節做到最完美的呈現。在預算充足的情況下，務必將材料和工藝善加利用，將其質感發揮到最大化，才不會白白浪費了已投資在材料和工藝上的千金白銀💸💸💸