BEOLAB 5000 (1967) iF Design Award 1967Industrial metaphor
The Beomaster 3000 and Beolab 5000 series with the legendary 'slide rule' motive remain a landmark for Bang & Olufsen design and were amongst David Lewis' first accomplishments at Jacob Jensens drawing office.
The design brief for BeoLab 5000 was to create "an European Hi-Fi format, which communicates power, precision and identity". One of the inspirations to achieve this was found in the faders on Bang & Olufsen's reel-to-reel tape recorders, e.g. the
BeoCord 600 series (1962-64) and the BeoCord 2000 model (1964-69). By replacing the traditional style for turning knobs with an exact measuring instrument akin to the slide rule, the whole design metaphor for the BeoLab 5000 became that of industrial production. This is repeated in both the countersunk Allen screws holding the front panel and in the radical transformation of the panel from the faceted and framed gold, which were the industry's standard, into extruded natural anodised aluminium. The slide rule motive, in its precision and simplicity, proved to give the user optimal functionality and was considered an innovation in the future of radios and amplifiers.
This solution had never been seen before and laid the foundation for the future form language of Bang & Olufsen.
| Blegdamsvej 28f |
T +45 33 13 69 35 | 2200 København N
Denmark
|
