Interview with Cristiano Venturini
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Red Dot: What were your most important goals when developing the Philips i9000 Prestige Ultra Series?
Our most important goal was to create an ultra-premium, holistic shaving experience for the modern man – to achieve this we relentlessly focused on our users, as well as the ecosystem beyond the shaver including digital. We worked to incorporate everything we have learned from over 85 years of delivering shaving innovation to create a solution that sets new quality standards when people think of Philips. A standout feature in the ecosystem is our UV Power Charger which serves simultaneously as a travel case, charging stand, power bank and UV-light sanitizer.
What specific user experience did you want to achieve?
As shaving carries an intimate and emotional aspect, we aimed to make the user experience as effortless and enjoyable as possible. The handle is shaped to be a natural extension of its user and to offer a closer shave in lockstep with the redesigned shaving head, which improves reachability and ensures a longer-lasting shave. Beyond these features, the guiding light ring, gyroscope, pressure and motion sensors, and colour display make the ritual of shaving even more thorough and personalised.
How difficult is it to combine functionality and aesthetics in a shaver design?
It’s definitely a challenge, but that’s what we’re here for! Our design philosophy blends modern, minimalist aesthetics with functional ergonomics. Achieving this balance required many iterations and both user- and expert feedback, but we believe the result speaks for itself.
