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HP Opens Its First Imaging And Printing Design Center In Singapore

By Andy Sim - on 3 Nov 2010, 5:28pm

HP Opens Its First Imaging And Printing Design Center In Singapore

SINGAPORE, Asia-Pacific, November 3, 2010 – HP opened the first design center for its Imaging and Printing Group today in Singapore. The first of its kind, the new design center will be responsible for the design and development of inkjet and web solutions products that will be used worldwide. Based in Singapore, the center will ensure that HP’s industry leading designs are built to not only address the unique demands of Asia-Pacific but cater to customers around the world.

With user experience at the core of the design process, the center will act as the Asia-Pacific design hub to address the evolving needs of consumers by designing and developing appropriate products and innovations. “Innovation is a part of HP’s DNA. This design center will play a vital role in designing and developing new user experiences for today’s web-connected world, through customer-centric products and solutions,” said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president of Imaging and Printing Group, HP. “Opening our design center here in Singapore, where a rich pool of talent resides, will ensure that our design process benefits from a pan-Asian customer perspective.”

Designed in Asia-Pacific for the World

The Imaging and Printing Group Global Design Center in Singapore will serve as the hub for all regional design activity, working with HP design teams in India and China to design and develop future product lines sold worldwide, including HP Deskjet printers, HP Photosmart printers, HP Officejet printers, HP Officejet Pro printers and HP Retail Publishing Solutions. Because many of HP’s global OEM partners are based in Asia-Pacific, locating the design center in Singapore helps HP to work more closely with, and manage these partners, resulting in higher quality design, execution and customer experiences.

The HP Imaging and Printing Group design team has a long history of excellence in designing and developing industry-leading products. The team has received more than 26 international design awards for its portfolio of products, including the widely acclaimed HP ENVY100 e-All-in-One printer and the groundbreaking HP Photosmart eStation printer with a detachable screen. One of the first products developed by the Singapore-based design team was the recently launched HP Officejet Pro line-up of Web-connected and ePrint-enabled printers for small businesses. For more information about the HP Officejet Pro line-up, go to http://www.hp.com/products1/inkjetprinter/officejet.html

The HP Imaging and Printing Group Global Design Center in Singapore is organized in five areas:

  • User Experience Design: Understand the experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of product use and ownership for the user.
  • Interaction Design: Express and simplify mental models or information used in user activities in complex systems.
  • Industrial Design: Create and deliver design solutions towards problems of form, aesthetics, emotional expression and fit and finish of product.
  • Visual Design: Convey specific messages or ideas to the user through the use of symbols, images and typography.
  • Customer Education: Develop and translate documentation and other tools to assist the user in understanding the features and capabilities of the printer.

The HP Imaging and Printing Group design philosophy takes a holistic, comprehensive approach to design and focuses not only on developing a product, but also refining the entire customer experience when interacting with the product. This includes everything from physical product form and features; to intuitive user menus; to touch-screen interfaces; and even the Web/cloud-based online features associated with a product.

“HP’s design philosophy is rooted in creating new user experiences. Our Singapore design team is purpose built to tap into the unique design requirements of Asia-Pacific customers and to design and develop printing solutions for customers in Asia-Pacific and around the world,” Sean Carney, Director, Design, Imaging and Printing Group, HP.

Attracting Top Design Talent

The center’s designers come from diverse backgrounds and countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, India, Korea, Spain, the Netherlands and the United States. HP recognizes that a high level of diversity is a prerequisite to practical and innovative design. The designers – including industrial, interaction and graphic designers, as well as ergonomics and human factors designers – will drive the creation of innovative new products and services. The team will create printing solutions for tomorrow, enabling HP to continue offering best-in-class customer experiences.

HP is committed to being an employer of choice for designers and works with institutions across the region to nurture future design talent. HP has partnered with leading academic institutions, including Singapore Polytechnic; the National University of Singapore; the National Institute of Design in Singapore; Shanghai Jiaotong University and Tsinghua University in China; and the Shrishti School of Art Design & Technology in Bengaluru, India to provide training programs and internships for young designers.

To further nurture budding talent and foster design inspirations for the user experience design team at HP, HP jointly organized the “Creating New Printing Experiences” competition in 2009 with Singapore Polytechnic. This competition was established to provide new and fresh ideas addressing the needs of small businesses in China and Singapore through the creation of new printing experiences. “We hope that as the first HP Imaging and Printing Group Global Design Center expands, we will bring new R&D and design jobs to Singapore, and we expect to be an integral part of Singapore’s design community,” Carney added. 

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