01 FIMER welder
02 TELSEY gateway
03 MOTOROLA cellphones
04 Hot Runner Controller
05 Telsey set top box

"Telsey Create a Bella Figura at CeBiT"
Telsey Spa. celebrate their commercial success in the world of residential gateways with an ambitious booth at CEBIT 2007 in Hanover, Germany.

The Challenge
Telsey are an Italian manufacturer of innovative broadband gateways and IP based set top boxes. Since they are a technology company, most of their attention is focused on hardware and software. For CeBiT 2007, the world's premier technology tradefair, they had some challenging requirements. Firstly, they realized that the design of their booth did little to illustrate the advanced technology in the products themselves and therefore they wanted a brand new booth for the show. Secondly, Telsey wanted to completely refresh their existing line of residential gateways. Thirdly, they were keen to add an additional dimension to the booth with a one-off presentation of advanced prototypes.

They approached I.D.milano for the development of all 3 programs. To make things a little more interesting, I.D.milano were given only a few months to creat both the booth and the prototypes. This meant little or no time for the usual design iterations that are par for the course for any development effort. Also, the tradefair created an absolute deadline for the team. Miss it and there would be one very unhappy client.

The Solution
Knowing that the Design firm had to deliver the right product on time meant that the correct approach was key. Considering the scale of the the project and the tight timeframe, I.D.milano realised that the best way to minimize risk was to collaborate with external designers. Rather than outsourcing part of the design activity, the company brought in 3 highly experienced designers with whom they had worked previously. Talented individuals from various backgrounds were brought in to work with the company's Italian designers. The final mix was quite cosmopolitan. In addition to the Italians, there was a Belgian, an American, and a Venezualan; all from Milan. Essentially this approach was is what Americans might call a "hail Mary pass". With no time left to work the ball up the field, the quarterback lobs the ball into the endzone where all the wide receivers are waiting. By doubling or tripling the number of designers (or receivers), there is more chance of achieving the most appropriate design.

This strategy worked really well. As I.D.milano partner Fabio Moneta explained, "because of our network of local designers we were able to create some really exciting brainstorming activity. In a sense the designers were competing against each other and there was a lot of energy that came out of those meetings."

Because of the associated lead time, the design of the booth was tackled first. At a tradefair, this becomes the face of the company. The booth had to reflect the values and the high standards of Telsey. If it doesn't look appealing or professional enough, visitors simply won't enter it.

For the new gateways and the advanced concepts the designers created hundreds of sketches which were either refined or rejected depending on the result of a number of gating meetings. Eventually, over 20 designs were presented to the customer for final concept selection. Only at that point were the designs taken into 3D for modeling and presentation renderings.

Two prototype shops were chosen in order to minimize risk and accelerate the development. The advanced prototypes, some of which had fabric elements, were crafted by hand. The gateways, shown on this page, were created by stereolithography and then finished and painted.

There were some interesting parallels between the booth and the residential gateway despite the difference in scale.

• Both have minimal functional requirements. This is unusual. For most products there are typically significant design limitations introduced for functional, ergonomic or material reasons.
• Both have a fixed volume. With respect to the gateway, this is slightly larger than the PCB. With respect to the booth, one pays for a fixed floor space and there is a maximum height.
• Both items need to be highly effective vehicles to communicate Telsey's brand values (innovation, usability, quality).

The Result
The booth was put together for the first time the day before the fair started and was finally realized in the early hours of the morning. The finished prototypes came together a few days ahead of time.

Telsey received significant commercial and press attention during the six days that the show ran for. The design team that I.D.milano had put together had delivered a compeling and cohesive design proposition. Two of the residential gateways are now in production at Telsey and the company has selected I.D.milano for further new product designs.