Michael Roller

Expressionist Series: Altec Lansing’s new look

Altec Lansing (now a part of Plantronics) released two great new products earlier this year. The Expressionist Series epitomizes strategic aesthetics through a distinct look that will clearly help them differentiate their brand from the competition. It seems to me that the market for the Expressionist series is more focused than that of most computer speakers, which are clean and modern but also tend to blend in with their environment.

Their tall proportion and primitive details make me think they’re aimed at hardcore gamers or young audiophiles with huge digital music libraries. Regardless of who Altec Lansing is targeting, the market for desktop speakers has slowly become more homogenous since the introduction of the Creatures. The Expressionist BASS speakers use attention-grabbing aesthetics to cut through the clutter while delivering new functionality in a 2.2 speaker system.

My only criticism is that while these products make a great impression in person, they lose some of that impact online. While the products themselves are very lifestyle-oriented, their website persists with traditional elements like price, performance, and features.

Hate it or love it, the Expressionist series was clearly developed by a focused group of individuals and strong design leadership. Congrats on winning six awards at CES! I’d like to learn more about what inspired this work. Can anyone offer any additional information on the Expressionist Series?

Tags: strategic aesthetics, technology

1 Comment to Expressionist Series: Altec Lansing’s new look

1. 

   I saw these speakers in a few articles of CES coverage and I must admit, they are really intriguing in how direct they are in their design. There really isn’t much there that’s considered “extra” and like you, I wondered who they’re trying to sell these to.

   I could see audiophiles buying these for their quality, but most, if not all, hardcore gamers prefer headphones over speakers. Aiming for a younger audiophile crowd also seems like a risk as well. The younger they are, they less chance they have the money to spend on speakers instead of good headphones for their ipod. Also, if they have a large music library, they are either spending their money on music or are “cheap” and “share” the music online.

   The design aesthetic very much reminds me of my Dad’s massive 80’s Techtronics stereo system with components and big speakers. Now it seems the days of those massive systems are gone, but the aesthetic sort of lives on in these speakers.
Brandon on January 22nd, 2009

Leave a comment