Mouse Design - Yamaha Design - Yamaha Corporation

Project Overview

Yamaha and Yamaha Motor worked on a design collaboration involving a new design for the computer mouse, one of the most recognizable digital devices of our time. The distinct perspectives of the two Yamahas—for example, the emotional high of playing a musical instrument and the singular feeling of cutting through the wind on a motorcycle—informed our approach to the form and function of the mouse. Ultimately, we created two mice with unique conceptual designs, one that looks like a musical instrument and another that looks like a motor vehicle. These conceptual designs give a sense of the design style of the Yamaha brand.

Works

Mouse MI

Mouse MI is a mouse shaped like a wind instrument. This shape was created as a result of trying to express the flow of electrons on a printed circuit board in a way that can be felt visually. In the black-boxed mechanism of the mouse, they attempted to visually grasp the flow of electrons by adopting a pipe structure like that of a wind instrument.
A tactile sensation of a click is like a piston valve, allowing electrical signals to be transmitted as if pushing air. Signals such as clicking and scrolling are integrated into the image sensor section of the main unit, which is the heart of the device. From there, a single tube snakes its way to the tip of the mouse, forming the outline of the mouse, where commands are sent out.
The mouse pointer speed, number of scrolls, click intervals, and other functions originally set through the OS of the PC can be adjusted more intuitively like tuning a musical instrument by having them as physical dial knobs on the mouse itself.
Digital devices will become warm, analog tools like musical instruments, giving us the pleasure of operating them.

Mouse MC

Mouse MC is a mouse with a frame structure like a motorcycle. It was inspired by the motorcycle, the origin of Yamaha Motor. By redesigning the monocoque structure of the mouse, which is normally associated with consumer electronics, into a combination of a frame and exterior structure, they transformed it into a vehicle-like form. The result was a design that is composed of multiple elements, but which, like the mobility design, has a sense of dynamics as a whole. The appearance of each element is designed to be "Rugged and Tough". The group of electronic components located in the center of the mouse resembles an engine, the heart of a vehicle. In addition, they tried to express the "human-machine sensuality," which indicates the relationship between people and tools, in the parts of the mouse that people touch, as well as in the operating feel.
Inspired by the gas pedal of a personal water craft or an all-terrain vehicle, the click part is designed to have a lever-type shape and movement. By pressing and holding the left and right clicks while holding down the thumb button, like operating a motorcycle clutch, the scrolling action is performed. This is a unique mouse design that was reborn based on Yamaha Motor's design philosophy.
The conceptual design of the two mice gives a sense of Yamaha's design method.

Creative Process

Mouse Design2022

Project Overview

Works

Mouse MI

Mouse MC

Creative Process

Mouse Design
2022