How many times do we click with our mice? How many words do we type with our keyboards? These are gestures that have accompanied the world of information technology almost from its dawn and that we take for granted, but behind every click, behind every key pressed there are stories, research, innovation. Because mice are no longer those of X years ago, keyboards have not changed and, above all, people who use a computer today have changed.
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Logitech knows this well, which has been one of the biggest names in the industry for X years and has practically accompanied its growth from the moment personal computers left companies to enter our homes. To understand how mice, keyboards, headphones and many other peripherals are born today, we went to Lausanne, in the research and development center where the products of the future are born.
Here the most important phases of the realization of a Logitech peripheral are concentrated, especially when we talk about mice: the design, the choice of materials, the 3D printing of the prototypes with which to test the ergonomics, the assembly of the first versions, the studies on sensors, buttons and click precision, tests for sensor emissions and those on comfort and joint stress, obtained by applying the sensors to dozens of people to record their every movement.
All this takes place in very specific departments that are located in the basement of the main building and that have to work in a continuous dialogue because the single modification then has an impact on everything else. The shape of the mouse, for example, changes the possibilities of assembly of the internal components, the possible presence of more functions or more and more precise sensors has a battery consumption that must be calibrated so as not to force the user to recharge continuously the device, the segment in which the product is positioned affects the quality of the components and the possible presence of specialized functions which in turn must be perfectly integrated, because it makes no sense to put an extra button that forces people to positions uncomfortable of the hand to be pressed and so on.
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We are not all the same
It is a circular, continuous work based on a very specific philosophy. “Here at Logitech we think that diversity is fundamental, not only in the corporate approach – explains Delphine Donné – who manages the business unit dedicated to creativity and products – but also in the approach to the public. It is not true that one size is suitable for everyone, our audience is varied, inside there are people who work in the office, creators, professional players, ordinary people, people with specific needs, passions and ideas that are completely different from each other. Our task is to listen to everyone and provide products that are as close as possible to their wishes “.
In fact, compared to twenty years ago, when the first “gamer” mice began to appear, the world of computers has changed radically, not only in the use we make of them but also in the position they have in our homes. and in what is expected of them. If we once had sad beige caissons with standard keyboards and mice, today many people are looking in computers for something that is tied to who they are and their passions, which are products with an aggressive design and neon tops, pink keyboards with dedicated emoji keys. , colorful headphones, ergonomic mice or products for work where precision is essential.
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Often one must also be able to think ahead of the present time. For example, if we take into consideration the design of virtual objects for the various metaverses that are emerging, as long as there is someone inside them, we need tools that can work with multiple programs, in two or three dimensions and maybe even passing from multiple devices. All this is essential in order not to interrupt the creative flow, which for Logitech represents one of the characteristics that make you choose one product over another. A precise mouse, a headset that pairs as soon as we turn it on, a keyboard with the right feeling and the right “click” of the keys are those little things that can make the difference after hours and hours of work. And each of us has different needs.
The environmental issue
Today it manages to deliver 3 million devices a week, an impressive number that tells us not only the logistical capabilities but also the commitment necessary for a very important issue: the environment. Because these people have to open the boxes with the products and throw them in the right way and one day they could buy other products, so everything must be recyclable, dismantled and disposed of in the correct way.
In recent years, Logitech has made a profound ecological transition that has not only affected its footprint on the environment, from 2021 it is “carbon neutral” by 2030 it aims to be “carbon positive”, or to overcome its footprint on the environment with a series of initiatives, but the most important work is that done on the products. Mice, keyboards, headphones and all the other products of the twenty different categories that make up the Logitech catalog are filled with plastic or components that are more difficult to recycle and store, such as the metal bars present in some keyboard models to increase stability.
And since plastic is a problematic but inevitable material, the company has decided to start integrating recycled plastic in most of its products, starting with the design, given that certain choices must start when the model is conceived. . An example of this approach concerns keyboards with metal bars, which are now replaced by a honeycomb structure in recycled plastic that provides the same stability, or in headphones that can be easily disassembled to recover the metal parts. and throw away the plastic one.
Currently 65% of Logitech products are made of recycled plastic and the entire design of the products has been completely revised to respond immediately to this need, playing ahead of time. Although, as explained in the prototype department, the fulcrum of every mouse innovation passes from the battery, because it is she who decides the autonomy limits, type of sensors and other details, it is also essential to understand immediately which materials will be used, because this changes the shapes. that we can obtain, their strength, the tactile sensations, the colors that can be used and so on.
To date, Logitech has marked nine years of uninterrupted growth, in which obviously the pandemic and increasingly massive digitization have had a positive impact, as everyone has realized that they need webcams, microphones, mice and keyboards. But behind it there is also an uninterrupted work that began in 1981 in Lausanne.