Latest design that is music to the ears (From The Northern Echo)

Latest design that is music to the ears

8:12am Friday 12th December 2008 in

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A DESIGN firm’s latest creation has been music to the ears of 25,000 Nissan car drivers.

FS Design came up with the concept of an iPod nano system for the 25th anniversary edition of the Micra.

Nissan bosses were so impressed with the Sunderland company, which employs seven full-time staff, they commissioned it to design the iPod docking system, make arrangements with Apple to supply the music systems, create branding and set up a website to avoid fraud.

Clare Head, director at FS Design, said: “It was a massive deal for the company. It took us two years to get the business.”

The idea of the iPod docking station first came about during an ideas clinic involving FS Design and Nissan.

The idea was to put the iPod dock into one of the car’s cup holders.

The original plan was to install it in 200 cars, but that figure rose to 13,000 and eventually 25,000.

Ms Head said: “We designed and developed the docks to integrate seamlessly into the Micra. There are solutions for manual and automatic versions, which differ in style.”

Ms Head believed that setting up a website for dealers to register the iPods, when the company does not normally undertake web design, showed its versatility.

She said: “We don’t have web designers, but it showed that if the customer wants something we can do it, so that has brought business in.

“We are a product design development company thinking outside the box.”

As well as creating the docking stations for the cars, FS Design, based at the North East Business and Innovation Centre, has been responsible for purchasing iPod nanos on behalf of Nissan, negotiating logo etching with Apple, and distributing the items directly to Micra buyers in more than 27 countries within one week of the delivery of their vehicle.

The dock and iPod are supplied as a standard feature in nearly all Nissan Micra 25th anniversary editions sold throughout the world.

Bob Laishley, assistant chief vehicle engineer at Nissan Technical Centre Europe, said: “FS Design has worked tirelessly to support our project needs and have more than exceeded our expectations delivering a quality product, within challenging timescale.”