It’s difficult to know where to start with the PS5, but before I do I will have to say that this is based on the opinions of the designers here at Design by Datum…no matter how much we feel like they’re factual.
Ugh…It’s ugly. I could leave the article right there and I’ve said all I need, however I will go on to explain the many points about why it’s horrible.
Now with all the points in this list we haven’t fully decided: Genius or Mad (G or M) I ask this question because of the old saying: ”There’s no such thing as bad press” and Sony seem to have run a mock with it by creating something outrageous.
- The size – It’s absolutely enormous. Nobody looked at the PS4 and said “Do you know what? I’d love it if this no longer fitted in my TV cabinet and I had to make room in an unplanned place to put it in.” but apparently Sony thinks somebody did. For me this one treads the fine line between G&M as I don’t believe for a second that Sony weren’t able to decrease the size of it without compromising the cooling ability. I think my point will be proven when the PS5 slim inevitably appears on the market.
- The shape – I love organic shapes in products when they’re executed subtly, with purpose, but the PS5 seems to be trying to hang with the PC crowd in having something deliberately obtuse in design to fit the ‘gamer’ aesthetic.
- The colour – Now I love white, white cars, white walls, a white desk, and even a few white consoles, but I can’t help but feel this is their attempt to make it stand out in a sea of otherwise black, smaller, discreet devices.
- The shirt collar – This is really the first thing you’ll notice when looking at the Playstation 5 whether in portrait or landscape orientation. It’s essentially a pointless section of the outer casing which sticks out much further than the ‘useful’ casing underneath, which would be fine if they did it well, but the plastic underneath is gloss black and featureless making it seem out of place.
- It needs a stand – Really that’s all I have to say on that matter. Why design a product which needs a stand to sit in the orientations it was designed for? I feel like they’ve missed the mark badly on that one, but for most people I assume they won’t be changing it all too often.
- The controller – It’s beautiful! They really have made a great looking, easy to hold controller which makes the design of the console stand out more as an eye sore.
- It’s so close – The console has a lot of nice details, really well thought out design elements and language, but the pieces seem to have been put together in a disorderly manner.
I could go on, but I feel these points sum up how I’ve felt since it was announced last year. One positive thing to note is that it didn’t turn out like the dev kit (thank heavens).
