The Nautilus Mobia

Core77 posted an article today about the Nautilus Mobia, a treadmill designed to fit better in the home. The standard treadmill is one of these :

Boring, militant, at home only in a room full of other boring, militant machines, but not in personal quarters. The Nautilus Mobia was created with the help of Core 77, and they recorded the entire process. That in itself is interesting because it is rare to see a design process from conception to physical creation. It takes the average person into the mind of a designer, starting with the key ingredient of identifying a problem that needs to be solved or a need that has to be fulfilled.
     They started with  a problem, in their case the fact that the average treadmill doesn't have a design that fits into the home, despite the fact that a lot of people use them in their houses. They first created a concept to respond to this need by turning the treadmill into a smoother, more sculptural object. The objective of creating the piece was to hide its no-nonsense function. This led to other changes, such as making the readout one that disappears when the treadmill isn't in use. They turned the treadmill into this:

Then went on to describe the process of making it affordable for consumers. The story is definitely worth a read, not just for those interested in design, but for those interested in how some things get user-conscious upgrades.