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Content is better than ever before. So is the technology. So are the viewing environments. With the evolution of and the future viewing experience in mind, Sony’s team of TV designers has brought ‘Immersive Edge’ to the 2020 TV line-up.
The name encapsulates the process, the edge-orientated aesthetic enhancing the immersive experience. By minimising the visual noise that a TV’s bezel and stand can create, nothing but slender edges separate the content on-screen from real space. When you watch something on an Immersive Edge television, the product itself almost recedes into the background, allowing the visuals and sound to reach their full potential in the foreground.
What can a TV be? That’s the question at the heart of what we do.
“When we tackled the 2020 BRAVIA® line-up, we started by taking stock of where social changes and technological development were heading,” Senior Art Director, Yokota, reveals.
The ZH8 – Sony’s new 8K LCD TV – is a platform for the latest 8K Sound-from-Picture Reality™ technology, thus the designers eliminated any screen element that could interfere with the experience.
They conceived the bezel as having two parts - inside and outside tracks - and gave them separate colours and surface treatments. By bringing the inside track into closer chromatic harmony with the screen, the design subdues the visual presence of everything around the screen except for the thin line of the outside track. The team also transformed the sound system at the heart of Sound-from-Picture Reality™, turning the bezel into a flat speaker, which vibrates to produce sound.
The TV stand is a key component of the immersive experience too.
The stand, much smaller than the support elements found on previous BRAVIA® generations, is now at the two ends of the screen to avoid reflections and keep the viewer’s attention on the imagery rather than the structural supports. The line bordering the screen extends through to the stands, creating a framing continuity that helps guide the viewer’s gaze to the screen.
The adjustable legs can be positioned at the edges of the screen or in a narrower position for smaller surfaces, giving customers a wider range of options when it comes to choosing the best installation location, and the legs can be rotated for a slimmer, discrete look. The designers carefully considered every detail to ensure the stand never interferes with the immersive experience.
The A8 – Sony’s latest 4K OLED TV – invokes the one slate concept, an approach that generates sound via vibrations in the display itself, creating the Sound-from-Picture Reality™ experience from one single physical slate. To augment that core identity, the stand is now smaller than it has been in any of the previous generations.
The process centred on ensuring the stand would have enough strength to support the large display panel but still be slim and compact, a precise balance that was achieved after testing many different combinations of materials and forms. The stand accentuates Sony’s one slate aesthetic and enhances the type of minimalism so vital to immersive entertainment.
Soundbars have been a major consideration in Sony’s 2020 TV design process too. On the A8, the height of the TV stand can be adjusted to fit a soundbar to deliver the kind of incredible audio performance that will further draw viewers into the action, without clutter or distractions.
Even the back of the TV has been developed, the designers and engineers working together to create an elegant, minimalist package, from consolidating the substrates for a more compact configuration to hiding the heat-radiating holes with a new heat-dissipation structure.
The XH95 – a 4K LCD TV – is another BRAVIA® 2020 line-up entry with an emphasis on immersion, driven by a rear-mounted tweeter for a unique Sound-from-Picture Reality™ experience.
To give users the full enveloping effect, the designers opted for a flush surface – a design where the bezel and display share the same level plane to soften the bezel’s visual presence. The stand comprises of metallic materials to allow the support structure to be thinner yet sturdy, and the legs are in a straight-line configuration with the left and right bezels to heighten the minimalist aesthetic and ensure an unencumbered view. Again, if users want to adjust the stand to fit a smaller surface, the feet can also take centre position.
Kuwao, Sony Design Manager, summarises the process: “We spent a lot of time thinking about how to capture the BRAVIA®’s unique sense of value despite working around a design that favoured smaller, less-prominent bezels and stand legs. One way was through surface treatment. By giving the metallic stand a glossy sheen and delicate hairline finish, we managed to emphasise the beauty of the support element - regardless of how slim and compact it was - without making it distractingly flashy.”
Conveying the ultimate in immersion.
The new Immersive Edge design theme brings new layers to the BRAVIA® line-up’s pursuit of immersive experiences. To communicate that one-of-a-kind BRAVIA® wonder to customers, the focus turned to the on-screen visuals that could project the message on everything from the website to in-store showcases.
Working on a ‘sensorial gateway’ concept, the designers drew on things in the natural world that beckon people further. From haunting ice caves to spellbinding ravines, these are scenes that can capture a sense of scale and highlight the elements of immersion, subtleties, and depth that are so essential to BRAVIA®’s performance.
“A big part of the focus on immersive experiences grew out of the development team’s determination to give users a real feel for the magic of visual culture,” Sony Designer, Tsuji, explains. “To translate that vision into a real, communicative form, we selected communication motifs with resonant imagery that would put the BRAVIA®’s performance front and centre: powerful moments of natural beauty capable of wowing people at first glance.”
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