Sisma's new 3D printer features a distinctive look

A new, modern-looking 3D printer from Sisma features smooth lines and a halo of lights.

I don’t know much about Sisma’s new 3D printer. I don’t know if it’s a high-quality machine. Or worth the price. Or how easy or difficult it is to operate.

What I do know, though, is that the European company’s Everes DLP printer looks really cool.

Thanks to its smooth, sloping lines and glowing halo, it resembles a space capsule that would be welcome on any planet, dwarf planet, asteroid, or moon in the solar system. (Click here for product details and here to view a video of it in operation.)

Sisma’s aesthetic sensibilities extend to its headquarters, in Vincenza, Italy (see photo). The building’s strong, modern lines make me think it’s a place where cutting-edge products are designed. Cool begets cool.

Why do many machine builders ignore the aesthetic aspects of design? Tradition? Because rectangular, box-shaped machines provide the most efficient use of factory floor space? Operators don’t care what equipment looks like?

With respect to the latter, I’d argue that operators do care. And I’m not alone. A number of designers have written about the importance of “machine aesthetics.”

One of them is Gregory Bouchery, an engineer at Schneider Electric. In a blog post on the subject (“How important is aesthetics for your machine?”), he recalls being a young engineer conversing with a senior co-worker about the design of a factory clean room. Bouchery expected his colleague to focus on air pumps, blowers, filters, and other nuts-and-bolts features of clean rooms.

“He surprised me by explaining that the main criterion was the aesthetics of the control panel, [a] simple two-button interface on the wall,” wrote Bouchery. ‘That’s the first thing our colleagues will see in the morning, and the last they will see at work before going home. Will it put them in a good or bad mood for the work day? Will it help them relax before going home each evening?’

“Looking back,” Bouchery continued, “it completely makes sense, but at the time, it kind of went against my technically focused mind.”

Bouchery also reports that he regularly meets machine builders that consider aesthetics a key way to differentiate their products from competitors’. “In a world where technologies spread quickly and where novelty is copied in a matter of months, aesthetics is the best way to establish your brand image,” he wrote. “Your customers will always remember the first time they saw your machines, and consciously or not, it will influence their purchasing decision.”

Besides that, work should be fun. What kind of machine would be more entertaining to operate, one shaped like a box or a spaceship?

Sisma’s headquarters, in Italy, has as bold a design as its new 3D printer.