MA Consultancy: Pentagram Has Managed To Make The Ugly Computer Chip Look Good

Wednesday, 5 December 2018

Pentagram Has Managed To Make The Ugly Computer Chip Look Good

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Processing chips are often overlooked, as long as they serve their purpose of helping you surf the internet, stream videos, and game to your heart’s content. Working arduously behind the scenes, these chips almost never come with noteworthy aesthetics.

Design agency Pentagram and industrial design studio Map Project Office have embarked on a novel project to change all that for British startup Graphcore.

As cloud computing takes a larger share of the market, Graphcore chips—designed specifically to run machine learning algorithms mostly located on server farms—is determined to stand out on the increasingly-crowded server farm racks with an extremely distinguishable appearance.

According to Jon Marshall, who worked on the industrial design of the chip named ‘IPU’, the changing of technology has resulted in the increasing development of hardware. As such, visibility for consumer brands on server racks is increasing in demand.

With this in mind, the company embarked on a series of plastic tiles that are easily installed on the Graphcore microprocessor—similar to how a LEGO brick works.

Each of the plastic tiles has an algorithmically generated pattern and their colors alternate between pink, navy blue and pale blue. The tiles are also embossed with subtle geometric shapes.

This willingness to be unique in something which is typically utilitarian encourages a brand new way to market your products in a historically bland market.

Additionally, the ability to differentiate the microprocessors enables IT engineers to locate the said chips with greater efficiency.

Scroll down to take a look at the unique designs.

Pentagram partners @LJ_HUDSONPOWELL & @jonmarshalll have collaborated on the industrial design of @graphcoreai’s intelligent processing unit (IPU) and Rack Mount Chassis, translating the tech startup's dynamic identity into highly customisable hardware. pic.twitter.com/opjrcH2Dpn

— Pentagram Design (@pentagram) November 26, 2018