For more than 40 years, Nautilus has supplied innovative cardio and strength training equipment with products such as Bowflex, Stairmaster, Schwinn Fitness stationary bikes, and the Mobia fitness machine, which fuses the walking action of a treadmill, the low-impact motion of the elliptical, and the stepping action of a Stairmaster. The Mobia is considered by many fitness pros as the ideal workout combination because it combines three proven calorie burning activities in one.
Workout machines in a commercial gym space live alongside cast-iron dumbbells and circuit weight machines, so their appearance should evoke the same kind of rugged, get-to-work aesthetic. At home, however, the same machine can look daunting and out of place. Even the most enthusiastic fitness buff will place their equipment in the basement or a spare bedroom. But herein lies the problem — once the machine is out of sight, it often slips out of mind.
In an effort to keep their customers engaged with their personal exercise equipment on an every-day level, Nautilus wanted to recreate the Mobia to blend better inside the home. They asked the designers at frog to create something that homeowners would be glad to display in their living rooms, and the result, according to Gizmodo’s Sean Fallon is a “clean and simple” product “with iPod-esque aesthetics.”
Following a week of research, the team generated a series of concepts. They eliminated the older Mobia’s bulky attributes and significantly minimized the machine’s footprint, eventually landing on a product with a slim silhouette and upward-sloping lofted lines with a strong white band to shroud the underlying vertical structure and mechanical components. Well-considered details are mindful of the user experience. frog included a control/display panel that remains invisible until the machine is in use, a removable cup holder for easy cleaning, a book rest above the display panel, and buttons near the handles for easy thumbing. The gloss white panels, chrome handles, and minimized part breaks give the machine an almost furniture-like quality.
The next generation Mobia fitness machine not only makes exercise less exhaustive, but also conveys a functional minimalism rarely seen amongst fitness equipment — just the thing that could keep it out of the basement and in use more often.
In an effort to keep their loyal customers engaged while trying to attract a new crowd of exercisers, Nautilus asked frog to create the next-generation design for one of its flagship products: the Mobia fitness machine. The result was a product that looks more like a piece of furniture than an exercise machine.
“[Mobia] has a couple things going for it. Right off the bat you notice the clean and simple iPod-esque aesthet- ics from frog design. It also has an approach to fitness that could finally help get you in shape.”
— Sean Fallon, reviewing for Gizmodo
