Home Gym
Nautilus
For more than 40 years, Nautilus has been supplying innovative cardio and strength training equipment with products such as Bowflex, Stairmaster, Schwinn Fitness stationary bikes, and the Mobia treadmill, 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.
“Right off the bat you notice the clean and simple iPod- esque aesthetics from frog. [The Mobia] could finally help get you in shape.”
Workout machines in a commercial gym 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.
iPod-esque Aesthetics
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.”
Attention to Details
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 treadclimber makes exercise less exhaustive, while also conveying a functional minimalism rarely seen amongst fitness equipment—just the thing that could keep it out of the basement and in use more often.
