In 1992, Herman Miller Inc. hired an industrial designer named Bill Stumpf to design a totally brand new chair. Stumpf has worked with the company before on other chairs, specifically, the Ergon and the Equa. In an interview with Malcolm Gladwell, Stumpf mentioned not being satisfied with his first two efforts, even though they sold well. He said “The chairs I had done previously all looked alike, I wanted to come up with something that looked different.”
Stumpf wanted to create a chair that is holistic. He wanted the chair to be the most ergonomically correct chair possible. Inspired by the work of Stumpf’s mother, a gerontology nurse, they decided that chairs should be made with consultation from people who spent a lot of their time on chairs - older people in retirement homes.
At the time, most hospitals and retirement homes were equipped with La-Z-Boys. Stumpf and his partner, Don Chadwick, realized that a La-Z-Boy is awfully suited to the elderly. The elderly had to back up to the chair and most times simply fall, the levers were inaccessible, and the stuffing spread the user’s weight unevenly while the vinyl kept heat and moisture on the surface. Stumpf and Chadwick addressed these often unobserved problems and created the optimal chair.
The Aeron had its footrest under the seat, so that the sitter could brace himself while sitting. They also wanted to maximize support for the shoulders, so they designed the back of the chair wider at the top than at the bottom, back then a novel idea. The levers were also banished in favor of a pneumatic control, much like what we find in airplane seats. Lastly, instead of foam stuffing, Herman Miller created the Pellicle, a plastic fabric sewn together like lace that conforms to the contours of the sitter, relieving pressure points, allowing free flow of air and overall being more relaxing and comfortable.
Reading this description, one would be quick to praise this invention. However, when Stumpf and his team tested prototypes in Michigan, on a scale of 1 to 10, testers rated the Aeron an average of 4.75, with some Herman Miller employees calling the chair “Chair of Death”. This was because people gravitate toward seats that are senatorial, with thick cushions and high back support, throne-like - something with status, whereas the Aeron was the total opposite: wiry, slender, and black. It was comfortable, but it looked like a monstrosity.
Herman Miller’s CEO Dick Ruch was hesitant in releasing the Aeron. Sales estimates were dismal because of its unique appearance, but the use of the Pellicle instead of foam was the straw that pushed Ruch to sign off.
It turned out that its different look was not ugly, like the testers said, but revolutionary. People from Wall Street to Silicon Valley to Hollywood could not get over the chair. It won design awards in California and New York. There was even an episode of Will and Grace centered solely on the group acquiring an Aeron chair. What was a seemingly awry project became a success.
I chose this topic after having read about it in Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink. There are some days that I wonder whether there is still more to discover in this world, and this story inspires me that there is more, despite what experts and focus groups and CEOs will say. The limits of complexity (or in this case, simplicity) can be tested by looking at everyday things and improving on them.
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