New Remote Control Unit Is a ‘Design Marvel’

Simplify.

That was what designer Doug Patton set out to do in developing a new television remote control for Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc. in Cypress.

The result is a design marvel. Called the PRM-1, the $29.95 device is a pen-shaped remote control with only three buttons that can accomplish the most frequently used functions.

The impetus behind the new device was consumer complaints that VCRs, stereos and televisions--which together make up complete “home entertainment” systems--have burdened them with complicated remote controls with scores of buttons.

Patton had designed an earlier remote control for Mitsubishi that sported 52 buttons. On the next generation, he became fed up with the design headaches and wondered if anyone really learned how to use the controls.

So Patton simplified. And his efforts have earned recognition. Last month, the Industrial Design Society of America gave Patton one of its prestigious national gold awards for the PRM-1.

“Most remote controls are multi-key horrors differentiated only by styling exercises (such as rounded corners),” said Peter Edward Lowe, a Menlo Park, Calif., designer and one of the society’s judges. “Yes, it (the PRMs) may be hard to find and it might roll off the table, but it’s so easy to use.”

The PRM-1 allows viewers to easily change channels, adjust volume, and turn their television sets on and off.

The buttons do not even feature graphics to identify the buttons. Rather, the consumer can discern the uses with tactile and visual aids. The power button is round and blue, the channel button is long and rests on rockers so it can be used to control forward and backward, and the volume button is similar but of a different size.

“If you can operate a computer with a mouse, why do you need 52 buttons for a television,” Patton said.

Before he sold the design to Mitsubishi, he had to sell that design philosophy.

“For me, it is a statement of simplicity,” he said. “Everywhere you go, you’re overloaded with technology. I don’t need all these controls in my daily life.”

Starting with the idea in 1988, he worked with engineer Richard Jung and Mitsubishi’s product development department to perfect the device. The concept caught the imagination of Tachi Kuichi, president of Mitsubishi Electronics America, and eventually it received approval from the company’s Japan headquarters.

The pen-remote is the latest score for Patton Designs of Costa Mesa, a small industrial design firm with 14 employees and sales in the “low seven figures.”