Designed at Ashcraft Design in Los Angeles, California.
DESIGNING A FLAGSHIP PRODUCT
In July of 2004 Ashcraft Design was asked by JBL to redesign the JBL Everest line of speakers. The Everest would be a flagship product delivering the highest level of musical fidelity and costing $65,000 per unit. It would be designed to showcase JBL’s performance potential and restore the quality of their brand in overseas markets.
CREATING A UNIQUE DESIGN LANGUAGE
JBL partnered with Ashcraft Design to help them create a unique design language which could reflect the ultra high-end price point and extreme performance of the JBL Everest speakers. Erin Napolitano was the Senior Designer who was charged with guiding and managing the team developing Everest’s design language. At the beginning of the first phase of development Erin and her team considered a wide variety of options exploring the spirit and character of what the Everest speaker could be.
AN OPPORTUNITY TO CONTRIBUTE
At the beginning of August 2004 I was asked to work with Erin to contribute some ideas on the project. One afternoon while sketching I had the idea to create an architectural form that completed the right and left side of the mid-range horn. This form would extend from top to bottom and was the framework from which the other components would hang. This concept became the genesis of the JBL Everest design language and Erin masterfully guided the execution of the concept through to completion.
INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
Since its arrival the JBL Everest speaker line has been met with praise and acclamation on all sides. It is the recipient of numerous awards and has been credited with regaining JBL’s position as the #1 speaker brand in Japan.
KEY CONTRIBUTORS: Erin Napolitano, Daniel Ashcraft, Joseph Morin
