With new contexts and social circumstances in constant transformation, making new music requires new formats of representation, concepts and process of materialization. A new frame can be flourished by the combination of new ways of perceiving, making and thinking art. The role of a designer is crucial to define those new formats, its organization, selection, roles and definition. As Steve Jobs once said: “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” (Jobs, 2019). A good design is considered a representation of the whole mission and belief of its user. “Design is the silent ambassador of your brand.” [Norman,2019]. The practice of design isn't merely summarized by an exploration of proportion, aesthetic values or visual appearance, it is mostly an iterative research separated into 3 main areas: in industrial design, form and material are taken in consideration; in interactive design, the customer experience, its durability and use is used to improve its use; in experience design, the designer studies emotional impact of its product, its quality, enjoyment and concept (ambiental and social impact). [Norman, 2019] In a world where so many categories come into the design and concept of a product/experience, which characteristics should the design of a new music instrument take into consideration? 

In the current perspective, we live in a thrilling and stimulating moment for a designer. New products are launched  every  single day as a key to solving our most basic problems. While the fast iteration of technology increases the complexity of such products (LUPTON, 2019), customers are every year thirsty to get the newest smartphone edition. The use of technology and its complexity can blur an experience, and this challenge is often confronted by designers when refining a balance between the discoverability and understanding of a product. 

The exploration of this challenge into the 3 main design research areas can unlock the development of a music instrument to become part of a mission and change. The area of electroacoustic music already contains a story developing under these circumstances and its challenges. For example, few interfaces often deal with the question of representation or understanding in music expression. ‘With electronic and digital media as key elements in musical instrument design, the boundaries between composition, instrument design and performance are blurring’. [Baalman, 2019]. Instruments can become either too complex, banal or miss represent its main objective: to stimulate creativity and new music making. 

To understand and learn from the challenges of today’s design, 2 concepts of design practices were applied during the development of Knurl:  Design by value and testing cycles.