"Were not hiding how things work, were expressing it" I sat down with Jake Dyson to talk radical product design, and why your favorite vacuum and hair dryer look like nothing else on the planet

Date:
Tue, 28 Jul 2026 13:01:27 +0000

Description:
I spoke to Chief Engineer Jake Dyson about the company's unique designs, and why it's not afraid to break the mold

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Whether its a vacuum cleaner, a hand dryer, an air purifier, or a fan, Dyson products rarely look like anything else on the market and thats particularly apparent at the companys campus in Malmesbury, southwest England, where images of recent launches decorate the walls like modern art. The sprawling complex, in a particularly beautiful patch of Wiltshire countryside, is home to Dysons global Research, Design and Development (RDD) center, and the Dyson Institute, where students from around the world study while working alongside engineers on live projects. I visited the center to meet the companys Chief Engineer Jake Dyson
son of founder Sir James Dyson and learn more about the companys approach
to design.

Jake Dyson didnt join his fathers business immediately; instead he set up a workshop and made a name for himself in the world of industrial lighting. Sitting in his office, I asked whether his experience in that sector had contributed to his work at Dyson today.

Yes, it comes down to identifying problems and solving them, he explained. When LEDs first entered the market, I realized people werent cooling them properly. The promise of LEDs is that they should last a lifetime, but in reality they were being treated like disposable lightbulbs. I visited Osram
in Asia, and they explained that if you keep the diode temperature below
about 50C [120F, you can maintain brightness, color quality, and lifespan. That became my goal. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here: Dyson's unique product designs take center stage at the company's campus in Malmesbury, UK (Image credit: Getty Images / Bloomberg) I looked at how satellites manage heat. In space, temperatures swing from extremely hot to extremely cold, so they need precise thermal control. I applied similar thinking by designing systems that passively dissipate heat. For example, the heat moves away from the chip and is cooled by airflow, maintaining a stable temperature even at high power. That process, spotting a problem and solving it, is what drives everything. That problem-solving approach has always been the driving force behind the Dyson brand, and explains its unusual portfolio of products; its engineers have never been afraid to venture into new areas when theres a problem to be solved. You may like Jake Dyson explains his vision for robots in your home humanoid and otherwise I've tested almost every Dyson vacuum these are my top recommendations My least favorite Dyson innovation has snuck its way into its new cordless vacuum

Sometimes it comes from frustration," said Jake Dyson. "'This product is rubbish, how can we make it better? Other times its curiosity: Why does this work the way it does? Problem-first design James Dysons book Invention: A
Life of Learning Through Failure , describes how the problem-first process
led to the creation of many of the companys most iconic and recognizable products starting with a humble wheelbarrow. Dyson and his wife Deidre were renovating a house in Gloucestershire, England, and wanted to create a
garden, but the traditional tools proved frustrating. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

I used a navy barrow in anger and its limitations became increasingly clear, writes Dyson. Cement slopped out of it. Its tubular legs sunk into the
ground. It was hard to steer. Its sharp edges damaged doorframes. The more I used it, the more I realized that nobody had really thought about these problems or bothered to fix them.

After much experimentation with shapes, materials, and manufacturing processes, the result was the Ballbarrow: a molded plastic bucket on a steel frame, with the conventional wheel replaced by a pneumatic ball made from EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate). This spread the weight of the load more evenly on soft ground, and was easier to maneuver than a wheel and in bright orange,
it looked unlike anything else at the time. Dyson products are always
designed to solve a problem the Airblade hand dryer was created to reduce waste from paper towels in public bathrooms (Image credit: Getty Images,
Gado) The product itself was a success, but due to a series of poor business decisions, Dyson senior eventually lost control of the company he had founded around it, Kirk-Dyson, and was ultimately kicked out by the other shareholders. What to read next Dyson fan range guide: a simple guide to all your options, and how they differ Dyson Find+Follow Purifier Cool review: seriously smart, incredibly cool and inescapably expensive Small but powerful, the Dyson HushJet Mini Cool packs a serious punch

I had lost five years of work by not valuing my creation, he wrote. I had failed to protect the one thing that was most valuable to me.

It was a painful experience, but one he learned from as he pressed on with identifying and solving problems starting with the creation of the first cyclonic vacuum cleaner, which he designed after realizing that dust bags
dont just serve to collect dust they also act as filters that block airflow, drastically reducing suction power.

I remembered the same clogging problem on the calico cloth with the powder coating in the Ballbarrow factory and the giant cyclone we had made to solve it, he wrote. What if I could develop a much smaller version and replace the clogging bag in a vacuum cleaner?

Thousands of prototypes later (5,127 to be precise), he had the worlds first bagless vacuum and a vast collection of patents to protect it. The Dyson Supersonic was created to solve the problem of heavy and cumbersome hair dryers, with a lighter motor and a center of gravity that sits in your palm (Image credit: Future) Dysons understanding of airflow and cyclonic
technology has informed almost all of the companys subsequent products; but like the vacuum, each one started with a problem. The Dyson Airblade hand dryer was created to reduce waste paper towels; the Airmultiplier fan solved the issue of choppy air from conventional fan blades; the Pure Hot+Cool purifier was made to tackle indoor air pollution; and the Supersonic
hairdryer solved the problem of heavy and uncomfortable hairdryers with weighty motors.

In every case, the form of the finished product was dictated by the problem
it was designed to solve even if the result looked totally unlike
established versions of the device.

Thats why Dyson products often look unusual; theyre built around their function, said Jake Dyson in his Malmesbury office. Theyre also beautiful. A hair dryer has a hole through it because of how the airflow works. Fans and other products expose their engineering principles through the way they look were not hiding how things work, were expressing it. Creative color Those unusual designs are often set off by equally unusual color schemes, which
tend to highlight buttons, switches, removable canisters, and other
functional parts.

We have a team here, CMF, which is colors, materials and finishes, that look into the appearance but also materials of our products," said Jake Dyson.

The CMF team doesnt just draw on experience from successful projects, but
also failed ones like the cancelled Dyson electric car , which provided
finish and material ideas for many of the companys health and beauty devices.

Most recently, CMF lent its expertise to Dyson's first hand-held fan the Dyson HushHet Mini Cool which launched just in time for a series of
heatwaves in the UK. It sold out almost immediately, and after testing it myself, I can see why; its compact, much more powerful than its closest
rival, the Shark ChillPill , and more affordable to boot.

Weve seen strong demand [for the HushHet Mini Cool], and its one of those products where people dont initially realize they need it but once they try it, they understand the value, said Jake Dyson. Its designed to be reusable, not disposable like cheaper alternatives. I've seen people with the cheap plastic fans that break very [easily], but we wanted ours to be well engineered, durable, quiet and efficient. The Dyson HushJet Mini Cool fan is the company's latest product, and proved enormously popular during a hot British summer (Image credit: Future) Were working on scaling production, but demand has been very strong, so availability can sometimes be limited. That said, it is coming back to market.

So what does the future hold? The company is investigating ways to use AI where it will actually add value, helping machines interpret data and make better decisions, and Jake Dyson says that "vision systems and new product directions" are the most exciting areas for him.

"Weve historically been very strong in mechanical engineering motors,
airflow, performance. But now, adding cameras and vision systems allows machines to detect what theyre looking at, understand it and act accordingly.

"That opens up entirely new categories of products and capabilities, so were moving from purely mechanical devices to machines that can see, think, and respond, and thats where the next wave of innovation is coming from."

It'll be fascinating to see which problems the company will be looking to solve with those new technologies, and there's no way of knowing what the
next generation of Dyson products will look like as the company expands into new areas. We'll just have to wait and see but it's definitely not going to be boring. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source
to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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