This is the fourth post about a cell phone design project that started here.
Form factors
First, about the scale. We know that the technology won't stop us from going really really small here, and that the ergonomics are the limiting factors.
Ergonomic aspects needing to be considered :
· the size of the device. It must allow you to hold it comfortably, and allow the speaker / mic to work nicely along the ear and mouth distance. The smallest phone I've used so far was as big as a credit card, and I used these dimensions as a reference.
· the size of the buttons, of course.
Semantics : it should look like a phone, as it's nothing else. It should say that it's a USB key too, as it's one. Other ideas to express : basic, solid, reliable, durable, fit.
As it's not designed for a particular brand, the branding guidelines that are usually getting into action at this point are, well, non existent. So we're left with a relative freedom here. That's one of the pleasure of the personal project after all.
Three different tracks came up so far to give a character to this object.
1. In a way, the functionality of this phone is nostalgic and backward looking, as we are refusing all the possibilities that technology is offering us but the ability to be wireless and compact. The Daddy's track.
Grandaddy's got one too.
2. The hard core nature of the functionalities can lead us to the modernist way, "form follows function and we're not expressing anything else here, ok yes we do but ya know..." The Mies track.
3. As it's compact, it's likely that the user will carry the phone in a shirt or pants pocket, so it could be a well rounded and soft object that will prevent the garment to be torn. The Tender track.
