Happy New Years to everyone on core77! I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays.
I’ve been working on building my portfolio for college applications (gonna apply to Art Center and CCA). This is a project I’ve been working on to submit for admissions, and I wanted to share my progress with you all! I’m very excited about how it’s turning out, and can’t wait (seriously, I CANNOT WAIT) till it’s done. I’ve been rendering everything in Photoshop, so at this point, I wanna go in a corner and cry. But all jokes aside, it’s coming along.
I’m not completely done with it, probably 4-10 more slides illustrating my ideas. This is what I have completed thus far, and I must say I’m quite proud of myself!
My mission is pretty simple: make smartphones better. Ignore irrelevant marketing terms like screen size and mega-pixel count, and get back to solving other problems. I drew a lot of my inspiration from Japanese culture, as well as Andrew Kim’s HTC 1 project.
Please let me know what you guys think! And if you have any suggestions for portfolio building, it’d be much appreciated! (I know, that would be better suited for the Portfolio section.)
Sorry im on my phone, but the pictures and text were far too low quality to be legible. Just looking at the pictures and your opening statement… I have no idea what your project is, what problems you are actually solving, and why keitai is better than what is already available. I do like the renderings though.
Thanks for your response sketchroll! That’s weird! It’s large on my Mac, but really low quality on my phone. I uploaded the image as an attachment, so hopefully it’s legible! My mission statement was in the image, so I hope it clears up what I was trying to say before.
Did you do research to see if there were any speaker technologies that allow them to be so slim? I think having two front facing speakers with that small of a bezel around the LCD makes it a little unrealistic. Something I might let slide in a concept, but you compare you concept to existing phones, and existing phones are constrained by existing technologies, so if we want to compare it to real things, then you should at least research to see if there is a technology on the horizon that supports your concept.
To answer your first question, no, no research. Maybe something along the idea of the HTC 1’s sound channeling chambers. If anything, this is just a concept.
About the font camera, yes there is one, it can be seen very faintly just below the top sound bar, I’ll try to make it more visible!
The flash on the back employs a ring flash, for even lighting and aesthetic purposes.
As for ports, it uses inductive charging to re-fuel, and I was thinking of a magnetic cable that would attach to the bottom side of the phone. Sort of like a “mini inductive charger”.
There’s a headphone jack on the top of the phone. I chose the slider because it has more practical uses, but of course controls on earphones would work.
Hope I answered your questions! Let me know what else I could do to make this better! I really wanna impress the admissions office.
Looking very closely I can see it now. No way that would be able to fit in there with the speakers. The edge of the display would take up at least that much room (more in reality). Look at how much meat there is above the display in all the phones you show as competitors.
Keep in mind, the RAZR just came out, and look how much it has above the diplay.
I figured that ring was the flash, but I didn’t see where you called it out.
I find the straight vertical reflection a little distracting. If you look at how the reflections are rendered in most phone images (like your competitor shots) they are at a diagnal, and the UI is on. I’d suggest you show the phone in the on state in at least one image.
Im curious though, Have you tried holding your phone in landscape mode? This may not be for everyone, but for me at least. When I hold my phone sideways, my palm and index finger run right across the edges of the phone. With your design having the speakers so far out to the edges, I would think that the sound would get muffled. Also, I dont find unlocking my phone by swiping across the speakers to be intuitive. It doesn’t make any natural sense to me. HOWEVER, silencing my phone by swiping across the speaker seems to make a little bit more sense. Reminds me of when you tell other people to be quiet by placing your finger over your mouth.
Again, I don’t really know what’s so great about your phone yet. I would love to see the UI. And exactly what makes your smartphone unique and how. And finally, is yours even a smartphone?
Ok, I’m not a designer, but I’m in (nearly) the same situation as yours (except I’m still learning Inventor properly).
Yeah, I’m an Andrew Kim fan as well, but not as much as you seem to be
Now, speaking of your phone, there’s one thing: Did you ever think that the screen might be a bit too large? To me 4.3 inches of screen always felt a lot, 3.7 or even 4 felt better. This is a point where your “human” smartphone loses points.
Also, why use wood? It does look nicer, true, yet it doesn’t feel much better TBH. It can slip or feel awkward, or actually, in time it becomes worse. It also makes the phone more expensive, the processor and battery can heat up too much and damage themselves, it’s simply not good at all.
Regarding the stereo thing: yes, it’s nearly impossible nowadays to make them both work at the same quality, but then I’m not a tech geek.
Take note of what sketchroll said: Think that some people like landscape mode. Think that some people want to play Angry Birds with no limitations
The charging pad makes the product even more annoying. Don’t know, but people who actually travel aren’t going to carry that big thing with them…
And yeah, we are waiting for the software bit.
Another thing: Swipe to unlock is not new. Search Nokia N9, or even Windows Phone Mango. It’s the same thing.
Updated it with a few mock-ups. Just what the lock screen and incoming call would look like, which is subject to change. I also updated my typography and wording. I’m still working on the other slides, so look forward to that!
@Defromat: Yup! I love Andrew Kim’s style.
About the speakers. Yes, some people will probably be covering it up with their hands. Although, with the iPhone and most other phones, they’re usually placed on the back or sides, and are covered by either the table or hands too.
I chose wood because it’s visually warmer, organic and more approachable. It’s also very robust, and will protect the internal components well. It will also look great in the long run, nicks and scratches will give it a vintage look.
Someone can jump in, but wouldn’t treating and sealing it also warp/deform it? So you’d have to somehow accommodate for the warpage (which would vary with EACH piece) or machine it after you treated it. Of course, that would remove the sealant…
I chose wood because it’s visually warmer, organic and more approachable. It’s also very robust, and will protect the internal components well. It will also look great in the long run, nicks and scratches will give it a vintage look.
Robust … will also look great in the long run, nicks and scratches will give it a vintage look.?
You left out the word; porous. What you (and other iphone “skin” makers) are going end up with, in short order, is a nicked up, wooden box, covered with a combination of skin oil and dirt . … in a word, it is unsanitary.
No “sealer” is going to survive in a “human” environment (handling) for very long; acidic conditions of the skin, caused by secretions from sweat glands, skin oil, and the breakdown of fatty acids by staphylococcus epidermis (the bacteria universally found on human skin) will break them down fairly quickly. Salt (sweat) is another factor to consider.
Another thing to consider; wood (bamboo) is not an “engineering” material; it has “grain”, which affects it’s dimensional stability, and workability. In the very thin section ( 1-2mm ?) shown in your design it would be very difficult to maintain any kind of dimensional accuracy on as well. Additionally, without laminating, you’re going to be hard pressed to find a piece of bamboo thick enough to “carve” this thing out of single piece.
With the computer, one can depict just about anything… … .
edit - sorry if I appear to be overly critical, but you need to understand that there is far more to “industrial design” than just imagery and “marketing phrases”; making allowances for your age, and experience. But something to keep in mind while shopping for a “design” school.
To be honest at this point it seems like you are just adding features and not really considering the design solution to the product. For instance, screen size preference has more to do with the size of the hardware as a result of the screen size and less about the actual screen size. Everyone wants as big of a screen as possible in the smallest package. Simply having a phone that has a giant screen that can be cropped down adds little benefit. I don’t see any instance where someone would be cropping the screen because they want it to be smaller.
Also interchangeable lenses? You’re going to have to go a little more in depth to convince people that is possible. I’d argue the point of the camera on the phone is to provide a camera that can be used quickly and efficiently on the go. The idea of having multiple lenses seems less appropriate for it’s context. It might be nice to provide “sample shots” of the improvement you are claiming with the ring flash over traditional flashes.
Just a point of contrast from your mission statement…My mission is pretty simple: make smartphones better. Ignore irrelevant marketing terms like screen size and mega-pixel count, and get back to solving other problems. A lot of the features you are introducing don’t seem very cohesive and feel more like a list of marketing terms. I think it would be beneficial to go through the problems you are addressing in your concept and how your solutions are solving those issues. The call out’s like “fragile glass”, “bland design”, “flimsy plastic”, etc. I think you can find better problems to be solving. You could argue that those issues aren’t really issues, that gorilla glass is very strong, the RAZR isn’t bland, and so on.
Great rendering/presentation exercise, uninteresting project.
As mentioned multiple times before, you are not solving problems, but just rendering shiny marketing features. There is no substance. No meat. People want meat. You’ve shown off a lot of the what, but none of the why. I think this is a great project to have under your belt, but for your next project, think about the bigger picture: how will this improve the user’s life?
(I’d try to find a better name than “cell phone” in Japanese, too.)
I tried to remove the marketing aspects like you guys suggested. I also updated my objectives slide to help clarify the problems/solutions. Let me know what you guys think.
But all jokes aside, it’s coming along.
(I know, that would be better suited for the Portfolio section.)
