Submission by Stephanie Aaron, Kristin Grafe, Eric St. Onge (SVA MFA in Interaction Design, Class of 2011)
The PaperBack
We envision one future of digital reading to take the form of a device we’re calling the PaperBack.
The PaperBack is a dual sided, flexible, 11" x 17" touch screen display. Each side is built of 8 individual 5.5" x 4.25" panels seamlessly joined together to make easily foldable sizes along the panels’ edges. The device would have a thin layer of foldable electronics between each display to give the device some mass and weight so it doesn’t feel like you’re reading off of a flimsy piece of a paper. It should be comfortable wherever you take it to read.
To start, open the book and use the touchscreen to read a book from your library or buy one from the store. The PaperBack would connect wirelessly and download the books you share. You could also have the option of selling books you have finished to friends for store credit.
To read, unfold the device to the size you prefer. You could fold to its smallest size to read a trade paperback. Unfold once to view a novel at a more convenient size.
The left and right sides of the display would show a graphic indicating the number of pages remaining or completed. The graphic would resemble the depth of a book with many more pages to go.
Since the display is dual sided, the side you are not reading would show the book’s cover. Other people could see what book you’re reading and offer recommendations or ask questions.
To turn the page, you would flip the book over. The new side would show your new page, and the new back would update to show the cover. Flip the book in the other direction to turn the page in the opposite direction.
Even better, if you find someone who has their own PaperBack, you could press the open PaperBacks together to share the content temporarily between the devices.
To turn the device off, simply close the pages together and hold. The device would turn back on when you reopen it.
Advertisements, posters, and kiosks could also have built-in PaperBack connections, so you could press your PaperBack against your environment to explore something of interest that you see.
When you’re finished reading, you would be able to fully unfold the device and store it on your bookshelf to show the spines of books in your collection. You could touch the display to explore your library.
