Hey
I work whit phones daily so I know how frigil they can be, so I desided to design a tough phone.
Other than this it follows my usual recipe, simple phone whit none of the extras.
The size of the phone is ca. 8x5x1.2cm.
Those "dog ears" on the top corners of the display are buttons(hangup/call and buttons for navigating the simple menu)
It was designed for active people(mountainclimbers, snowboarders, etc) and it should be water/dustproof.

(I will update this first post whit more pictures)

Edit: added some information. Added Image.


Rune Larsen

No multifunction buttons to navigate the UI, and no way to scroll through saved numbers. Lame.

Just a quick crit....i know this is conceptual but try to avoid wasting any screen space, at the top where you have the speaker/earpiece and those other bits of material. It will look better if you close that off I reckon.

There isn't much of an UI to navigate, and it would have 12 predail numbers(holding eather one of the buttons on the numpad).
Im wasting screen space bacause there is no need for more, and ofcourse I liked it that way.

I would also like to add that the buttons are taking up so much space so they can be handeled whit gloves on.


Rune Larsen

But what I don't understand is why you have overlapped parts onto the display. In terms of manufacturing it would be a complete waste because you can't display anything there because you have geometry overlapping it. I also think the buttons in the top corners can be dodgy because when they are pressed, they will compress down onto the display and crack it eventually.

Fair enough on your decision though, it is your design but I just can't see the logic in it.

hehe, I like your writing style(not a bad thing, I really do)
Its not overlapping the display its a cutout in the protective glass(plastic/plexi whatever is stronger ),
the display doesn't reach higher than the bottom of the buttons and the speaker, the glass is only up there for design reasons(I liked it ).

A question, does the pictures look fearly real?




Rune Larsen

Just curious, do you do any sketches or do you design it in CAD? If CAD, do you try different versions and save renders? I would be interested in seeing your process.

The phone looks very light weight and cheap. Yeah it has some tough and durable stylling elements, but you need to communicate the toughess of it with other materials, perhaps some metal and rubber. Maybe some indication of different parts, shutlines and so on.

I dont like your simple phones because I dont see myself ever wanting one. It would be like havin a car that can only fit the driver because Im alone in my car 95% of the time. That said, some people obviosly do want simple, so carry on

My process:

1. I pick a theme, (this may be a problem I've seen whit existing products) which is explained whit words, like this phone, some of the words where: tough, emergency, sport, millitary, and simple... simple is always whit me it seems.

2. Layout, what do I want(target groupe perhaps), whit this phone it started as an emergency phone for people on long trips in the wild(that may not want a phone whit them on the trip, connecting whit nature and all that) and evolved to a more sporty phone(could still be used as an emergency phone).
I will start drawing a little here, unless I've already desided in my head what it looks like(no I will not show my drawings, they suck).

3.Details(only a step if I don't have the whole thing in my head), I start drawing buttons, edge design, the whole shape, etc.

4.I draw up the whole design, front, back and sides(eather on paper or whit lines in rhino).

5. I make my lines into 3d and render them.

the process is more fluid than this, I will jump around if I'm not happy whit something and
I usually don't render much untill I'm finished whit the design, so I cant show you how messy it looks

I hope you didn't ask because you think my designs are utter crap...


Sorry for this messy post.


Rune Larsen

Fair enough, I was under impression you just modeled the first thing that came to your head because it is so simple and at times it seemed that you design what you can model. Then again, simple is your mantra, so I hope you dont take this comment the wrong way.

I like the last render you added with the black edge. If you can, try some different material for the buttons.
More observations on those, no indication on the "0" button and on the dog ears buttons, those dont even look like buttons now.

So you use Rhino? I was under impression that you used Max. What do you use to render?

To me, it just looks like one of those designs that was made 100% in Cad, no model, no user interaction, and no thumbnail sketches. I think it'd probably have turned out a lot better if you spent more time sketching first, and then moved to cad.

Good crits.
This is actually the phone I worked the most on before I turned it into a cad model, so it seems my brain works better in cad.
I'm actually agreeing whit you guys, I've started to mislike the strange button placement and I may have gone to far whit the military styling(dull plastick/rubber).
Infact I'm gone start redesigning the front(I like the rubber ring around the phone to much to discard).

Explaining my design choices:
The "0" marking was taken out bacause the mic needed that space and I reconed it wouldn't be hard to find it since it was the onlyone missing.
the "dog ear" buttons was done that way so they could be handeled whit gloves.

Engio:
I started my 3d hobbie whit 3ds max, but quickly figured out that it didn't do what I wanted(nurbs are crap in 3dsm) so I jumped over to Rhino, which has served me well. Renderings are done in Rhino whit alot of Photoshoping.

I think you need to have the 0 in. Even if you are using quick dialing how will you dial number numbers with an 0 in?

Also, I think for phones it is way more vital to progress the design in illustrator or photoshop as obviously the most important view is the front which can be easily edited and developed in a 2D package. This also lets you print it out and do some usability testing if it is done to scale (easily done in illustrator).Then when you are sure of the design go to 3D for rendering.