Tag Archives: Ergonomics

OPPO Find X5 Pro design story starts with nature and looks to the future

Posted on by

The OPPO Find X5 Pro is easily one of the most beautiful phones we’ve seen in recent years. It immediately stands out from the crowd in a way that is both pleasing and thought-provoking. It’s not a one-time thing either, having started with the Find X3 Pro last year. Given the company’s investment in this design, it hopefully won’t be the last time we’ll see this exquisite design either. Like many good product designs, however, OPPO didn’t just stumble on this winning look, nor was its journey as smooth as the curves on the phone’s back. Unsurprisingly, the company is only too happy to narrate its journey, and like many journeys, it starts at the womb of Mother Nature.

Designer: OPPO

Natural Curves

While we see and use a lot of straight lines in everyday objects, those are actually a man-made convention. The famed Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi was quoted to have said that “there are no straight lines in nature.” Everything that looks or feels natural to our senses brains actually have an element of imperfection or curve to them, and that’s the kind of natural design that OPPO aimed for.

Almost all smartphones have camera bumps these days or at least individual lenses that sit on top of the phone’s back. No matter the design or arrangement, they all have one thing in common. They are both visually and structurally distinct from the rest of the phone’s back, often delineated by a metal ring or a plastic surface. While not exactly straight, these still create sharp edges, seams, and lines that look and feel unnatural.

To capture the familiar and comforting feeling of nature, OPPO decided to opt for using natural-looking curves to raise the camera bump from the rest of the phone’s surface. The company calls the final result a volcano-shaped bump, but the flat surface on top is more reminiscent of a gently rising plateau. Either way, the effect is a unique camera design that is seamlessly integrated into the phone’s structure, a beautiful structure that actually caused OPPO more headaches at the start.

Tough Act

OPPO could have simply left it at that, ending up with something no different from the OPPO Find X3 Pro last year, just with a softer curvature. Looking good, however, was only half the equation, and the company wanted the phone to also feel good in people’s hands. Nature’s curves already provided visual relief, but the company now had to turn to technology to give the same feeling of comfort to the owner’s skin.

For this trick, OPPO decided to use ceramic instead of the glass material it is familiar with. Designers and manufacturers already know how terribly difficult it is to work with ceramic. Fortunately, we have come to a point where throwing enough time, money, and brains can yield advantageous results in addressing those pain points.

Again, OPPO is only too happy to dazzle you with the tales of trials and tribulations that it endured during this journey, from developing a new CNC machining process specifically for this design and material to a new four-axis polishing machine that uses micron-level diamond powder. Fortunately for people, they only need to hold a Find X5 Pro in their hands to appreciate the end results. They will feel the comfortably warm texture of ceramic without having to worry too much about fingerprints and smudges. They will also be more confident in the knowledge that their phone’s back has more chances of surviving a fall unbroken.

The Devil’s in the Details

The OPPO Find X5 Pro’s design story didn’t end there. There’s also the tale of how the camera lenses had to be positioned with painstaking precision so that they won’t extrude out of the housing, but also not too low to be effective at their job. It’s a minute detail that you will never know about unless someone (OPPO) tells you about it, precisely because the cameras blend almost seamlessly with the rest of the phone’s body.

Paying excruciating to details, even when those details will mostly be lost on most consumers, is a trait that is traditionally attributed to Apple, one of the best tech companies when it comes to product design acumen. Other phone brands like Samsung have also started talking more about these small details, sometimes to an exasperating degree. Others, on the other hand, force you to actually see and feel those small details to the point that the phone becomes a jumbled mess of discordant elements and design languages.

In contrast, OPPO aimed to hide those details and only talk about them as a side story of its journey. This left the Find X5 Pro with a minimalist and unified form that feels almost like a calm sound of silence in the midst of loud and obnoxious phone designs. Hopefully, the company’s future flagships will retain this nature-inspired DNA, and its futuristic manufacturing processes will become the future of its design lineage, especially since no one else seems to be keen on making the same odyssey.

The post OPPO Find X5 Pro design story starts with nature and looks to the future first appeared on Yanko Design.

Human behavior defines the layout of this elemental pavilion to bring visitors a unique spatial experience

Posted on by

The Wood Pavilion #2 from LIN Architecture is the second installment to the studio’s Wood Pavilion, a timber structure with an interior layout that was defined by human behavior.

Just two months ago, LIN Architecture finished work on Wood Pavilion #1, an all-black meditative space designed to be ergonomic, where humans could give in to their most natural and instinctual behavior. Today, LIN Architecture is back with another wooden pavilion, which is aptly called Wood Pavilion #2. Coated in red paint, the Wood Pavilion #2 shares the same purpose as its predecessor and is located in the same neighborhood in China’s ​​Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province.

Designer: LIN Architecture

Designed as, “a spatial experiment on using small-scaled temporary buildings to stimulate the site,” the Wood Pavilion #2 features a series of unpaired windows and internal cavities that are meant to give visitors a unique, visual, and spatial experience.

Throughout the pavilion, the layered walls are intersected by various internal cavities that collect sunlight and offer views of the outdoors, prompting visitors to take a seat or wander through the structure like a labyrinth.

Covering only 50 sqm, the Wood Pavilion #2 finds space and height through an intricate layout that weaves together rooms like an entryway that only leads to a wall and elemental sitting space. The four walls that compose Wood Pavilion #2 have been washed with a red dye, emphasizing the pavilion’s primal lure. In designing the second generation Wood Pavilion, the architects at LIN Architecture took what they learned from the first pavilion and applied it to the second’s construction process.

“Based on previous theoretical research,” the architects at LIN suggest, Wood Pavilion #2 is “a prototype combining theory and practice: based on a human scale, each section of the pavilion is used to set different spaces to guide people and their interaction patterns.”

Firstly, Wood Pavilion #2 maintained a human-centered layout and then looked to proxemic, behaviorology, and ergonomics to further develop the structure’s pathways spatial personality. Finding harmony in the surrounding architecture and community, “Wooden Pavilion #2 not only creates a dialogue with the traditional architectural forms of the village but also serves the local residents who, in their leisure time, can communicate and enjoy the harmonious relationship between the architectural space and its surrounding nature.”

Curved seats provide spots for visitors to take in the views and bathe in the sunlight.

Before constructing the Wood Pavilion #2, architects with LIN studied the human behavior and patterns of the local community.

The Wood Pavilion #2 serves to harmonize with the local community’s preexisting architecture. 

While it appears monolithic for its labyrinth-like layout, Wood Pavilion #2 is sized to human-scale.

The timber cabin is entirely constructed from timber and interconnected with steel columns and screws.

The post Human behavior defines the layout of this elemental pavilion to bring visitors a unique spatial experience first appeared on Yanko Design.

This polygonal mouse stealthily swaps out ergonomics for looks

Posted on by

If you’ve already had your fill of computer mouse designs advertised to be the ultimate answer to your ergonomic problems, then this contrarian concept might pique your curiosity at the expense of your hand.

Keyboards and mice are the most basic and most common ways people interact with computers, and yet they are also the most dangerous tools when it comes to the health of our fingers, hands, and wrists. There is no shortage of ergonomic mice that have popped up, whether as actual products or concept designs, and some of them even look completely out of this world. There are some people, however, who might actually prefer their mouse to look good, even if it means it isn’t that comfortable to use, and this mouse design seems to do just that, trading comfort for something that is unique, bold, and eye-catching.

Designer: J Gabe Rustia

It’s almost ironic that this Poly Mouse concept was actually inspired by something that isn’t meant to be easily seen or detected. The designer took cues from both low poly 3D models as well as the F-117 Nighthawk stealth aircraft to design a mouse with a faceted surface that looks stunning, especially in black. It also looks a bit painful for your palm.

The concept uses geometric shapes, mostly triangles and two polygons for the buttons, to build the form of the mouse. This kind of design language isn’t just particular to stealth fighter jets and can be found in some sci-fi designs, like the more recent Deus Ex games, giving it a futuristic vibe. The way light reflects differently on different surfaces might also remind some people of diamonds, crystals, and some rocks.

While it doesn’t look like a typical mouse, the Poly concept does have basic mouse functions. There are left and right mouse buttons, but the design eschews a scroll wheel for a triangular gesture pad in the middle. There’s also an LED light where these three buttons meet, serving as the indicator for the mouse’s power state.

Industrial designer J Gabe Rustia makes no qualms that this mouse wasn’t designed for ergonomics. It was mode more as a thought experiment and design challenge that placed aesthetics above all else. It’s probably usable as well, just not for long periods of time, as all those sharp lines and points will most likely cut into your palm over time.

The post This polygonal mouse stealthily swaps out ergonomics for looks first appeared on Yanko Design.

Create the perfect WFH setup with these 10 steps

Posted on by

Even as more and more people have started going back to the office on a daily basis, the uncertainty of the times has forced many companies to switch to a hybrid arrangement that still allocates some working time at home. For some, the past two years have been enough to adjust to this kind of setup, but many more are still at a loss on how to survive the new world order. Creating a work from home or WFH setup doesn’t require hiring a designer, and you can easily build your work haven at home in just ten easy steps.

Designer: Microsoft

1. Claim the Space

One of the biggest problems people encountered when they were forced to work from home for the first time was realizing that they didn’t exactly have a dedicated space for it. Not everyone has a home office, and some don’t even have a spare room to convert to a workspace. Thankfully, work has also adjusted these days so that colleagues and even bosses don’t always expect people to be holed up in a closet away from the rest of the household.

That said, it is critical to still establish some space as your workspace, like staking a claim to some physical area of the house. Whether that’s a corner of your room or the dining table outside of meals, it’s important to designate a location to do your work. It doesn’t even have to be a single place as long as they will be the same two or three areas you use for work.

Designer: Tony Heap

Setting up a physical space isn’t just about creating order in the midst of the chaos of the home, though that is important as well. Having a designated spot for working has the psychological effect of preparing you for work whenever you approach that space with your tools in hand. You don’t have the mental transition that occurs when you enter and leave the office, so having a specific space for doing work becomes that switch your brain needs when working at home.

2. Set boundaries

Choosing a space at home naturally creates a physical boundary that separates your work life from your home life. That compartmentalization is easier to pull off when home and office are located in different places, but sometimes even just having a few square feet of dedicated space is enough to avoid overloading your brain. Not all boundaries are physical, however, and there are some walls that need to be built even when your office is in the living room.

Despite working from home, some offices still have set hours when they expect employees to actually be working. Whether or not you have fixed or fluid arrangements, you will need to establish the time when you will actually be using that space for work, especially if it’s actually a common family area just repurposed for work. This allows you to set ground rules when no one should bother you (unless it’s an emergency) and when it might be ok to invade your space from some much-needed cuddles. No guarantee pets will respect those rules, especially when cuddles are involved.

Designer: Juhee Park

Distractions, however, pose an even bigger problem than physical space and time. Even those with separate home offices find themselves in embarrassing situations when cute toddlers barge in during meetings. Accidents do happen, but it’s still important to lay down the law when it comes to your work time, even if you don’t have any door to lock in the first place. You can also wear headphones, even when you’re not actually listening to anything, as a visual reminder to everyone around you that you’re not supposed to be disturbed. Distractions coming from the Internet, like social media and chats, are sometimes harder to ward off, but there is no shortage of tools and apps to rein them in for a period of time.

3. Choose a desk

Whether you’re working with digital files or paper, the chances are that you’ll need a desk to work on. Contrary to popular belief, buying a new desk is only secondary to establishing your space and time for work. You don’t even have to buy a new one if you can use the tables that you have at home. Of course, it’s sometimes also the most exciting part of setting up a WFH environment because of the number of options available.

The past two years have seen a sudden increase in desks and tables sold on the market, many of them designed for WFH scenarios. We’ve even seen our fair share of design concepts that we wished actually existed as commercial products. For designers and design-conscious people, the decision-making process can both be exciting and overwhelming, but there are really only a few critical details you have to consider when looking for the perfect WFH desk.

The very first consideration is, of course, the space you have available for setting the desk up, which might sometimes mean settling for a table you can fold away when not in use. Depending on your needs, you might also go for one with plenty of storage space or none at all. Whether you opt for a fixed desk or one that can go away at a moment’s notice, it is critical that it’s comfortable to use, which brings us to the next important step in the setup process.

Designer: Razer

Designer: MOFT

4. Ergonomics counts

Whether you go for that beautiful IKEA desk or the kitchen table, you will want to make sure that you aren’t literally breaking your back over it. This is true not just for desks but also for chairs, something that is often taken for granted by people, whether at home or at work. In the office, few people have the luxury of choosing their own furniture, so why not take advantage of that luxury at home and pick out ergonomic equipment.

Designer: RLDH

If you’re simply reusing the tables and chairs you have at hand, there are still ways to make sure you’re protecting your body during your long hours of work. Accessories that promote proper posture are easily accessible these days, but sometimes you don’t even have to go that far. Simply adjusting your screen to a proper height could already do wonders for your back and neck.

Designers: Stephen Cheng & Chris Andreae

Every little bit counts in creating a more ergonomic workspace. Lighting is also easily taken for granted, but your eyes will be grateful and more cooperative in the long run if you take note of it. There are tons of ergonomic keyboards and mice in the market today, but you don’t have to go broke when there are more affordable and equally comfortable options available. The important thing is to let your body be more comfortable, something that isn’t easily possible in a traditional workplace.

5. Choose your tools

You won’t get work done with just a desk and a chair, even if they’re the most ergonomically advanced and multi-functional minimalist piece of equipment in the world. You will need the tools of the trade, of course, and it can be too exciting trying to decide which ones to buy.

The tools you will need will differ from person to person and from job to job. You might need a new desktop or laptop if your job calls for it, and some software may not have been on your wishlist because the company provides for its employees. There are, however, a few general guidelines you can follow in making smart decisions, especially when taking the future in mind.

Work from home arrangements might not last forever, at least for some industries, so it might be best to invest in tools that can be useful even outside of that context. Most office supplies and desk accessories are like that, fortunately, but dedicated tablet arms and holders might not be at the top of your shopping list. If you have set your heart on creating a permanent working space, you’ll probably want to buy things that will match the aesthetic that you’re aiming for. Multi-functional furniture and equipment are also better in this regard because they can be used for different purposes, even outside of a WFH context.

Designer: Jinwoo Jang

6. Prepare what you need

Nothing wastes time more than looking for a working pen right when you need to write something down. You may have purchased the best set of tools for your work, but they mean zilch if they’re not available when and where you need them. It might not sound as exciting as buying new stuff, but being able to use the new stuff you buy means they’re actually at hand when it comes time to do your work.

Preparing your tools before you start your work might sound like a no-brainer, especially when you have a dedicated desk and storage for them. You might be surprised, however, at the amount of time we lose in looking for things inside drawers and under piles of “stuff.” You don’t need to be the most organized person in the world (more on that later), but you should at least prepare the things you need before you clock in for work. Alternatively, you could buy specific storage for the work tools you’ll need and separate them from the rest of the things on or near your desk. Bonus points if it blends well with the rest of the decor.

Designers: Hernan Gregorio and Julia Stabio

Those without a permanent desk might actually have it easier because they’re forced to prepare and clean up before and after work. This might even be the perfect opportunity to be in the market for organizes, containers, and bags that you can carry around the house or, if needed, to someone else’s house.

7. Uncluttered doesn’t mean empty

The previous point seems to suggest that we always need to keep our workspaces clear of clutter, which is true to some extent. By “clutter,” we mean things that aren’t where they should be or are actually detrimental to your mental health every time you see them. Unfortunately, it seems that some have taken that to also mean that the desk or work area should be clean, spotless, and, to some extent, minimalist to the extreme.

Designer: Can Türker

The reality is that this doesn’t always work for some people, and you’ll have to figure out which side of the spectrum you’re on. Some people do get a psychological high from having everything in their proper place, without a stray object in sight. Others prefer to have visual reminders here and there.

This isn’t just about decorative things, which we’ll get to later. It’s about organizing your work tools and maybe even some personal trinkets, which is a surprisingly more personal matter than what classic productivity gurus would have us believe. More than tidiness, the important thing is to have a place for the things you need, know where they are, and have them ready before you need them.

8. Health Matters

For all the problems that working from home has been advertised to create, there is one often overlooked benefit. Freed from the constraints of common office space, it is actually easier to stay healthy when working from home. That said, it can sometimes also be more difficult to exercise that discipline.

You don’t have to travel to work and be exposed to all the pollution out there. You can take breaks when you need to and won’t look like you’re slacking off. You can prepare and eat healthier meals rather than buying from the nearest store. You can also do some exercises before, after, or even in between work, whether or not you have fitness equipment at home.

Designer: Kim Dambi, Kim Kyung Jin, Park Sangjin, Park Sung Soon

All these presume, however, that you do take note of your health when working from home, something that might be harder to do when your bed is just a few feet away. Beyond building habits, there are also things you can use (or buy) to give your health a boost, like plants to soothe your eyes, humidifiers and purifiers to clean up the air, or a pretty water bottle on your desk that will remind you to hydrate every so often.

9. Reach out

The previous steps mostly revolved around the physical aspects of creating a perfect WFH environment, but humans aren’t just physical beings. Most of the complaints that people raised in the past two years being holed up at home were the sudden lack of social interaction with peers, classmates, and friends. Conversely, video meetings only induced “Zoom fatigue” because it wasn’t the kind of social interaction that we humans needed as social animals.

Until we arrive at the promise of a full-body AR or VR representation in the multiverse, we’ll have to make do with virtual forms of communication. What’s important is to keep those communication lines open, even beyond the typical work chats. You might not have what has been called “water cooler conversations” at work these days, but there are so many ways to keep in touch with colleagues and friends as well.

Designer: Bodosnap with Ecco Design

That said, keeping and respecting boundaries also apply here, perhaps more than ever. You wouldn’t just drop by at a co-worker’s house unannounced after office hours, so you probably shouldn’t bother them at the end of the day. Not unless you’ve already developed a level of friendship that goes beyond office hours, too.

10. Minimal or Maximal: Make it Yours

At the end of the day, the biggest consideration in creating the perfect WFH space is you. Unlike the sometimes cold and uniform cubicles and desks of offices, working from home offers people the opportunity to actually shape their workspace according to their needs and, more importantly, their budgets. That goes not only for the things you’ll need for work, like desks, chairs, computers, apps, pens, and the like but also for the aesthetic and decorative aspects of the environment.

Along with tidiness, the product and interior design industries have long leaned towards minimalist designs. The sudden spurt of video meetings has also pushed people to clean up their rooms or find creative ways to hide their things (thank goodness for new privacy features!). That might work for some, but others find this too clinical or even impersonal.

Designer: OEO Studio, Jonathan Formento x HBF

That is why many people today have found refuge in the polar opposite of minimalism. Maximalism, which doesn’t equate to clutter or hoarding, is more forgiving of inconsistent visual styles and designs. In fact, it encourages keeping things that “spark joy,” to use Marie Kondo’s words, even if it means having a bunch of knickknacks on your desk (hopefully arranged neatly). Whether you aim for minimalism or maximalism, a permanent desk, or a rotating arrangement, if you’re going to claim a space for you to work in, you might as well make it your own.

Designer: Luke Edward Hall (c/o The Spaces)

The post Create the perfect WFH setup with these 10 steps first appeared on Yanko Design.

Touchscreens drive our world, but they still suck in 2022

Posted on by

Companies would have us dreaming of a future filled with displays we can see through and screens we touch to use, but the current state of the technology makes that future vision a little less convincing.

Our world today revolves around computers in all shapes, sizes, and power. A good number of them have screens, and a growing number of these even have touch screens. What was once limited to phones and kiosks is now becoming mainstream, even on laptops that can’t bend backward completely to become a tablet. In the near future, almost every foreseeable physical interface to a computer could be through these touchscreens. But if the current condition of the technology is to be considered, they have a long way to go before becoming the ideal way we interact with the computers around us.

State of the Art

That’s not to say that touch screens haven’t evolved significantly over the past years. The world graduated from the resistive touch screens of old, like those used by Palm, to the capacitive technology heralded by the very first iPhone. Screens have become more pixel-dense, resulting in higher quality images and also more responsive, especially for gaming purposes.

Designer: BOE

Let’s not forget the latest trends in mobile either, like foldable and rollable displays for phones and even TVs. But while these seemingly futuristic developments indeed impress in their visual appearance and design, they all still feel unnatural and artificial to us humans. And yet most of the products and experiences that visionaries and futurists talk about depend on these touch screens becoming second nature.

Designer: LG

Designer: Samsung

Future Vision

Before the metaverse, many companies fed people a vision of the future where you’d not only see a screen everywhere; you’d also be able to interact with them. In addition to almost paper-thin screens that fold like a newspaper, we’re also shown bus stations with interactive walls, windows that display information and can be tinted with a swipe of a finger, and store displays that let you try out clothes without even putting them on.

Designer: Microsoft

Even with the buzz around VR, AR, MR, XR, and the metaverse, some people will prefer to use screens rather than put on glasses and gloves to navigate the digital realm. Until the day we can project holograms anywhere and interact with them without any special device, touch screens will still be the most immediate way we can interact with devices and the digital realm. Videos and images depicting these feature visions make them look so fluid and so natural. But as anyone who has used phones and tablets, touch screens are anything but.

Designer: Corning

Human Factor

There is no perfect input method for computers, at least nothing that has been developed yet. Keyboard and mice carry with them the risk of repetitive strain injury, while styluses are an imperfect approximation of pencils and pens, especially when you consider that they’re sliding on glass. And while touch screens can practically turn any surface into an input device, they seem to almost go against aspects of human nature itself.

Feedback

Humans have five basic senses, but most of us tend to take the other three or four for granted until we lose them. Despite their name, touch screens actually feel unnatural precisely because they don’t complete the whole tactile picture that our minds need to process when interacting with physical objects. Pushing a button looks like pushing a button but also requires our brains to make something like a leap of faith that it really does what it’s supposed to do.

Tactile response and haptic feedback for touch screens have long been on the plate of engineers and designers, but we’re no closer to cracking the code. There have been numerous patents filed to solve that puzzle, from deformable screens to extremely localized vibrations, but those have mostly remained in the realm of ideas. We still have ways to go, and our brains haven’t yet evolved to the point that we can just ignore the human need for touch.

Designer: Tactus Technology

Touchscreens aren’t great at accessibility either, and their use often requires fine motor control. There are settings to increase the sensitivity of the touch sensor, but these are mostly band-aid solutions to an inherent problem. Of course, some devices do allow for alternate input methods like voice control, but these often come up short and don’t provide all the features and conveniences of a touch-centric user experience.

Familiarity

Humans are also creatures of habit, which is how many of us have been able to survive through the millennia. We are able to memorize some activities and have them run on autopilot while our minds are more actively engaged in other aspects. Imagine how the world would have been like if we had to put intense focus on writing a simple letter because we have to remember how to do each stroke.

Designers: Stephen Cheng & Chris Andreae

Part of that is thanks to muscle memory, which, in turn, depends on things being where they are almost 100% of the time. You don’t have to look at the keyboard each time to check if the letter “q” hasn’t moved around, and neither do you need to double-check that the left mouse button hasn’t switched sides. Some people in the past have grown the ability to type quickly and accurately on the T9 keypad of old phones because their fingers knew exactly where each button was and how many times to press it for specific letters. In contrast, it’s nearly impossible to use a touch screen without looking at it, especially when software updates change how big buttons are or where they’re located.

Designer: Apple

That’s not to say that humans will remain this way forever. In the past decades alone, we have formed habits and developed gestures that already look alien to older generations. Conversely, younger people have a hard time believing that anyone could type out messages using a keypad with rapid speed and deadly accuracy. Evolution, however, doesn’t happen in just a span of decades or even centuries, and humans will continue to remain beholden to their senses and the physicality of their bodies.

Flexibility

Touch screens, being based on digital user interfaces, have the advantage of not being locked to a single implementation. It’s definitely much easier to change the layout of a screen than to change the knobs on a physical panel. The arrival of foldable and rollable panels also means that screens have become literally more flexible, but these are not the kinds of flexibility that today’s touch screens lack.

Touch screens actually put limits on how you can use them or the devices they’re attached to. The number of gloves advertised to work with touch screens is a testament to how these screens aren’t usable under conditions where their analog counterparts have no problem. You can’t confidently take out your phone under a heavy downpour, but you’ll have no problems using a payphone with your soaking hands.

Designer: Adrien Beyk of Quanta Vici

Devices that rely on touch screens also become nearly useless when those screens break. Sometimes, it’s not even possible to back up or reset a phone so that you can safely send it for repairs without worrying about your private data. They need to be repaired or replaced first before the device can even be wiped, which defeats the purpose of securing the phone first. Until then, the device is as good as dead, no matter how advanced or how powerful it might be.

Endgame: Sustainability

Touch screens are the most common ways we interact with devices today, be it phones, computers, interactive displays, or smart home hubs. They might become the main points of interaction for everything in the world in the near future, short of being able to manipulate holograms and virtual objects floating in thin air. It is somewhat ironic, then, that they are the least sustainable among the different input methods we have today.

Displays themselves already consume power, and the materials used to make them aren’t the most environment-friendly options. Companies like Samsung are developing more power-efficient panels to reduce electricity consumption, and some are looking into alternative materials for components. Unfortunately, that’s just part of the problem.

Designer: Fairphone

The entire industry and its ecosystem seemed to be designed to be unsustainable by default. Only one phone manufacturer, for example, has made repairability and sustainability its main selling point, and it’s just a small drop in the ocean. Screens, in general, feel like throwaway components that add to the growing e-waste of the planet. Device manufacturers generally frown upon self-repairs and third-party replacements, making the process costly as well. In a future where there will be screens left and right as the primary way we interact with things in our world, that vision becomes a bit of a nightmare, especially for our planet.

A New Hope

Things don’t have to end on a depressing note, of course. Humans are pretty creative and ingenious in finding solutions to their problems, even if it takes a long time to develop the correct one. The current state of technology, particularly with touch screens, just represents a milestone in history, not its final state. Fortunately, there are clear signs of things turning for the better.

As mentioned, there are efforts to make screens themselves be more power-efficiency and consume less electricity. These might sound like small wins, but they do all add up. When all our screens use only a fraction of the power they do today, the overall carbon footprint these devices incur can significantly be reduced.

Designer: Samsung

Additionally, big companies today are now more aware of the environmental impacts of their products and processes, as well as their responsibilities in making sure that future generations still have a world to live in. Some are trying to switch to more sustainable packaging solutions, while many are trying to reduce their carbon emissions during production. We still have a lot of work to do, however, in making products more sustainable and repairable, prolonging their life even beyond legally required warranties.

The other technical problems, unfortunately, might be harder to solve with the current state of our technologies. Screens that can deform to give a better tactile response when pressing a button are very much the dream of many display makers, engineers, and designers. It’s not something we might be able to achieve this year, but it is definitely something to look forward to in our future visions.

The post Touchscreens drive our world, but they still suck in 2022 first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Glove80 Split Curved Keyboard: For Max Ergonomics

Posted on by

Typing: a lot of us do it all day long. But what kind of wear and tear does that cause to our hands and arms and neck and shoulders and joints? Mine hurt all the time; I know that. I wish I could just type with my mind. But enough about the future not coming soon enough, the Glove80 wireless ergonomic keyboard is designed to eliminate as much stress as possible so you can type longer and faster without fatigue. But can it help push back project deadlines?

Currently, an already funded Kickstarter project, the ~$300 Glove80, is split into two pieces to be placed at a comfortable distance apart from one another, so you don’t have to round your shoulders while typing. The (patent pending!) thumb key layout places all six thumb keys within easy reach without rotating the palm, reducing hand and wrist movement while typing. Finally, the curved finger columns and contoured key wells “follow the fingers’ natural curling motion” to help minimize lateral finger movement. Plus, anybody that sees the keyboard on your desk will assume you’re an elite hacker – an added bonus!

The keyboard also features 16 RGB lighted keys and a choice of three different low-profile mechanical chocolate switches (clicky, tactile, and linear). It can be configured with any key layout you desire, including QWERTY, Colemak, Dvorak, or your personalized creation. So, will I finally be able to type over 20WPM? I doubt it; I’ve always been more of a hunt-and-pecker. Now, where’s that darn period key again? Ah – there it is.

[via Geeky Gadgets]

Lexip Np93 mouse makes your thumb more useful by giving it a joystick

Posted on by

At long last, your thumb will finally be able to earn its keep on a mouse and give gamers a slight advantage over their rivals, at least until they find out about this mouse.

Despite being one of the most-used input devices for computers, the mouse hasn’t changed drastically in the past decades. It has kept the same basic shape, which is now regarded to be non-ergonomic by default, and it pretty much relies on one finger and one finger only. That means that most of your other fingers are left unused and underutilized, but one mouse will try to give at least your thumb an exercise, hopefully to your advantage.

Designer: Pixminds

Apple was probably onto something when it decided that its first-party mice would have only one button. Even with two buttons and a mouse wheel that also functions as a third button, only the index and middle fingers really ever get used. Of course, that does mean that even Apple’s mouse puts all the responsibility and stress on one or two fingers, leaving the rest to just lie around. There are, of course, computer mice with extra buttons at the side, but one company is taking that idea to the next level.

Pixminds designed the Lexip Np93 Alpha to add more input options for gamers and give the thumb something to do beyond pressing buttons. A thumb joystick that can move in two axes provides more actions than even the most button-laden gaming mouse can provide, especially since this one still has extra buttons to boot. The company boasts 12 programmable buttons, which is no small matter considering how complicated modern games have become these days.

That thumbstick isn’t the only advantage the Lexip Np93 Alpha has, however. The mouse is also designed to offer comfort beyond what typical gaming mice can. In particular, the mouse comes with six ceramic feet to let it glide smoothly on any surface, and weight adjusters let users tweak the mouse’s weight to their preference. The mouse is also noted to use soft coating, oil painting, and doubly-injected rubber that adds both tactile comfort as well as aesthetic appeal.

The Lexip Np93 Alpha also has the customary RGB lighting that you can configure through the mouse’s accompanying software. Considering the flexibility and comfort it offers, it’s also surprising that it isn’t asking that much as far as its $40 selling price is concerned.

The post Lexip Np93 mouse makes your thumb more useful by giving it a joystick first appeared on Yanko Design.

This gamepad concept ditches conventions to bring comfort to your A-game

Posted on by

Many gamers complain about the inconsistent button layouts of game controllers, but one thing that has remained the same is the basic design players have learned to live with even if they don’t like it.

Gamepads have been around since the earliest days of video game home consoles, and they have changed little, but at the same time, have evolved significantly over the decades. For the past years, however, the basic shape of game controllers has changed little, even with all the research into ergonomics and professional gaming. Designers, however, are always coming up with ways to push the envelope, and one idea, in particular, pretty much changes almost everything about gamepads.

Designer: TongZheng

As controllers have evolved, gamers’ habits have grown along with them. Some games have started to require more interaction, requiring the addition of more buttons. More buttons, however, means changing the way you efficiently and comfortably hold a gamepad, leading to the birth of what is now called the “C-Hand” grip.

This C-Hand allows gamers to utilize almost all their fingers to push all available buttons and joysticks on a gamepad. Unfortunately, the current designs used by almost all controllers aren’t exactly conducive to this kind of grip. The “wingtips” of the controller that make it easier to hold the controller “normally” get in the way, and the constant switching between buttons and joysticks is a recipe for disaster for thumbs.

The C-Gamepad concept was born from the need for a controller that’s designed from the ground up specifically for this popular hand position, especially with its spherical shape and small protrusions for stability. This design, however, also moves some of the buttons around in order to reduce the number of thumb-switching gamers have to do. The biggest change, however, is the joysticks which are transformed into balls and lose the “stick” part.

Unlike regular joysticks, however, only the right side is able to move in four directions to adjust the view, while the left “joystick” is locked to moving characters forward or backward only. While this covers most actions within a game, it might leave other common movements out, like strafing to the sides. The biggest drawback to this new controller design, however, is the lack of familiarity with existing gamepads, but it might be a learning process gamers would be willing to go through if it means getting an edge over the competition.

The post This gamepad concept ditches conventions to bring comfort to your A-game first appeared on Yanko Design.

This ergonomic keyboard allows users to customize each key’s placement to improve workflow

Posted on by

The Dygma Raise Keyboard is a customizable keyboard that splits into two halves to optimize ergonomics and streamline the workday.

For all that computers do for us, their design has remained pretty constant. You have the conventional keyboard, the rectangular trackpad, and the flat screen. No matter what kind of work you do on your computer, its design language never changes. While consistency is always a plus when it comes to design, the layout of computers and their accessories could benefit from some customization to fit different needs and physical tendencies.

Dygma, an electronic brand set on creating a paradigm shift within the industry, collaborated with designers Alvaro Navarro and Julio Redondo to create Dygma Raise, an ergonomic, customizable keyboard that can split into two halves for the ultimate bespoke experience.

The Dygma Raise was initially conceived to streamline workflow and avoid unnecessary finger movements. To achieve this, the Dygma team, along with Navarro and Redondo, worked to create a keyboard whose keys can be lifted and switched with other keys for users to have a completely unique keyboard experience.

If you find yourself using the same keyboard shortcut throughout the workday, Dygma allows users to position those keys near each other to avoid unnatural finger positioning.

Exuding ergonomics by its very design, the switching of the keys isn’t the only appeal of the Dygma Raise Keyboard. Users can also split the keyboard in half so that their wrists, hands, and shoulders can rest in a healthy, upright position throughout the workday.

Constructed from a double-coated anodized aluminum body and overlaid with PBT double-shot keycaps, the Dygma Raise keyboard also comes with removable and washable palm pads for wrists to have a comfortable resting position.

Designers: Alvaro Navarro, Julio Redondo x Dygma

Users can easily switch each key’s placement just by removing them and placing them elsewhere.

Magnetic tubing keeps the keyboard’s two halves together. 

Just like the individual keys, users can halve the keyboard by detaching the magnetic fasteners. 

The Dygma Rais Keyboard keeps a slim body to maintain a familiar look and size.

The Dygma Raise Keyboard comes in black or white with hidden neon spotlights. 

The post This ergonomic keyboard allows users to customize each key’s placement to improve workflow first appeared on Yanko Design.

Logitech’s spaceship-like mouse concept is designed to save your wrist

Posted on by

There is no shortage of ergonomic computer mice that claim to deliver the most painless experience, but this concept turns the solution on its head and transforms the mouse into something completely different.

With the advent and prevalence of laptops and their trackpads, computer mice have mostly been pushed to the background. There are, however, scenarios where the completely flat and smooth surfaces of these trackpads are not only impractical but almost unusable, like with games. Regardless of the reasons, computer mice haven’t completely vanished from the market, but neither have they evolved significantly. They are still an ever-present risk to our wrists, and designers have repeatedly gone back to the drawing board to concoct the most ergonomic mouse around. For one designer, the answer ironically turned out to be quite different from a mouse.

Designer: Jason Wang

Although they have become the essential ways we interact with computers, the keyboard and the mouse are not the healthiest methods for our hands and wrists. Repetitive strain injury and carpal tunnel syndrome can be crippling for today’s generation whose lives and work depend on computers. There have been quite a few ergonomic mice designs available today, including the Lunar Artefacts Pointer Instrument that we reviewed recently, but there is plenty of room for improvement.

Designer Jason Wong went back to the drawing board to reimagine what an ergonomic mouse would look and feel like without being limited to the traditional concept of a mouse. He started out with something that looked a lot like many ergonomic mice, with cutouts and flaps for supporting the fingers. From there, however, things took on a rather strange turn that led to something that is both from the past and the future.

After testing out what looks like a mouse on a stand, Wong ended up with what he describes as a vertical mouse joystick design. Unlike a typical joystick, which predates the mouse, the person won’t need to keep a grip on the device and simply lay their hand on the supporting structure. There is even wrist support to help keep your arm from getting strained while in the position.

While the alien-like form gives the hand and wrist some structural support, the materials that Wang chose are meant to offer both comfort and visual identity. A fabric mesh covers the hand and wrist support surface for comfort, while rubber coating offers a better grip. There are shifts in material from metal to plastic to create a visual break, though that, unfortunately, does imply the use of some unsustainable materials.

This concept, which the designer dubs the Logitech MX K01, is truly unorthodox in its appearance and design. Its ergonomics try to use the natural vertical position of the hand to avoid straining the wrist, while the flowing lines of the structure provide not only points of visual interest but also ergonomic support for the hand. That said, it’s a concept that probably needs proper clinical testing to verify its ergonomic value, though, at this point, it can hardly be called a mouse anymore.

The post Logitech’s spaceship-like mouse concept is designed to save your wrist first appeared on Yanko Design.