Tag Archives: tactile

Discover Your Poetic Journey Through Time With Calen-bar

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In a world characterized by the ceaseless march of technology, the Calen-Bar emerges as a distinctive and poetic tribute to time, seamlessly blending aesthetics, mindfulness, and sustainability. This perpetual calendar transcends the conventional, inviting users into a realm where the manual meets the meaningful, where every little act becomes a marker of eternal days.

Designer: Yukimasa Hirota

Crafted with precision and an eye for detail, the Calen-Bar is more than a tool; it is an experience. The inclusion of a metal weight introduces a tactile elegance, grounding the calendar in substance and texture. As fingers delicately adjust the rubber band to align with the current date, a connection is forged with the tangible passage of time. This manual engagement elevates the daily routine of checking dates into a ritual of reflection, ensuring that each day is not just observed but remembered, retrospectively embraced, and seized.

Positioned thoughtfully at the right end of the material rotation, the day of the week becomes a subtle but integral part of Calen-Bar’s design. As the material gracefully turns, it serves as a visual reminder that time, like the calendar itself, is in perpetual motion. This dynamic element adds a layer of continuity, urging users to appreciate the cyclical nature of days and the interconnected dance of weeks and months.

In a society racing against the clock, the Calen-Bar offers a respite from the relentless pace of technology. It is not a mere tool for making remarks or planning; rather, it is a sanctuary of poetic and aesthetic value. By embracing the manual nature of this calendar, users are prompted to engage in the deliberate act of adjusting dates, fostering a connection with time that transcends the digital coldness of screens and alarms.

Beyond its aesthetic charm, the Calen-Bar boasts a commendable sustainable aspect in its design. In a world inundated with disposable calendars, this perpetual masterpiece breaks the cycle. By omitting the mention of the year, it becomes a timeless companion, allowing users to reuse it year after year. The absence of a predefined year, while potentially leaving room for miscalculations, is a deliberate compromise in the pursuit of sustainability. In an age where ecological considerations are paramount, the Calen-Bar offers a meaningful alternative, prompting users to embrace the beauty of imperfection and intentional living.

While the manual adjustment may invite occasional errors, the Calen-Bar gracefully acknowledges the digital age, leaving room for users to cross-verify dates with their devices. This harmonious integration of analog charm and digital precision ensures that the Calen-Bar is not just a relic of the past but a versatile companion for the present and future.

In essence, the Calen-Bar is a testament to the enduring allure of simplicity, mindfulness, and sustainability. As we navigate the fast-paced currents of modern life, this perpetual calendar stands as a reminder to savor the little moments, to mark the eternal days not just in our lives but in the products that accompany us on this journey. It is a celebration of time, a fusion of elegance and purpose that invites us to comprehend the lost moments, appreciate the present, and embrace the time that is yet to come.

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Meet the minimalist world clock that lets you check the time around the world by rolling it

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We live in a world that gets a little bit smaller each day as advancements in transportation and communication connect us with anyone anywhere anytime. It isn’t unusual anymore to have family members living half a world from each other, or friends scattered across different countries. Unfortunately, that also means having to keep tabs on different timezones, lest you land in the awkward and embarrassing situation of calling someone at the wrong time. World clock apps have become a necessity for such people, but the information that they offer comes with complexity and inconvenience, especially when you have to dig through a handful of screens just to get the time you needed. You can have one clock for each timezone you’re interested in, but that can get messy really quickly. This minimalist one-handed analog clock, in contrast, offers a solution that is simple yet so clever that checking the time in other countries feels almost like a game instead of a chore.

Designer: Masafumi Ishikawa

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Even at first glance, you can already tell that the World Clock is not your typical desk or shelf clock. Never mind its unusual but not unheard of dodecagonal shape, the clock only has one hand on its minimalist face. The design is intentional, of course, because it gives you just the right information you need when you want to know what time it is in another part of the world. With a quick look, you’ll be able to immediately tell the hour, and a closer inspection could even tell you which quarter of the hour it is.

Of course, this isn’t an ordinary clock that just tells your time, as its name plainly indicates. Without complicated screens or complex mechanisms, the World Clock can easily clue you in on another timezone with a single and simple action. Simply roll the clock on its side until the city of the timezone you want is pointing straight up (a.k.a. the 12 o’clock position) and watch the single hand stay in place, “converting” the current time to the correct timezone. Actually, you don’t have to literally roll the clock on a surface for it to work. The internal bearings ensure that the hand remains in the right position, no matter which side is pointing up. It’s a simple yet ingenious way of converting time without actually doing the math for it.

Each of the 12 sides of the clock has markings for a city that represents a particular timezone, starting with London at UTC+0. Admittedly, you’ll have to remember places with their respective time zones, but putting a name to that time zone is a lot more familiar than memorizing numbers. Unfortunately, if the place you’re interested in falls outside of these 12, you might find yourself still doing some mental math in the end.

The World Clock’s simplicity applies to both its function as well as its design. It uses a simple movement mechanism no different from wall clocks, except for the addition of that bearing that keeps the hand in place when rotating the clock. The clock also has a certain charm familiar to lovers of minimalist designs, allowing it to blend in with its surroundings in a subtle yet pleasant way. More importantly, the manual method of turning the clock to check different timezones gives it a more intentional and personal aspect, creating a stronger connection between the act of checking the time and thinking about the loved one living in that timezone.

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This mouse concept ditches the buttons for a more tactile experience

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The computer mouse hasn’t changed its basic design in ages, which also means that the ergonomic problems it had in the past still exist today. There are plenty of new designs and concepts that try to challenge the status quo, but many of these tend to have unfamiliar and sometimes very alien forms. That might be uncomfortable for some people who rely on muscle memory to get things done efficiently. Of course, there’s still plenty of room for improvement even with the more traditional shape of the mouse, and this design concept puts a slightly different twist to the user experience, focusing more on how it would feel under our fingers when you remove the keys and buttons.

Designer: Matteo Ercole

Repetitive strain from using a mouse can come from different motions, though most of the focus is on the bigger movements of the wrist. Our fingers, however, are also quite active when using a mouse, and those could also contribute to eventual injury. That might be especially true if your fingers encounter a lot more resistance from mechanical interfaces like buttons and wheels.

Named “Just another mouse” as a tongue-in-cheek joke, this design concept does away with those buttons and instead presents a device that has a more stylish body and texture. Instead of buttons, the concept utilizes pressure-sensitive areas similar to Apple’s Force Touch trackpad on MacBook. This can expand the number of actions you could use with the mouse or change the gesture completely, like using a slightly deeper press instead of double-clicking. The mouse wheel is also absent, replaced by a touch-sensitive groove that provides less resistance while also giving the finger a more nuanced tactile experience.

The mouse doesn’t have a power switch, either, and it just turns on when a proximity sensor detects a hand on top of it. The internal battery is charged on a wireless dock, similar to how you’d wirelessly charge a smartphone or smartwatch. This further reduces the number of openings and moving parts that could break down after prolonged use.

This concept design doesn’t inherently change the way the mouse looks or functions, but it does open the door for newer experiences, especially when the sense of touch is involved. Rather than typical plastic, the design could use different kinds of materials and textures that give the mouse a bit more flavor, both visually and tactilely. That, in turn, can make the mouse more than just a utilitarian computer accessory but also a beautiful desk decoration when they’re not in use.

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This delicate glass lamp invites you to touch and move it to actually use it

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When faced with something fine and intricate, our initial and natural reaction would be to stay at a safe distance to look but not touch. Almost like snowflakes, these things of beauty risk being destroyed if not handled properly, which probably applies to the majority of us. There are, however, some rather seemingly fragile objects that do urge you to touch them, maybe even risk moving them, to fully enjoy and appreciate their design or even utilize their features. That is definitely the case with this rather creative and elegant glass lamp that is both beautiful to behold as well as to touch. In fact, you need to move it around if you actually want to dim or brighten the lamp.

Designer: kaschkasch

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Glass is a material that has attractive visual and tactile properties, usually depending on what it’s mixed with. It can be clear, opaque, smooth, or textured, all of which give it a rather sophisticated character. While there are more durable forms of glass that don’t shatter at the slightest drop, glass normally has this air of fragility and delicacy that would probably scare off most people from even coming close to it. In sharp contrast, Bolita makes forming a tactile relationship necessary to using this table lamp, encouraging an almost playful approach to using it.

Bolita is comprised of two equally striking minimalist pieces. The actual lamp itself is a disc with a hole in the middle where the LED light shines through. The more conspicuous of the duo, though, is the glass sphere that sits on top, diffusing the light going into it and acting as the kinetic interface to the table lamp. Even when turned off, the lamp is already an attractive decor for your coffee table or drawer. The real magical experience, however, happens when you start moving that glass sphere.

The lamp has no knob or slider to adjust the lamp’s intensity. Instead, you slide the glass sphere around the disc, rather carefully perhaps, to do that. The closer it is to the edges, the dimmer the light gets. Put it at the exact center, and you’ll get the brightest setting. In a way, the sphere acts like a cover, where the light aperture gets eclipsed by the glass’s body as it moves around.

Bolita’s unique interface is rather ingenious, not only in its technical implementation but also in its intention. It puts the light on the sense of touch, something that is often neglected and taken for granted in a visual-centric world. Rather than warning people to stay away, it invites a playful attitude that gets rewarded with the ability to set the light to your desired level.

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from() design concept uses intuitive tactile controls to operate devices

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Technology is meant to make human lives easier, but there might be such a thing as being too much. When it comes to operating products and devices, we seem to be moving towards ultimate convenience at the expense of experiences that can give us delight and make us feel human. In the near future, most of us might resort to just issuing commands to the air and waiting for a disembodied voice to respond. Of course, these can empower many people who might not have complete access to parts of their bodies, but it is hardly the only way we can control such things. This design concept tries to offer an alternative that puts the focus not just on physical controls but also on the intuition and familiarity of using certain things in a certain way.

Designers: Mingwan Bae, Adrian Min

To some extent, the driving force behind the development of touch screens and voice controls is the desire for simplicity, removing confusing buttons and knobs in favor of more direct and sometimes literal interactions. At the same time, however, these simpler controls bring their own complexity, like the confusion arising from human speech and lingo. It also makes the presumption that simple operation means removing all physical interfaces. That isn’t always true, however, judging by how simple it is to pour water from a pitcher just by titling it or pulling a strap to adjust its length.

The from() design philosophy uses these very same familiar interfaces and applies them to unrelated products and devices. Those straps, for example, are used as a way to adjust the frequency and the volume of a minimalist radio. The radio’s simple and all-white box design puts the visual focus on these black straps that you use to control it in lieu of a typical slider or set of buttons.

A dimmable lamp, on the other hand, uses a scroll of paper or cloth as a metaphor for its controls. Unrolling the scroll takes it from its off state to its fully lit state, with various levels of intensity in between, depending on how much you have unrolled the material. A bit less intuitive is the timer, which uses the analogy of tiling a container to pour its contents, which, in this case, is time.

And there’s a water purifier nozzle that you can squeeze just like a wet towel to get water from it. Admittedly, this might be taking that “intuitiveness” to the extreme at the cost of making you work hard to get a drink of clean water. While the from() concept design does bring back some of the joys in tactile experiences, it also demonstrates how difficult it is to balance such elements, especially when considering the accessibility of the design for people with less-than-capable hands.

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A movable knob puts a tactile twist on the modern touch screen car dashboard

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Touch screens are great and all, but they aren’t always the best solutions for controlling things, especially when you need to keep one hand on the dash and both eyes on the road.

The cars of the future are imagined to have almost no physical controls. They might not even have steering wheels if the promise of self-driving vehicles gets fulfilled perfectly. Buttons and knobs will be a thing of the past, replaced by slick screens you can simply glide your finger on. Reality, however, still needs to catch up with our imaginations, and our fingers and hands are still critical in how we interact with cars.

Designer: Gabor Jutasi

Touch screens provide more controls and functionality in a small amount of space, while buttons, dials, and switches are not only limited functionality but also restricted by the laws of physics. Until we finally make tactile touch screens a reality, however, there is one thing that physical controls can do that touch screens can’t provide. More often than not, you don’t have to look at a button to know that it’s on or off, nor do you have to look at a dial when twisting its knob.

This “no look” functionality is critically important when driving, where your eyes should be on the road, not the touch screen. At the same time, we can’t feasibly turn back the clock on car dashboards, so we need a compromise that takes these needs and limitations into account. Enter the Electric Car Dashboard, where a simple, movable knob does the trick.

Actually, that knob is anything but simple and is a sophisticated device on its own. It has a dynamic display on the top that changes its content depending on where you place it on the dash. It also acts as a button you can push to access more functionality that would otherwise require a second knob.

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The idea is that this dial gives drivers the necessary physical control they can turn in order to adjust the volume or the temperature without even looking at the screen. The knob’s function isn’t fixed, however, and you can move it to a different portion of the screen to make it control a different setting, like skipping to the next or previous track in a playlist. And in case there’s more than just one setting in that position, you push the knob’s button to switch to the next set.

This kind of multi-functional dynamic knob isn’t just a concept, though. Microsoft already demonstrated this in action with the Surface Dial. Of course, there are plenty of things to iron out with this Electric Car Dashboard concept, and it isn’t a foolproof solution either. It is, however, a very interesting one that creatively combines the digital and the physical in a way that doesn’t compromise one or the other.

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Touchscreens drive our world, but they still suck in 2022

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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 odd contours on this smartphone case design are meant to make you feel calmer

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Smartphones are meant to be placed in our hands, but this concept design creates a totally different tactile experience that could help you stay in control even during an emotionally stressful day.

Some smartphone makers and software developers boast about their product’s accessible design, but the majority of those stop at the most common physical disabilities. Of course, those don’t cover all the kinds of hurdles that may prevent people from enjoying a product, especially those with emotional or psychological issues that may pop up from time to time or are with them since birth. Even accessibility features don’t have provisions for those, but a new kind of smartphone case attempts to do just that, at least for those on the autism spectrum.

Designer: Chloe Leigh-Smith

Autism is probably one of the most misunderstood and, at the same time, stereotyped developmental disabilities, partly because of how varied the symptoms and manifestations might be. One of the most common triggers or expressions, however, is a severe emotional change that sometimes requires help from someone else. That external assistance might not always be available, so this E.Cue case tries to help those with ASD to self-regulate using the power of touch.

As far as a smartphone case goes, the E.Cue is definitely an oddity, even for cases that have textured surfaces or beads and stickers stuck to them. The almost random contours and bumps across the case’s back might remind some people of topographical maps, and that’s not by accident. It turns out, those are the exact things that can relieve stress and soothe emotions.

Everything about the E.Cue is designed to be calming, from the topographical patterns to the choice of colors. Designer Leigh-Smith cites “biophilia” as the design philosophy for the case’s unique structure. Naturally recurring forms and contours provide a tactile experience that is designed to reduce stress and induce calm. At the same time, the case hides some actual piece of technology inside, with pressure sensors that use colors to provide feedback on hard someone is pressing their finger on the case, which, in turn, could represent their emotional state.

Although the user of such a phone case might not be aware of it, the E.Cue is also designed to be sustainable, repairable, and, when the time comes, recyclable. Thermoplastics are chosen not just for durability but also for their environment-friendly properties, while the electronic components and the battery are designed to be easy to remove and replace.

Although it’s unlikely that we’ll see the E.Cue become a mainstream product, it’s still encouraging to see concepts that try to make critical objects like smartphones more accessible. The great thing about accessibility is that these features can also benefit those outside of its intended audience, making it truly for everyone. You may not be on the autism spectrum, but no one will deny having a fit of rage or a panic attack every now and then, and the E.Cue could help you calm down before you decide to throw your phone across the room.

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All-White Tactile Surface Rubik’s Cube: Just as Hard as the Original

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When I read “All-White Rubik’s Cube” I thought, finally, a Rubik’s Cube I’ll actually be able to solve. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with the All-White Rubik’s Cube, because each side has a different tactile surface to differentiate it from the others. I already give up.

Available from the Japan Trends Shop for $43 or from Amazon Japan for ¥2,000, the cubes have six different materials on their pieces: synthetic leather, wallpaper, plastic, synthetic fur, silicone, and Velcro. Now I know what you’re thinking, but no, as tempting as it sounds you probably shouldn’t try to solve it with your tongue. Oh who am I kidding, I say go for it.

There are two kinds of people in the world: people who understand how to solve Rubik’s Cubes, and people like me. I’ve actually had the same Rubik’s Cube since I was six, and it’s spent its entire life outside of the packaging unsolved. Every once in a while I’ll pick it up and have a go at it, and every time I disappoint myself. A couple of months ago I tried following a guide to solve it, but even that was over my head. Threatening it with a hammer didn’t work either.

This Rubik’s Cube with displays in each square may be the most innovative gaming experience of 2021

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Right off the bat, the idea of a dynamic Rubik’s Cube with displays instead of colors sounds like a weirdly awesome idea. It’s fun, tactile, and has a little for people of all ages and walks of life… but most importantly, it’s unabashedly innovative. The Wowcube, as this little gizmo is called, is the brain-child of a 13-year-old YouTuber by the name of Savva Osipov. “What if to place characters and gameplay on Rubik’s Cube surface and control the game by twisting tilting and shaking,” he thought. His father, inventor, and entrepreneur, Ilya Osipov, was instantly captivated by the idea – which sort of explains exactly why the Wowcube has such an ageless appeal. Together, the father-son duo decided to put the wheels in motion and the Wowcube was born.

Designed on the framework of a 2×2 Rubik’s Cube, the Wowcube comes with tiny, high-resolution microdisplays built into each of the cube’s 24 square-shaped segments instead of your conventional colored stickers. These displays go above and beyond when it comes to gaming with the Wowcube, as you’ve also got to factor in the fact that the cube looks and functions exactly like a Rubik’s Cube would, allowing you to flip, turn, and rotate elements. This very interaction forms the framework of the Wowcube’s gaming interface, allowing you to play not by mashing buttons or pulling triggers, but by rotating parts of the cube – or as an 8-year old called it, “video Lego.”

The Wowcube comes with 8 processors on the inside (housed within the cube’s 8 individual mini-cubelets. It also runs on an open-source API that doesn’t just come with its own slew of games, but also allows people to develop their own games to run on the Wowcube. The hope is to enable practically anyone to design their own games/puzzles/learning-exercises for the Wowcube, a feature that should only help expand its appeal further! At its heart, though, the Wowcube is a brilliant fusion of traditional and modern… with a cube that’s wonderfully tactile in the way it satisfyingly clicks when you rotate it, and multiple displays that should keep you engaged for hours. Oh, and when you’re done with the Wowcube, you can just pop it onto its charging base and the cube’s individual screens become functional widgets, displaying things like the date, time, weather, notifications, and a lot more! The Nintendo Switch wishes it were this clever and innovative!

Designers: Savva & Ilya Osipov