Tag Archives: typewriter

Distraction-free digital typewriter carries a playful and whimsical character

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Smartphones and tablets today are extremely powerful devices, allowing us to do almost anything and everything, including writing a novel. Of course, that will require more than the on-screen keyboard, but an external keyboard, even a mechanical one, isn’t always enough for a good writing experience. These mobile computers, powerful as they are, also tend to bombard writers with notifications and temptations, distracting them from the sometimes fragile flow of thought and words. Digital and smart typewriters offer a better solution, but their dry and clinical designs aren’t exactly inspiring to look at. Enter the Micro Journal, a writing device designed not just to make writing convenient but also enjoyable.

Designer: Un Kyu Lee

Digital typewriters, sometimes called smart typewriters, are the evolution of electronic typewriters. They’re more portable than these, offering the benefits of modern technologies and design, but are also single-purpose appliances compared to tablet computers. You turn them on, type on them, and turn them off again when you need to go. Everything is saved on local storage or a memory card and they don’t have any other function like connecting to the Internet or running apps.

Many such devices sport minimalist designs to avoid unnecessary visual distractions, but these designs also tend to feel uninspiring, which can actually influence the mind subconsciously. Some writers will want their tools to reflect their own creativity, and the Micro Journal’s design tries to add some style and flourish to the product to the point that it almost looks more like a toy with its pastel blue body and yellow display bezel. That tiny display also sits above the keyboard at a slight angle, offering a slightly more comfortable typing experience even if you have it on top of your legs instead of on a table.

Of course, the Micro Journal isn’t all looks and actually delivers that fun typing experience through hot-swappable Cherry MX switches. Many writers and programmers swear by this type of mechanical keyboard, and you can customize it to the layout that you want. Using the writing device is as simple as turning it on, though it also offers some advanced connectivity features, unlike other distraction-free typewriters. In particular, it allows you to sync your work with Google Drive, but it’s purely an optional feature, not a necessity.

Another difference between this product and others in the market is that, while it’s available as a finished device, you can also buy the Micro Journal as a kit that you can assemble yourself. This offers a greater level of flexibility and customization, especially if you’re the type to tinker with your tools before you use them. Either way, you get a writing partner that doesn’t nag you with incessant notifications, tempt you away from your train of thought, or make you feel embarrassed to use it in public.

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Toaster Typewriter puts a humorous and literal spin on how words can burn you

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We live in an “instant” civilization where we can get what we want almost instantly. Words appear on the screen as fast as our fingers can fly, cup noodles can be done and ready for consumption in less than five minutes, and bread jumps out of the toaster just a few seconds after simply pressing down on a switch. Can you imagine, then, the frustration of having to slowly type out each letter, or manually turning a loaf of bread every minute to make sure it’s properly toasted without burning to a crisp? Of course, no one will want to go back to those not-so-good old days, at least no one in their right mind. That said, such an unimaginable situation could also be an opportunity for a ridiculous invention, which is what this seemingly antiquated typewriter does, making you slowly type each and every letter to adequately toast a bread loaf.

Designer: Ritika Kedia

The idea of typing on an old-school typewriter to toast bread is beyond absurd. The two have almost nothing in common, except perhaps the starting letter of each word. It’s definitely an exercise in patience and futility, one that could make you lose your appetite even before you get a single word out. But like what happens in real life, some ridiculous and frustrating situations can become comic relief if done right, which is exactly what the Toaster Typewriter represents.

The design is practically a Frankenstein of two very mechanical products, a classical typewriter and a bread toaster with much of its outer shell stripped off. Certain letters on the typebar are covered with food-grade clay and have wires coiled around them. The cobbled machine uses multiple transformers to not only power the toaster but also generate heat for the keys, resulting in a composition that looks more like a prop from a sci-fi flick from the 50s or 60s.

The idea is to simply slide in a loaf of bread like you would on a regular toaster, and then slide the toaster box across the typewriter as if it were a piece of paper. Once the letters are sufficiently hot, you press hard on a key and then wait for that letter to be burned onto the bread’s surface. Rinse and repeat until you finally have your desired toast, unless you lose your sanity first.

As you can probably tell, the Toaster Typewriter technically works but it’s impractical and pretty much useless. That’s exactly the point of the design, however, as a paradigm shift toward more entertaining, even comical, designs. The design space has become too serious for its own good. While product designs definitely need to address certain needs and requirements, there is also room for some more entertaining and humorous designs that bring delight in one way or another. Of course, such designs shouldn’t frustrate people the way this Toaster Typewriter does, but good designs need to be able to include more human elements, including human expressions of joy and laughter.

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Retro mechanical keyboards offer a tactile experience to inspire creativity

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We’ve all been there, staring at a blank page at a complete loss on how to get started on a written project. The dreaded writer’s block makes it feel like our brains are all dried up, but all it really needs is a little nudge to get the creative juices flowing again. That can sometimes come from a fidget toy or, more often than not, a favorite tool that stimulates our senses, especially our sense of touch. That’s the kind of experience that this retro-style keyboard wants to offer, presenting a modern keyboard that looks like a classic typewriter yet also has the elegance of a luxury item, giving both your eyes and your fingers a feast to get that brain running again.

Designer: AZIO

There’s actually no shortage of computer keyboards that lay claim to the title of “retro” or “classic, but many of them heaps on embellishment after embellishment to the point that the design becomes showy and distracting. The keyboards become more like decorative pieces to show off rather than functional tools to help you get the job done with as little friction as possible.

AZIO’s new collection of retro mechanical keyboards tries to strike the balance between minimalist design and detailed retro aesthetics. Inspired by the design of classic typewriters, it shaped the keys into concave circles encased in what looks like polished metal. The keys have a rather sizable gap between them, allowing the backlight underneath to shine through the spaces and give the keyboard a distinctive yet gentle glow.

The retro keyboard, however, goes beyond simply trying to mimic a typewriter. AZIO opted to use premium materials for both the frame as well as the surface of the keyboard itself, mixing aluminum with wood or leather. These materials are already a sight to behold, but their textures can also stimulate the skin. You don’t need to reach for a fidget toy or any other object when you can just glide your finger across the luxurious materials of the keyboard instead.

Of course, this is a mechanical keyboard, so it comes with all the benefits that this kind of device entails, from a solid, tactile typing experience to the satisfying clicky sounds that each key makes. The overall design is distinctive yet subtle, giving your eyes something nice to look at without taking your mind off the task at hand. It’s a tool that is a pleasure to see, touch, and use and doesn’t get in the way of you creating your next big writing masterpiece.

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3D-printed E Ink typewriter offers distraction-free writing with modern perks

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Most if not all of us may have dreamed of writing some form of literature like a book or even a novel. It may be an adventure inspired by the latest bestseller that you read, a tear-jerking drama drawn from personal experiences, or even a technical matter intended to pass down knowledge to future generations. Although we still call it “writing,” the fact is that books today are all typed on some kind of machine or another, be it a computer or even an old-school typewriter, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. A computer, of course, delivers plenty of flexibility and convenience, but those also come at the cost of complexity and, more importantly, distractions. Distraction-free typing devices have been popping up here and there to cater to the needs of writers, but this particular design lets you create your own solution and, if necessary, even repair the digital typewriter yourself.

Designer: Vicente Cruz

There are quite a few distraction-free typewriter designs, but almost all of them have one important feature in common: they all use an e-paper display like E Ink. This usually monochrome screen is not just eye-friendly, it is also not that conducive to the colorful images and animations on the Web that distract us from our writing task. The technology is starting to catch up, though, but the advantages of E Ink still make it the perfect screen for such a purpose.

The Tapico Typer is a design that leverages that technology but also goes to the extreme when it comes to offering a distraction-free environment. You basically just have a keyboard with a somewhat small 4.2-inch E Ink screen centered on top. It doesn’t even have a battery, at least in this iteration of the design, so you’ll have to rely on an external power source like a power bank. It does have an SD card slot, however, which is the only way to get your files off the device since it has no network connectivity or even a USB data connection.

If that sounds extreme, it’s because it really is by design. The Tapico Typer is, interestingly, inspired more by a calculator than the old mechanical typewriter. It’s a single-function device that does only one thing but does it to perfection. It also means you have complete ownership of your content, free from subscription services and cloud storage. And, of course, there’s nothing to distract you on the screen, though the phone you place beside it could still steal your focus.

The digital typewriter is mostly 3D-printed and self-made, so it would be possible to follow the original’s design to make your own. Many of the components are available off shelves and there isn’t much soldering involved, so most of the work boils down to designing the chassis. A future plan is to include some internal power source or at least a way to use AA batteries that could last for months thanks to how little power E Ink displays consume. This also means that The Tapico Typerc can also be easily repaired, ensuring it will be your writing partner for a very long time.

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This portable E Ink typewriter reveals its guts to spirit you away to novel worlds

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NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month, has come and gone, but the joy and chore of churning out words never ends. Most people use a computer these days for writing any sort of content with words. Some might even use a smartphone to give their thoughts some form when a computer isn’t available. These devices are, of course, sufficient and practical, but that doesn’t mean they offer the best typing experience. They can become sources of distraction as well as cause of eye strain, both fatal for serious writers. Fortunately, there is now a class of devices that promise distraction-free typing, and this latest addition to that roster takes it up a notch with a design that will spark curiosity and flights of the imagination, hopefully, to better cajole those words out of your brain and onto a digital sheet.

Designer: Freewrite

The Freewrite Traveler is hardly a new gadget. In a nutshell, it is a portable digital typewriter that uses an eye-friendly E Ink screen for displaying the words you type. Unlike a laptop or phone, it doesn’t have any other function, which means there are no notifications or inessential features to distract you from the task of writing. It’s meant to deliver the joy of uninterrupted writing while still offering conveniences like a comfortable mechanical keyboard, saving files on the cloud, and a portable design.

The “Ghost” builds on this solid foundation and adds a design twist that, while not exactly necessary, could help lead your mind to new ideas. It takes inspiration from products that flaunted transparent or translucent shells, including old Game Boy models, the candy-like iMacs, or even Crystal Pepsi. As its name implies, the Freewrite Traveler Ghost sports a transparent shell that lets you take a peek at the electronics that make the device tick.

It’s admittedly gimmicky, but one shouldn’t underestimate the subconscious effects of such gimmicks on our creativity. Humans have always been interested in discovering what lies within, even if it consists of a jumble of wires. The play of light on the translucent white case also gives our eyes plenty of interesting visual points that, in turn, could help trigger the brain and spark new ideas. At the very least, it could offer a nice visual break while you stretch your fingers and arms after a long period of typing.

Granted, not everyone will be keen on spending a solid $600 on a device that does one thing and one thing only, but that limitation is also the very same appeal of the Freewrite Traveler. And when you’re a writer stuck in a rut or are easily thrown off your groove by distractions, every little bit counts to get you focused and inspired, even if it means staring at the indecipherable mess of modern electronics.

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This AI-powered typewriter can type out a complete anthology if you can guide it right

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A general sentiment portrays generative artificial intelligence (AI) – and the advent of ChatGPT – as a competitor that will replace humans in various job roles. Arguably, for me, AI will make the workforce smarter and enhance the human ability to dream, innovate, and co-create.

Heralding us a step closer to the world of co-creating with AI, an engineer turned designer, Arvind Sanjeev has created a talk-back typewriter, he calls the Ghostwriter. The ghost within the typewriter is GPT-3 from OpenAI which allows the modified typewriter– with the right human input and direction – to auto-type impressive responses.

Designer: Arvind Sanjeev

Built on a vintage Brother typewriter, this impressively transmuted Ghostwriter presents itself in a combo of cream, gray, and orange that reflects the intended warm, inviting, and playful aesthetics. It features an OLED screen to display status and two knobs to ensure you can control the AI output while it’s assisting you with a research paper or composing poetry on your behest.

The GPT3-powered Ghostwriter features and Arduino onboard that reads human prompts and shares them with Raspberry Pi at the helm that further queries the OpenAI’s GPT-3 API. On the way back, the Arduino receives text strings and auto-triggers key presses on the typewriter to type out the AI suggestions on paper.

By bringing down the co-creation model of human and AI interaction to a typewriter, Sanjeev has managed to minimize “digital distraction” and take us back on an “emotional journey” to the era of paper and ink. The Ghostwriter thus lets us understand the creative relation we are developing with machines: positive or negative, it’s a story for another day.

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Modern Typewriter comes with a cylindrical electronic ink screen and a unique user experience

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Meet Flowo, a typewriter designed for the 21st century. A purpose-built machine that’s designed just for writing and editing, Flowo comes with a qwerty keyboard and a cylindrical screen on the top that automatically scrolls as you type. To rewind, just rotate the knob (as you would on a regular typewriter) and the screen scrolls upwards or downwards. It’s a perfect example of using just the right amount of text to enrich a product experience, without turning it into something else entirely!

Designer: Jody Del Bianco

A portmanteau of the words Flow Word, Flowo is a typewriter that focuses just on the writing aspect rather than being an internet-connected device with an app store and a large 11-inch screen. It’s designed to do one thing, and one thing well – enable typing. Built on the template of a typewriter, Flowo ditches the analog typing system for something more contemporary, replacing the clackety-clack keys with an electronic backlit keyboard, and a paper tray with a scroll-shaped electronic ink display. Whatever you type appears on the display in real-time, with the option to transfer it to another device using Bluetooth or via a data cable. The left knob allows navigation on the device’s menu (create a new document, save a document, open a document, etc.), while the right one allows scrolling the document.

For writers who need to be in their ‘zone’ while crafting narratives and storylines, Flowo provides the best of all worlds. It’s better than a laptop or tablet, which costs more, has a lower battery life, and can distract with just how many features it houses. It’s also better than a typewriter, judging by how it’s much more compact and lightweight, and how documents can be edited and updated retroactively (unlike a typewriter which doesn’t let you ‘backspace’).

The Flowo Typewriter is a winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2022.

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Typewriter concept reinvented for nostalgic, digital users

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If you’re of the age that you were able to hold or use one, you probably have a love-hate relationship with the typewriter. If you only know of this through pictures, gather around the digital fire children, and let me tell you about why people are still nostalgic for this device even decades after it’s all but extinct and why we’re getting a concept device for a reinvented version of it.

I am of the generation (most likely the last generation) that learned to type their letters on a typewriter before a computer keyboard. I say that people may have a love-hate relationship with it since the keys are pretty hard to press (although the sound is pretty good) and every time you made a mistake, you had to use a new paper or later on, some sort of correction liquid. But it was a good tool for writing as there are no other distractions, unlike all the different screens that we’ve been using the past years now.

Designer: Jody Del Bianco

An Italian designer has come up with a concept design for a different kind of typewriter called Flowo, short for Flow Word. More than just a nostalgic device that hearkens back to the days when it was the only other way to write aside from actual writing, this is more a tool for those that don’t want to be distracted by other things you can do on a computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. The design itself looks more like a Bluetooth than an actual typewriter, but it’s the attached roller that makes it stand out.

Basically, it imitates the roller where you insert the paper if you’re using a typewriter but this time it’s an e-ink display on a curved display that can be rolled upwards or downwards as you type your document. It’s as wide as an A4 paper and is in the same position as the paper on the original device. The keyboard itself is backlit so it’s easier to type whatever lighting condition and the e-ink display is also easier for the eyes, not to mention the energy consumption.

There’s also a USB type C socket at the back for downloading and uploading documents as well as updating the firmware whenever applicable. For storage, there is a space for an SD card reader. This is also useful for when you want to read the document you’ve typed out on another screen since the roller itself is not really conducive to reading whole, longer documents. It seems to be designed just to review the lines you’ve written but rolling up and down to read long documents doesn’t seem to be that comfortable for a small, curved screen.

This is something that I would want to have not because I’m longing for the days when I would use a typewriter to write my essays, articles, or even a diary entry. As someone who’s easily distracted by notifications, social media, and other things popping up on my screen, this seems to be a way to discipline myself from writing. Well, aside from actually going offline or something.

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LEGO goes nostalgic with this functional vintage Typewriter and is actually available for sale!

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If a vintage typewriter is gold, then a LEGO vintage typewriter has to be an even better proposition. The icing on the cake is when your LEGO typewriter actually types, it’s just like the real thing. Another successfully backed LEGO Ideas project, this idea instantly evokes a sense of nostalgia and urges to own one. Designed by LEGO fanatic Steve Guinness, the LEGO set is called 21327 Typewriter – styled to bring back the memories of 50s typewriters. It doesn’t surprise that the LEGO typewriter is actually inspired by the original typewriter used by LEGO Group founder Ole Kirk Kristiansen. 

According to Federico Begher, VP of Global Marketing at LEGO Group, the vintage typewriter has an enchanting appeal and, “Steve’s incredible replica is a thoroughly worthy LEGO Ideas success story.” It’ll be something that mingles the two worlds seamlessly – a thing that LEGO fans will take pride in displaying in their living room.

Steve wanted to create something intricate and new for LEGO, so he bought a vintage typewriter. He then set out to figure out how he could arrange the bricks and replicate a typewriter’s complex mechanism to achieve the final design. In the end, he managed to create a LEGO set that doesn’t look like a LEGO creation when viewed from a distance. The typewriter is so well designed and engineered, it could very well function as a typewriter for your nostalgic adventures. Now, if only the small LEGO pieces are swapped with ink!

This LEGO set is made up of 2,079 pieces in a cool mint green color and mirrors the tactility of a classic typewriter since it has a center typebar that rises when a letter is pressed. This is linked to a carriage moving across as you type – pretty much like the actual typewriter. The paper can be fed into the platen roller, and each set will come with a letter signed by the LEGO Group chairman. LEGO Typewriter will be available via LEGO VIP early access for pristine members from June 16th, while others can get their hands on this thing come July 1st for a price tag of $199.99.

Designer: Steve Guinness for LEGO Ideas

Click Here to Buy Now!

The Freewrite Traveler lets authors battle writer’s block outside

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Many authors can attest that writing isn't as simple as just sitting down at a computer and typing. A typical day might go more like this: check email, look at Facebook, tweet. You know, anything but actual writing. Astrohaus' Freewrite e-ink typewri...