Project details
NOTION INK DESIGN LABS
Year: 2011 – 2013
Location: Bangalore, India
Categories: Industrial Design, Product Experience Design
Industrial Design: Taresh Ghei, Rohan Saraf
Product Engineering: Ankit Chaturvedi, Rishi Gupta
Operations & Strategy: Adarsh Raja, Naveen Kumar Balaji
Feature Management & Marketing: Ravi Shankar
Can a tablet be more than a tablet?
India is one of the fastest growing tablet markets in the world with an estimated 23 million tablet users this year alone. This number is only expected to grow with premium tablet makers like Apple and Samsung launching their devices in the country.
However, with limited disposable incomes, most of these premium devices are out of reach for the average Indian consumer. It was here that an opportunity was seen to design a completely new tablet from the ground up which was affordable, yet offered the same premium look and functionality as other premium tablets in the market.
Since tablets are mostly used to create and consume content, we took inspiration from one of the oldest forms of content repositories - the humble ‘Book’ and created Adam II.
INSPIRED BY THE BOOK,
DRIVEN BY CONTENT
For thousands of years, legends, myths, stories and experiences have been passed on through the years to generations of readers in the form of books and manuscripts. Inspired by the art form of the book, we created the perfect technological device to showcase, consume and create content. With it’s smaller bezels, front facing speakers, the side spine screen, Adam II embodies all the characteristics of a modern day book.
NOT JUST ANY BOOK,
IT’S YOUR BOOK
The book inspired this product – a book that changes content and behaves the way you want it to. Inspiring you to not just consume content but create it too.
FRONT FACING SPEAKERS
With high-fidelity speakers placed on the front, Adam II creates the best listening experience no matter which way you hold the device. Playing a game, watching a movie, video chatting – everything sounds great on the Adam II. The front facing speakers design ensures that you have the most comfortable and immersive experience.
SECONDARY DISPLAY
(Super Twisted Nematic Display)
The secondary STN display on the spine of the device displays essential system information such as date, time, battery status, device name etc., as well as alarms, warnings & error messages. The STN can also be used to show other sets of information such as App. specific data, general notifications and push mail notifications.
HOLD IT LIKE A BOOK
Natural gestures to communicate with the device as naturally as possible. The bezels on the three sides are thin, getting out of the way between you and your content. The thicker side is where you hold it. Like a book!
DESIGN PROCESS
The Brief : To design the next generation of the successful Adam tablet. Based on a book.
Explorations started with modifying the form of the existing Adam 1 to match the brief, and ended with a form that was not only inspired by the book, but looked like one as well.
ADAM
1st Generation Adam Tablet
ADAM II
The Newly Designed 2nd Generation Adam Tablet
1:1 SCALE MOCKUPS
Rough 10″ and 8″ mockups were made from corrugated cardboard sheets to understand the device shape and size along with the individual component proportions.
TECHNICAL EXPLORATIONS & DETAILING
Various technical explorations were done to fit the electronics and the circuitry into the slimmest form factor possible. These included exploring different PCB shape configurations with different components as well as exploring different battery types and shapes. Assembly explorations were also done to understand the various aspects of manufacturing the device.
1:1 SCALE PLASTIC PROTOTYPE
A 1:1 scale dummy prototype was made out of plastic to understand the aesthetics and ergonomics of the device.
1:1 SCALE CNC PROTOTYPE
A 1:1 scale CNC machined dummy prototype was made with actual components to validate the look and feel of the device. The STN display was also simulated by printing dot-matrix content.
Main Device Casing : Magnesium-Aluminium Alloy
Touchscreen with Silkscreen : Glass
Speaker Grill & STN Cover : Stainless Steel
FINAL PROTOTYPE
EXPERIENCE THE MODERN DAY BOOK
Adam II’s design is inspired from a book, and like a book, it is simple yet functional. It’s aluminium back has paper like texture to make it “grippy” and feel cooler than surrounding objects. The bezels on the three sides are thin, getting out of the way between you and your content. The thicker side is where you hold it. Like a book! Adam II has Asahi’s Scratch Resistant glass, the costliest component on Adam II. It has a high refractive index, and feels rich and premium!
