For the final project of this course I'm interested in revisiting a concept that emerged back in the early 2000s, the disposable paper phone. This idea was proposed by the Wayback Machine in 2002, suggesting that it would be able to make 10$ disposable phones in the early 2002s, yet never ended up going through with the idea.

Look at the 2002 proposal here

With the rise of smartphones, many younger people are going back to the use of more basic devices, going as far as getting brick phones to seperate themeselves from the constant stream of notifications. Could there be a purpose for a smartphone alternative that could have useful functionalities without the screentime? ">

I looked at the potential assembly/ appearence of said phone and how it would function. I was thinking perhaps rather than using paper as its structure (perhaps not ideal for long-lasting use) I could use a thinner paper-like plastic, perhaps acetate or something similar that could maybe even be transparent to allow the user to view the circuts inside.

I also came across a project that made a paper speaker that made a foldable speaker that clicks into place, so I was thinking perhaps I could inclorporate that into the back of my phone. This way someone could input their digits on the front, turn the phone around, snap the speaker into place and chat with the person on the other side.

After a second thought, It seems like working on just the 'phone' portion of the project is rather limiting, and nonsensical as a phone made of a paper-like material would effectivly be equivalent to one made of glass, even if more materially accessible. I went back to the drawing board to determine what about the phone was most interesting to me. I felt that it was actually the idea of the 'widget', a collection of various functionalities that a phone brings - like the timers, the msuic players, calculators, etc.

widg·et
/ˈwijət/

noun
plural noun: widgets
1. a small gadget or mechanical device, especially one whose name is unknown or unspecified.
2. an application, or a component of an interface, that enables a user to perform a function or access a service.

Perhaps what would be more interesting is to take some of these digital widgets, which currently live in our phones and turn them into physical gadgets, which can work together to form a folio of lightweight and compact widgets (ideally even flat) that can be carried around and interacted with anywhere, anytime.

I came accross this project by french designers that created paper electronic toys and was very intruiged by their approach with the interaction between the electronics, paper, and the user. I also really liked how the batteries they were using were similarly lightweight and flat, which might serve as useful power source ideas for my project.

More progress to come....

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final project

designing (almost) anything

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a widget folio

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