From Market Insight to Innovation
Mobile phones go everywhere with us; they have become part of our lives, our identity, a virtual presence of who we are. They have grown close to our bodies, thus becoming an important element in the building and maintaining groups of friends and family. But why are they still plain plastic objects that offer no emotional feedback or any elements of ownership or identity? CDP takes a fresh look at the future of mobile phones by creating the GAIA concepts.
The Emotion concept
The ‘GAIA Emotion’ mobile concept is a device that comes to life – It is an extension of our bodies and our presence, and is built around us and everyone that is linked to us. ‘Gaia’ recognises and responds to ‘known’ devices within close proximity, and exchanges relevant information with them. It identifies and reacts to a best friend’s call or text message, a brother’s new picture upload or status update, a girlfriend’s presence close by, or our own behaviours, feelings and experiences – interpreting them into emotional responses through light, sound and vibrations.
The Gaia concept device is organic in form, perfectly weighted and shaped to fit in the palm of the hand. It recognises the owners touch and comes to life by displaying an array of thin glow lines that rap themselves around his/her hand and figure tips. The interface is built around everyone that is connected to us and is presented in an infinite virtual ‘Wall’, which allows effortless scrolling and zooming in and out using multi-touch screen technology. Pictures fade according to the relevant strength of relationships with friends and family on the wall (i.e. pictures will begin to fade if a certain friend has not been in touch for a long period of time). Statuses, pictures, news feeds about the ‘Wall’ are updated automatically and translated by the device through light and vibration.
The Bespoke concept
The ‘GAIA Bespoke’ concept is about creating a more personal, engaging experience that starts as soon as customers walk into the store. Bespoke allows people to tailor the design of their phone by choosing materials and custom embossing and prints that make it unique and personal. Smartphones already allow you to choose your own applications; the next step is to expand this choice to the handset itself.
Bespoke offers customers an unprecedented choice of materials that until now have only been available in ultra-high-end devices. Materials such as leather and suede actually improve with age, rather than glossy plastics, so as the phone takes the bumps and knocks on everyday life, it gains character in much the same way as a worn pair of jeans or a vintage guitar.
Whether buying online or in-store, you would use a simple, intuitive web or touch-screen interface to customise a standard phone chassis in the way that best suits you. When satisfied, the design would be instantly sent for rapid manufacture and delivered to your door a few days later.
Ultimately, a Bespoke phone is individual, expressive and says more about its owner than current handsets can.
