– Lucid
or The Dumbest Smartphone
écal (2023)
Society has developed a strong reliance on smartphones for many everyday things like navigation, transport, music, banking and payment… And while these tools have streamlined parts of our lives, we pay for them with our attention and data – the average adult spending a total of around 24 hours staring at their phones every week.
This project draws the best features from multiple familiar typologies to “dumb down” the modern device: giving us access to essential smartphone features that make our lives more convenient without the need to pay for them with our attention and well-being.
With Kim Colin (Industrial Facility).
All applications that can run on Android are available on this device, but are rendered on a crisp black and white e-ink display.
Physical keys give a sense of tactility while a lock switch makes the act of unlocking the device more intentional.
Controls on the back grant access to functions even when the device is placed face-down on a surface – reducing the need to navigate via the screen.