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Dedao Focus7 Cititor electronic (eReader) by William Volcoff and Yawei Zhang

Dedao Focus7 Cititor electronic (eReader) by William Volcoff and Yawei Zhang is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award de Bronz in Electronică de Consum Competition Category.


BronzElectronică de Consum· 2023

Dedao Focus7 Cititor electronic (eReader)

by William Volcoff and Yawei Zhang

Client: Dedao (Tianjin) Culture & Communication Co., Ltd.

A' Design Award de Bronz Winner in Electronică de Consum Category

Colors

The Design

About Dedao Focus7 Cititor electronic (eReader)

Dedao Focus7 este un cititor electronic creat pentru cititorii care apreciază senzația unei cărți tipărite. Cadrul este realizat din aliaj de aluminiu, prelucrat prin frezare CNC, iar suprafața anodizată rezistă la alunecare, uzură și coroziune. Forma amintește de o pagină îndoită, gestul familiar folosit pentru a marca o pauză în lectură. Ecranul E Ink de 7 inch are sticlă anti-reflexie și un strat de acoperire anti-amprentă. Greutatea de 210 grame este apropiată de cea a unei cărți de buzunar, iar structura echilibrată reduce oboseala încheieturii mâinii. Ambalajul este fără cerneală, fără plastic și realizat din pastă de celuloză degradabilă.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award de Bronz

Dedao Focus7 Cititor electronic (eReader) a câștigat A' Design Award de Bronz, o recunoaștere extrem de prestigioasă acordată designurilor remarcabile care se disting prin creativitate, ingeniozitate și istețime. Câștigătorii Bronzului sunt artefacte din plin pricepute și izbitor de creative, care atestă experiența vastă, imaginația și resursele designerilor lor. Se așteaptă ca Dedao Focus7 Cititor electronic (eReader) să fie un obiect foarte apreciat, admirat și prețuit, remarcabil de profesionist și inovator. Acest design câștigător al A' Design Award de Bronz încorporează cele mai bune practici din artă, știință, design și tehnologie și este excelent prin atenția la detalii. Dedao Focus7 Cititor electronic (eReader) satisface splendid nevoile, atinge dorințele, vrăjește sentimentele și stârnește curiozitatea.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties
Focus 7 eReader aims at book enthusiasts seeking meaningful aesthetics in their products.
Focus 7 eReader reconnects you with the pleasure of holding a paper book. Subtle elements in the design symbolize this connection and leverage the overall reading experience.
Dimensions & Packaging
Screen: E Ink with 300 ppi / Antigloss TP glass top + anti finger print coating,
Specs: USB Type-C / Quad Cortex-A55 at 1.8GHz / Android 11 / 2GB RAM + 64GB ROM
eReader Weight: 210 grams
eReader size: 159*140.7*10 mm
Packaging size: 16.5 x 18.5 x 3 cm
10 weeks battery on sleeping mode.
3.5 days battery on full use.
2 weeks battery with 1h use per day.
Tags
ereader, tablet, book, eInk, CNC, aluminium,
Production Technology
The whole frame is made of aluminium alloy using CNC processing. The anodized surface is anti-slippery, wear and corrosion resistant. The fully integrated structure places the centre of gravity inclined to the hand-held side, greatly reducing the wrist pain of long-term use.
The 7-inch screen -mimicking pocket-book size- is ideal for students, office workers and regular readers. It boasts a double coating to prevent fingerprint residue and reduce environmental reflection. The ultra-thin glass backboard is anti-slippery, durable and provides similar tactile feedback as paper.
The entire ink-free and plastic-free packaging is made of degradable pulp grouting process. It is environmentally friendly, and degradable. The eReader weighs like a pocket book (210grm) to enhance further the reading experience.
Design Challenge
Our key creative challenge was to differentiate our design without losing on the ergonomics. eReader are usually very sleek and minimalist in their design language. We didn't want to add decorative elements yet we wanted to add elements to visually connect to the universe of books. Traditional books have a tactile sensuality when flipping through pages, these lines created by each pages are our common memories framing the entire reading experience. We kept these lines to give extra tactile feedback to Dedao readers.
Research
Our research process was rather traditional and down-to-earth to match our client's basic understanding of design. Pushing too much innovation would have scared off their marketing team and alienated their engineers against our design intentions. We worked closely with their production team to solve any potential production issues.
The Covid19 situation in China didn't really help us to meet face-to-face and set-up well organized interviews with group users. We had to change plans due to the massive lock down in Shanghai. We organized online questionnaires through Dedao massive online network to target 3 millions of their users and get some key insights regarding daily usage, key issues with current tablets and key advantages of competitors. To get useful insights, we decided to reach out to people using e-reader from competitors as well as users of Dedao tablets. It was very obvious to see the differences between users and where their needs matched.
Inspiration
Folding a page or the whole book is one of the most usual gesture we do while pausing our reading. The shape of a folding book represents this on-going process put on hold. It is also an invitation to restart the reading, a visual trigger to bring us back to a different world.
Project Duration
The project started in November 2021 in Shanghai and finished in April 2021 in Shenzhen after final confirmation with all production sites and suppliers. The eReader is going to be launch this October 2022 in China during Dedao annual conference and will be available from November 2022.
Operation Flow
On/Off button to start. Full touch screen to navigate the various menus and settings. Screen back light could be changed to adjust night reading situation.
Patents
Patent Pending. Patent No 202230506231.5. Dedao (Tianjin) Culture & Education Co., Ltd.
Team Members
William Volcoff, Yawei Zhang, Shuangtian Lu, Bastien Henry, Yiming Zhou, Xiaosong Wu, Xilun Cao

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