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Saturday, 17 June 2006 | Senay
Life is Flexible: New Flexible Display Concepts from Plastic Logic
Five exciting new product concepts from Plastic Logic were on show at SID this year with the theme that "Life is Flexible". They all incorporate Plastic Logic's radical new flexible display technology. The lightweight, user-friendly natural designs illustrate the inevitable transformation we will see in everyday products as a result of plastic electronics over the next decade.
Developed as part of a "Future Mapping Project" with the Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design, sixty Product Design students from all over the world set out to brainstorm how flexible displays will change our lives by 2010. Central Saint Martins is a world renowned institution that has refined the creative talents of many inspirational artists and designers, including retailer & restaurateur Terence Conran, industrial designer James Dyson and film director Mike Leigh.
The results were stunning, with applications in entertainment, work, education, health, transport and fashion. Each concept highlighted a different desirable feature of flexible displays - thin, light, robust and more - and also addressed a real world use case.
Ten designs from an initial sixty were chosen to progress to the final stage. The distinguished judging panel included Hermann Hauser (Founder of Amadeus Capital and the UK's leading high tech venture capitalist), Guy Kewney (NewsWireless Editor), Nick Hampshire (Founder, AFAICS Research), Tony Chambers (Creative Director of Wallpaper* Magazine), Stuart Evans (CEO Plastic Logic) and Simon Jones (VP Business Development Plastic Logic).
Commenting on the winning designs, venture capitalist Hermann Hauser said "These designs are wonderful and can easily turn into exciting world class products. I can't wait to get one for myself." The prize winning product concepts were :
The Winner - Turnover
Turnover is an innovative e-reader that won first prize. It uses two traditional aspects of reading - turning the page and folding the corner - to exploit the physical capabilities of flexible displays, while humanizing the experience of reading an electronic book or newspaper.
The screen that is rotated to the back refreshes the next page during the turning action, thereby stimulating a whole book or magazine with only two pages. According to designer Timothy Yeoh, "Turnover is two pages with infinite possibilities - you can lose yourself in any number of worlds."
Touch the on button for a few seconds to bring up the book select menu and use the scroll wheel to select the book or quickly skip to the desired page. Touchscreen capability lets you bend the corner to toggle bookmarks on or off, with a bookmark symbol on the page for easy reference when scrolling through.
The Runners Up - Snapmed, SmartBook and Digital Music Score
 
Snapmed is an updateable display and storage device for the next generation of medical patient tagging. It quickly and accurately displays key patient information and medication details.
A sprung steel wrist band is the mechanism to make it snap onto the patient's wrist quickly and securely. Designer - James King.
SmartBook is an easy-to-hold e-book with a touch sensitive quadrant scroll bar for one-handed navigation. Selecting the enlarge button, the scroll can be used to adjust the size of the font.
With bistable display effects and robust, unbreakable backplanes, part of the display is always visible even when the device is shut so you can always see top level information. Designer - Coria Mok.
Digital Music Score (DMS) uses flexible display technology to make life easier for musicians, whether amateur or professional. Music scores are downloaded into the DMS and displayed on full sized pages, just like familiar printed music scores. Designed to fit onto conventional music stands, the musician isn't distracted by having to turn from page to page by hand. They keep their hands on the instruments while playing, so they can concentrate on achieving peak performance. It can even be rolled up into a scroll for storage. The DMS also contains teaching and reference material to help players enhance their musical skills and knowledge. Designer - Akiko Iba.
Shortlisted Designs
Emulate is a leather-covered e-reader the size of a bill fold or wallet. Its slim ergonomic design fits easily into a pocket or handbag and is ideal for reading email. Flexible padded edges adapt to being in your pocket and - like other leather goods - it acquires a patina over time so users form an emotional attachment to the product. Designer - Ben Forman.
Flexinfo uses flexible display technology to provide up to date travel information on your season ticket where and when you need it. It shows the latest timetable with upcoming departure and arrival times, and also warns you about delays or cancellations. It updates everytime it is used and is a direct replacement for current season tickets. Its attractive display has the potential to be used for advertising and other offers. Designer - Edward Vince.
Boarding Pass uses the robustness of flexible displays to transform your air travel experience. As you move through the airport, the display is updated using the smartcard IC with first your boarding pass at check-in, then your baggage tag and finally Air Miles Account information. It is also a convenient passport holder. Designer - Chia Yu Hsu
Display Belt is a fashion accessory for those who want to change their accessories to suit their outfits.
With driver electronics integrated into the buckle of the belt, it is practical, lightweight and attractive. Designer - Bjoern Nielsen
FlashCards is an updateable electronic card for use at sports games. The display on the front is used to show information about the players and game up-to-date facts and figures.
The other side is used for fun, such as a "GOAL" when a point is scored, and advertisements by sponsors of the event. Designer - Jonathan Krawczuk
YourMenu an alternative solution for restaurants ideal for large groups. YourMenu provides a personal menu for each customer which keeps a summary of the order so that individuals can pay separately for their own meal more easily. It also offers additional information such as allergy advice in the ingredients section. The YourMenu data can be linked to a central server in order to update prices and availability of meals in real time. It can also be used to track the desirability of foods and provide market intelligence to the owner. Designer - Claudia Sanchiz Garin
The project has confirmed that flexible displays and plastic electronics will make their mark in our not-too-distant future, enabling completely new product categories and driving technology innovation in all markets.
About Plastic Logic
Plastic Logic is a leading developer of plastic electronics - a new technology for manufacturing (or printing) electronics. The Plastic Logic approach solves the critical issues in manufacturing high resolution transistor arrays on flexible plastic substrates by using a low temperature process without mask alignment that is scaleable for large area, high volume and low cost.
This enables radical new product concepts in a wide range of applications including flexible displays and sensors. Independent experts from IDTechEx forecast plastic electronics will be a $30 billion industry by 2015, and could reach as much as $250 billion by 2025.
Plastic Logic operates from the world's first plastic electronics Prototype Line on the Cambridge Science Park. It was spun out of Cambridge University in 2000 to build on 10 years of research and has a team of 50 employees. The company has now raised over $50 million equity and venture finance from financial and industrial investors. Key financial investors include Amadeus Capital Partners (UK), Oak Investment Partners (US), PolyTechnos Venture-Partners (Germany), and Yasuda Enterprise Development Co (Japan). Its corporate investors include five of Fortune Magazine's 50 Most Admired Global Companies - Bank of America, BASF, Dow Chemical, Intel and Siemens. http://www.plasticlogic.com
About Central Saint Martins
Central Saint Martins is part of London's University of the Arts. From the iconic designs of London's red Routemaster buses and the chopper bike to theatrical productions like Phantom of the Opera; from exquisite fashion at Dior and Chloe in Paris to the current portrayal of that icon of contemporary culture, James Bond; Central Saint Martins' alumni have made a profound impact on our lives.
As the longest standing program of its kind in the UK, the Product Design course has an international reputation. In addition to Plastic Logic, it has developed relationships with companies such as Kodak, LG Electronics and Panasonic, all of whom have supported projects and acted in an advisory capacity as clients for students. The course is not just about providing solutions, but also about asking the right questions in response to a problem. Students explore design issues through creative risk-taking. The course aims to produce graduates who can conceptualise and critically evaluate design responses within both professional and cultural contexts.
Central Saint Martins : http://www.dexigner.com/directory/detail/304/
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