Pantech Concept Phones - Prism

red dot
red dot award: design concept 2007

design:

fuseproject

In-house design:

Yves Behar, Qin Li, Youjin Nam

Pantech’s Prism is a mobile phone that integrates multiple functions in its sleek design. It also gives the user a total experience – combining style and ease of use with an intuitive interface.

The challenge that the designers of Prism set for themselves was to integrate the multiple modes of media that were available independently in existing mobile phones. Prism is a concept phone offering five functions: phone, camera, movie, MP3 and internet. It combines ergonomics, functionality and user interface (UI) in the multi-media hand-held device.

The formulation of the design strategy began with the questioning of a typical user’s experience of the mobile phone. Research on existing phones with multiple functions was conducted to explore the components that could be improved upon and the opportunities that could be created. The design intention was to create a mobile phone with multiple features that was both simple in form and intuitive in its user interface. This resulted in a crisp design that provides an optimal entertainment experience with its integrated audio-visual technology.

Prism’s form is a design response to the difficulty of viewing images on an LCD screen, unless a prop is used. The structural prism form on the front of the phone acts as navigation for its four different functions – camera, movie, music and chat. Pressing down the center button allows one to navigate through the different modes. On the back, the strong visual language of the prism is extended to accommodate the speaker. It is also a prop to facilitate the viewing of movies, music videos or photo albums. The navigation keys are easily accessible on the outer edge of the phone.

Prism reveals its keys in a two-step process: slide the front section of Prism up midway to access the zoom and volume buttons for the camera and MP3 modes; slide it up fully to reveal the twelve keys for the phone mode. The rich gilded detailing of the prism form is playfully extended to the edge of the phone, which gives the product a luxury feel. The sculptural prism on the back of the phone is echoed by the subtle pyramid indentations of the function keys.