INTRO
When the Nothing Phone 3a series was first announced, and I saw the design of the 3a and 3a Pro, I saw something in the design that stood out for me. While people were complaining about the lens design on the 3a Pro and debating if it was like marmite - love it or hate it - I saw this Chilled Phone looking back at me. I made some sketches and shared them on social media of a character I dubbed Chilled Phone Guy - inspired by the design I saw on the back of the phone and also the recent meme that’s been circulating. This was long before the community project kicked off and when I heard about it, I thought, Chilled Phone Guy can work too on the 3a as well, and thus I present it here.
DESIGN
The title says - the 3a to me is just a Chilled Phone, just relax, be cool, enjoy your phone, take life as it comes, enjoy things and be calm about life, cause it’s too short. This is what Chilled Phone represents to me and what stood out to me in the design which I’ve just tried to highlight on the phone. I was inspired by the meme and some colour palettes for comics and cartoons I researched. I imagined Chilled Phone was just chilling out, leaning against a wall, playing with a coin in their hands or maybe it’s a tape reel or a headphones case? When you’re pretty chilled, you gotta have shades to be too cool for school, and I saw this on the face near the camera lenses. I did some research on Chilled Guy’s leaning against walls and used this as a basis for the 3 squares on the left which I coloured like a brick wall.
I had thought about some other elements in the design, such as colouring a shirt and trousers separately but I also thought about the brief and keeping things simplistic for a manufacturing and feasibility standpoint. I’ve coloured in the pieces to make a unique design that should be a case of just re-colouring the existing parts in the mold and changing around so there isn’t much extra tooling needed and I thought of a clever way to add some extra creativity with an accessory that could come with the phone or be its own separate piece.
ACCESSORIES
To further enhance the design and to keep things practical - I thought of a transparent case with some design elements painted on. When you put the case on the phone, they combine with the Chilled Phone to make it look more interesting. Using the case becomes a cheap and simple way to enhance the phone without further manufacturing investment. Better still, the case on it’s own works on a normal 3a to give it a sort of subliminal Chilled Phone look as well - so win-win.
NB: see my accessories submission for further details.
GIMMICK
Would it be too boring I thought? Would there be some way to include a neat gimmick in some way to make the phone unique? The previous project and winner used glow ‘n dark material to make the device glow - so that was used already and been done. As the brand is Nothing - I had a sudden revelation thinking about those mugs that change colour with heat and have things disappear or appear. This gave me an idea to use some thermoplastic material in the design - while adding manufacturing costs if it was possible - would be doable and could add an interesting element to the design as the phone warmed up and cooled down. I kept things simple but thought perhaps when it’s warm - our Chilled Phone is no longer leaning against the wall, so it vanishes and the glasses go to and the coin. Thus when it’s warm our Chilled Phone can enjoy the day, and a break. When it’s cold again, then take a rest on the wall.
CONCLUSION
Chilled Phone to me - represents community, the true spirit of just being an awesome person in whatever you do, being kind, considerate and just chilled and doing your own thing. We can all be Chilled using our Nothing 3a and have fun while we do so and share in the collective.
Thanks for looking and reading 🙏
https://community-edition.nothing.tech/gallery/991285/240785/747671429
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