[All images modelled and rendered in Blender]

Hey Community!
It’s been a while since I last posted about Gastrodon —my concept Phone (3) design, and I haven’t made a proper post after it’s completion except for some updates on the Community Discord. We also got the Create Your Phone (3) - Giveaway announcement, so it made sense that I make a post, breaking down some design details, features and decisions that I made. So fellow designers and other curious people in the community, you’ll surely enjoy the insights.

Why not something out of the box?

This project was started around October 2024. The goal was to design the next potential flagship. We haven’t had a hint at the design changing drastically from generation-to-generation till the release of Phone(3a) series. So my assumption was that Phone (3) would be an adaptive iteration, similar to the change we’d seen from Phone (1) to Phone (2). But it’s great that we’re getting something different in the real Phone (3).

Improved Functionality?

Glyphs

Phone (1) was iconic. Aesthetically, I prefer the Phone (1) glyph interface over the Phone (2)’s for it being asymmetrical and kind of radical and polarizing. Whereas in Phone (2), it was kind of evened out top to bottom. So I dug in —what was the intention behind fragmentation of the glyphs at the center? I asked the community. Shout-out to @Achilles and Voila on Community Discord for their inputs in this matter.  The only extra functionality that this added was progress indicator. So I thought I could make this better by increasing the length of the progress indicator glyph compared to Phone (2), and a long strip that could do bass visualization, while staying true to the original shape.

Glyphs at the center

These are three concentric glyphs that could be used for:

AI interactions: You might know some phones with a back-tap feature, and we prefer Nothing phones inverted on our desks. This is a perfect combination for quick questions and interactions with your AI-assistant. A plane glyph(that is not strip-like) to show some dot-matrix animations when interacting with your AI. This could also be used to show app icons from which you’re getting your notification at a glance, while adding some other simple yet effective possibilities. This is a perfect balance between the original intention of the glyph-interface and the info you get to know through the back of your phone. 
Smartwatch stats: Apple watch three-rings… Something similar to that!
Clock: Red for seconds.

The disc at the top-right

Purely for fun and music visualization, the strips as wide as other glyphs. Inspired by the disc on OB-4.

Other Details

USB Icon: The plastic piece surrounding charging glyph has a USB icon embedded, given it’s along the C-type port.

Metal Piece: The metal piece in Phone (1) particularly stood out against the white Phone (1) and was a very interesting element with it’s harsh grainy textures, brought it back.

Texture Details: The textures in Phone (2) are kind of scaled down, which definitely adds to feeling more premium, but Phone (1) spoke louder with it’s textures, and I personally loved it. But I still understand and appreciate the change.

Limitations

Flash Module: I don’t know how much the flash module poking out would help with a good IP rating.

Disc Impractical: Self-explanatory. Unnecessary complication. Still very cool, and on-brand if done.

Essential Glyph: This is one of the signature elements of the flagship series. Had to remove it. Quite a challenge to integrate it with this camera layout. The one in this is weak in creating a visual impression, and isn’t any special.

Marketing Video

The plan was to make a full marketing video for this. I jumped in and quickly realized that there’s no point in doing a 2-3 minute animation for a concept phone. Regardless, here’s the progress of that.
[Music Credits: Transcendence by Sushin Shyam]

Black Variant

What’s Next?

Stay tuned 😉