Just Bru

Regine reports about this desk, merged with an answering machine.

When a message is left, a box representing that message slowly rises from the desk. The higher it rises, the longer the message. So when you return home, you know how many messages are waiting for you. To hear one, open the box's lid. Pushing that box back down into the desk deletes the message.

Cool, ain't it?

Now the question is, from an interaction point of view how much “natural” can this be considered? Starting from the consideration that answering machines are something we are already used to. Is there a point in re-creating a pardigm when one has already been assimilated by at least one generation of users?

Anyway, I want one of these @ home. Now.

P.S.: this was the last of a series of article covering the Strangely Familiar, Unusual Objects for Everyday Life exhibit in Turin, where the first year students of the Interaction Design Institute in Ivrea had to come with prototypes of devices that rethink everyday digital devices so as to provide more meaningful and poetic interactions.
All of the devices are interesting, but the Message Table was the only one to give me this sensation of redesigning a paradigm of use from scratch.

• Posted in Interaction Design,Italy,Natural Interaction
• Tags: interactionDesign,italy,naturalInteraction,turin
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