Home Get Listed Articles Login

The Architect Stylus combines form with functionality

Asmita Prasad:

The concept:

The late Steve Jobs once snubbed off his competitors by saying something like this: if touchscreen devices needed a stylus to function, it reflected on the quality of the experience that they had to offer. A touchscreen should be able to offer users a premium stylus-free experience and an inability to do so largely result from a less-responsive touch-apparatus on a device. The Architect Stylus, however, is somewhat exempt from the critique given the fact that if architects did not care about being precise to the mm in their designs, we might just end up with a few crooked buildings to live and work in. The clever touchscreen inputter, of course, is developed to be used by lots of other people for far less important purposes than designing buildings (like taking notes on their tablets in classes or scribbling when the lecture is not interesting enough).

The inspiration:

The Architect Stylus literally came into being as a tool for architects. It can deliver a smooth pen-on-paper like quality of input on touchscreen devices that previously required a special attachment like a handwriting input device to create handmade scribbles on a computer. The designers often had to use CAD software or even make designs on a notebook and scan and upload the data manually which was a tedious and time-consuming process and resulted in noisy, distorted, and difficult to edit images.

The Architect allows both professionals and amateur users to get the same level of high-quality input and an unprecedented amount of functionality in note-taking, random sketch making, idea jotting, making manual alterations to existing designs, and scribbling. The styling and functional stylus also serves as the perfect companion for other fine-point tablet interaction requirements such as surfing the net (totally a pain in the rear if you are trying to open links that are surrounded by other links since the web was developed to be used with a much more versatile, precise, and pointy pointers that are worked with a mouse or a touchpad) or even playing games that do not require the repeated use of thumb.

The design:

The Architect Stylus was designed to be precise more than anything else was and hence comes with a smooth silicon rubber tip that ensures your touchscreen device never scratches and you get a top-quality input. Measuring a mere 7.0 mm in diameter, the tip allows users full control of the quality and precision of the input that is comparable only to the old freshly sharpened pencil and taut white paper experience.

The rest of the design is more aesthetically inspired than function based though we certainly are not complaining about the futuristic good looks of the stunning stylus. The stylus comes with a screw on cap that is designed to protect the rubber tip from erosion and can also be used an add-on to lengthen the stylus itself when the user needs it, though the smooth metal end of the cap does not deliver the same precision.

The Architect Stylus from Arctic Accessories is crafted from anodized aircraft grade aluminum that comes with a comfortable high grip position for effective and strain-free use while the ergonomics of the pen-shaped stylus allow users to hold in their hands and work with it for longer durations without incurring wear or strains. The black top serves as a tip protector and allows people to run a lanyard or a thin chain through it to turn the stylus into a hip fashion accessory.

The fabulous:

Though we love the Architect Stylus from Arctic Accessories from every angle, we especially love its cute and precise 7.0 mm rubber tip that delivers a fine and accurate stroke every time and writes smoothly and silently without straining the user’s hand or scratching the display.

The target:

The Architect Stylus from Arctic Accessories is targeted at people who need to use a precise inputting device to take handwriting-quality notes or make drawings that cannot be as easily done with the help of a software like animators, though the pointer can be used by anyone who thinks poking one’s fingers on touchscreen devices to get work done is caveman-ish and crude and wrecks their $500 manicures.

Related trends:

1. Kensington Virtuoso touch screen stylus and pen

The Virtuoso™ Touch Screen Stylus and Pen from Kensington allows users the same level of creativity and accuracy as freehand drawing on paper does. The best part about the device is that it actually comes with a Parker ball pen refill so users can actually use the stylus on paper as well though the manufacturer did not throw in an eraser and a digital clock in the pen also. Useful for apps like Penultimate, iAnnotate, and SketchBook, Virtuoso comes with a soft tip that glides smoothly over any touchscreen and lets users navigate with greater precision and accuracy.

2. Pogo Sketch Pro stylus

The Pogo Stylus by Ten One Design is a capacitive stylus that was created to work with an iOS touchscreen though it was deemed a little touch to work with by consumers. The company then came back with a reworked version of the same and the Pogo Sketch Pro with “Pro Tip technology” that offers better precision, thanks to smaller tip diameters while the patterned structures in the tip itself allow a seamless input. A rubberized grip and a sexy unibody aluminum handle also give the stylus an almost paintbrush-like profile.

3. oStylus capacitive pen

The capacitive touchscreen was just not developed to be used with an inputting device, which is why designer Andrew Goss invented this limited run and weird-looking stylus called the oStylus that makes a capacitive touchscreen feel as responsive as a resistive one. Partly handmade and partly machine-created, the oStylus comes with a pivoting ‘o’-shaped head that helps users effortlessly input whatever they need to input on their iPads, iPhones or Apple Magic Trackpads with minimal force.

4. Microsoft’s Manual Deskterity Pen + Touch Direct Input

Microsoft does not like being outdone by Apple at anything and though the passing of Steve Jobs has upped the Apple stocks thanks to sympathy- and nostalgia-induced factors, Microsoft is not one to sit idly by and watch the stylus-free Apples eat away at its monopoly one poke-at app at a time. The Manual Deskterity program from Microsoft thus focuses on bringing the pen-paper-knife-scissor like experience to users that the company itself spoilt with drag-and-modify photo editing software and click-and-point-friendly programs. Looking to take the human-computer interaction to the next level, the pen and touch computing research program looks to offer users a special infrared pen that can function like a virtual paper knife, a virtual pen, a pointer, etc. that can combine with Microsoft Surface and offer an unprecedented level of computing sophistication.

Source http://www.designbuzz.com/entry/architect-stylus-combines-form-functionality/
Tue, 08 Nov 2011 10:37:29 GMT
Tags: ,

---

---

Related Tags:

---

---

Need Interactive Website Design? Check out our member profiles:

---

The Futuristic Aurora Transportation concept

Asmita Prasad: Offering a new, bold look to the drab old railroad, subway, and metro rail, the futur

---

WDL Premium: Real Estate WordPress Theme deCorum

WDL Premium: Real Estate WordPress Theme deCorum

---

Seven futuristic battery designs to ensure you're packed with power

Purnima Gangta: Some interesting concepts have been added to make batteries last long and mainly two

---

Creative wall design ideas to enhance your home decor

Rahul Author: Blank walls resemble blank mind. Both need great designs to appeal. But gone are the d

---

10 sustainable shelter designs to offer instant refuge

Sanjukta Dasgupta: Natural disasters can come any moment and rip thousands of lives apart. A common

---

Article Tags
Interactive Website Design Articles

Lifestyle
Inspiration
Designers
Concepts
gadgets
Freelancing
Freelancers Union
All Posts
Writers
web design
architecture
Featured
design
Marketing
Transportation
Tips
Premium
Illustrators
Freebies


Friends:
Ecommerce Web Design