SkizzierPlatte
Sketchpad for Creatives
Year
2024 to Now
Category
Industrial Design
Client
Personal Product
This sketchpad gives creatives a hard surface to scribble on. No matter where they go. The brief was simple: I want to be able to scribble while walking, riding the bus, or sitting on a bench. I've always wanted to make my own product. And since I was unhappy with the notebooks and notepads out there, it was the perfect way to start.
My goal with this project is to experience the entire process from design, engineering, to sales. Currently, I am testing the latest prototype.
Classic Notebooks are Tough to Sketch in.
SKETCH WHILE YOU'RE OUTSIDE
Have you ever sketched in a notebook while standing? If you are a person with ideas, You know the pain. You are out for a walk and get all those ideas. This sketchpad fits in your palm and gives you a hard surface to sketch on.
REFILL AS MUCH AS YOU WANT
You build a relation ship with your notepad. All those places you travled together. The experiences you made. Until it's full. Then it gets packed away. I didn't like that. This notepad you can refill.
LASTS FOREVER
We creatives love products that are well made. It feels always like betrayal when a product breaks. I could not live with that. The notepad is machined from 6061 aluminium. It ages with you.
"First, I had to silence my engineering mind"
In the beginning I had to forget that I know engineering too. Otherwise your ideas are too safe. You need to think wide. I asked "what is the best way to store ideas" and not just "how can I make a cooler notebook". Crude prototypes and fast sketches helped to get fresh ideas.
"Sketches and Renderings are fantastic, until you have to produce it."
Yes, I just said I had to forget my engineering background to come up with fresh ideas. If you manage that, congrats: you got an exiting product that's hard to produce. I had sexy renders and a solid idea. But now I had to reanimate my engineer to make it. I talked with other engineers and suppliers. And decided to CNC mill it since I won't produce more than 10 to 20 pieces. And tooling is expensive for those small batches.
"Prototype. Test. Improve. Again."
This notepad went through at least 10 prototypes. I started out with sketches and very crude mockups. Just to get a feeling for size and how it could work. But then the first 3D prints arrived. Everything changes if you can give your brainchild to someone else. Do they understand what it is? Which is the right way to hold it? Does it work? The moment you shut up and just watch, that's when you spot problems. Renderings can't do that. It also takes courage to hand over your own idea that until then only existed on paper and in your head.
"Instead of summer vacation, I bought the aluminium prototype"
If you have ever tried ordering small batches of parts, you know how expensive it gets. The latest iteration of the sketchpad is the first CNC-milled prototype I ordered. I won't say how much, but other people have a nice vacation in Italy for that money. In the end, it was worth it. I use this notepad almost every day wherever I go. This prototype looks like the renders and works great. But to produce more pieces of it, I will have to reduce costs and get better at marketing the product.
"Sales and Marketing is Storytelling"
I shared my design process on Instagram. Which is another skill I had to learn. And it's difficult. I pushed myself to talk into a camera. But just talking about how great a product is doesn't help. Especially now that no one reacts to ads anymore. Also, things like setting a price or telling people to spend money on your product raise the stakes immensely. In the end, you are responsible for everything.
1. Get inspired and scrible
2. Use the sketches
3. Restock
"Product Design is a team effort."
I realized quickly how much more than design goes into a product. Even tough I knew about it before. I needed to experience it to grasp it. Sure my engineering education helped a lot. Knowing how to make technical drawings, understand CNC-Milling, and tolerances was important. Also my time as a sales intern at a startup helped. All the experiences form the past help. But this project showed me how important a diverse team is.
Roles
Industrial Designer
Engineer
Product Visualizer
Marketing
Time
2024 - 2025
Team
Christian Gorki
Industry
Stationery
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