Ever wanted for the things you write down in a paper notepad to show up in an app? MultiAdaptor’s connected notebook achieves this, albeit in a simplistic manner, and the app it interacts with is Google’s marketing service, Think With Google.
MultiAdaptor, a British branding agency based in London, was commissioned by the Mountainview tech giant to make the marketing research publishing tool better known in creative companies. While the initial request was to design an exhibition, MultiAdaptor figured out that developing an interactive product and sending it to potential customers could be far more effective for promoting Think With Google.
Industrial designer Roland Ellis, the one who was in charge with developing this notepad, created a conductive bookbinding glue that brings together the reusable Arduino circuit board found at the back of the work book with the printed pages. MultiAdaptor went as far as to claim that the conductive glue is the first of its kind, so the agency is definitely worth some praises for that. As for the notebook’s pages, they are covered with screen-printed conductive ink that can be activated using even common graphite pencils. This way, the developers not only did way with cables and circuits, but also made sure not only that the Arduino circuit board could be reused with another set of glued printed pages, but that the notebook itself can be used with regular writing tools.
“Our notepad had to be compact and convincing,” explained MultiAdaptor. “Conductive ink allowed us to interface with digital content using a pencil, but we wanted to avoid the expected ‘R&D’ aesthetic of cables and circuitry and create something more simple and human.”
As seen above, the notebook is delivered in a blue box, with a blue graphite pencil and an USB cable that’s used for activating the product. Basically, you need to connect it to a computer with the provided cable, then head over to the Think with Google website and pick two options from a list, using either the provided pencil or just any other one. However, I don’t know whether mechanical pencils are as good. After selecting articles, stats, or case studies, the respective content is shown on a dashboard called ‘My Edit.’ Ripping a page off the notepad will enable users to start over with their content selection.
Needless to say, the notepad can be used independently of the Think With Google app and website, and viceversa.
“The digital experience is also designed to reflect the Google brand – something simple and helpful, but playful and innovative too,” concluded MultiAdaptor.
There has been no word on the final number of connected notepad that will be printed and assembled, but for the time being, 1,000 of them are on their way to creative agencies in the UK and Italy. The following video provides more details on how MultiAdaptor’s connected notepad came to be.
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[via CreativeReview]
