Enclosures inform user interaction, reshape product possibilities

Enclosures inform user interaction, reshape product possibilities

Breaking away from the world of standard, boring geometric shapes, the Blob series of enclosures introduces a set of designs unlike any off-the-shelf packaging offered before. These enclosures, whose design seems to owe as much to the organic esthetics of 19th-century Art Nouveau as to 21st-century High-Tech sensibilities, have a sound reason for their departure from the ordinary.

The enclosures’ designers set out to create a new style of user-friendly housing that would give ergonomic clues on how to interact with the electronic devices they enclose, while suiting a wide range of users with different hand sizes and grasping abilities. The resultant contoured enclosures, when grasped, cause a user’s fingers to naturally rest in the control area, where keypads and displays can be easily located. As a result, tests have shown that users instinctively understand how to interact with the electronics, without instruction.

Initially, the series consists of three models: the Unit, the Control, and the Panel. The Unit is the smallest, having external dimensions of 5.11 x 2.36 x 1.18 in., and has a lower grasp area and a recessed keypad/control section suitable for left or right handed operation. The 4.48 x 2.99 x 1.22-in. Control version can be held with one hand and operated with the other: the way end user grips and orients this unit depends on how a designer defines and lays out the display and operating area. The Panel model is the largest (7.87 x 6.49 x 1.41 in.) and is intended for either handheld or desktop devices; it can be held and operated with both hands or operated on a tabletop — its two symmetrically positioned gripping areas clearly indicate the right orientation for use.

All the enclosures have a two-part design with a molded top and bottom made of high quality ABS (UL 94 HB) that can be sealed to IP 54 using gasket kits available as accessories. The enclosures come standard in two colors — off-white or lava gray — and other colors are optionally available. All models can be battery operated with AA, AAA, or button cells and special cable glands can be positioned at any point on the split line between the two parts. (From $16 — available now.)

By Richard Comerford

OKW Enclosures , Bridgeville , PA
Sean Bailey 412-220-9244

www.okwenclosures.com