Tucked away in a box in my studio is a second generation iPod and one of the old Nokia candybar phones. I know they're there, but every time I stumble into them, I marvel at how much technology has changed over time. The iPod looks big and clunky, and while the Nokia candybar style phone is popular in the developing world, it's almost unrecognizably different from the iPhone I tote around with me everywhere
British designer Kyle Bean has tackled the evolution of technology with a cool project that imagines the evolution of mobile phones through the design of a Russian nesting doll. It starts with the amazing DynaTAC, the famous gray brick cell phone featured in Wall Street , when it was still luxurious and glamorous to be carrying such a device. We evolve straight on down past the candybars and flip phones, until we arrive at the iPhone, the latest evolution.
"I was working at a shop selling all kinds of technology products at the end of my degree in Brighton when I had the idea," Bean told Core77. "Working in this environment got me thinking about how quickly technology evolves. I did a bit of research and discovered that mobile technology had only existed during my lifetime, and yet the advancements had developed so rapidly."
What's clever about this design is that it matches so well the decreasing size of our handheld devices, which have steadily shrunk from the original car phone monstrosity (which required toting a large suitcase-like device), way down to the smartphones we swipe and tap while riding the subway. That trend has only recently gone in the opposite direction with the growing popularity of tablets and e-readers.
The design is a great way to not just visualize but make physical the rapid growth of technology. Says Bean: "Understandably, a lot of people are confused as to its exact 'use'. For example, many think that it is a toy that you can buy. It is actually just a one off model that I made and exhibit from time to time. The images that I have of it though have been used to illustrate various articles about technology around the world."
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