Going analog on purpose. Grayscale phones, film photography, dumbphone experiments, and hiking without GPS.
Page 1 of 1 | Total 11 articles
Ekster parliament wallet review from a product designer: see how its pop-up card system, RFID protection, capacity, and tracker option work.
ekster wallet review for anyone considering a slimmer, smarter everyday carry. I test the design, access, tracking, security, and real-world value.
Three custom keyboards, $900, zero speed improvement. A product designer debunks the myth that mechanical keyboards make you more productive—and explains why a $45 office keyboard does exactly the same job.
A week with a $90 dumbphone and no apps. No maps, no email, no social media. A product designer discovers that the phone isn't the problem—the default settings are. And you don't need to buy a Nokia to change them.
A $1,700 iPad Pro that I mostly used for Netflix. A product designer confesses the overlap problem between laptops and tablets—and why, for most professionals, two devices just mean a heavier bag.
Color is a survival mechanism—and your phone is engineered to exploit it. A product designer explains the science behind why red badges grab your attention, and why two years of grayscale changed how he sees everything.
90 days of printing every photo worth keeping. No filters, no captions, no audience. A product designer discovers what happens when you take photos for yourself—and why the best place for a photo is in your hand, not in a feed.
two years ago a product designer turned his phone grayscale and never switched it back. Color is one of the strongest attention cues a screen has. Removing it made the device quieter without making it less useful. Here’s what he actually missed—and what he didn’t.
A $1,200 digital camera stayed in the bag. A $20 rangefinder became the one that actually got carried. A product designer explains why the less capable tool produced more photographs he cared about—and what that reveals about capability versus use.
Most people buy earbuds to block noise. Fewer notice the difference between earbuds for isolation and earbuds for focus. A product designer tested both jobs and kept the simpler pair for daily work.
Left the phone in the car and hiked the Marin Headlands with only a paper map and compass. A short experiment in digital minimalism—not about survival, but about how removing constant digital certainty changes your attention, pace, and presence in the outdoors.