Tag Archives: Smart Remote

This improved smart remote takes an ergonomic and intuitive design to improve your Netflix experience!

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Nowadays, streaming is the lay of the land. Whether it’s music or television, streaming can bring us entertainment almost as soon as we think of it. Designer and MIT student Shivang Vaishnav had designed a TV remote specifically configured for streaming called Capsule, which, following a year’s worth of improvements, he has revisited to make even simpler and ergonomic– the ideal partner to instant gratification.

Brainstorming on ways the remote’s functions could be streamlined, Vaishnav took a year to fine-tune some visual improvements for Capsule. Lengthening the remote’s body and incorporating sensor touchpads, Vaishnav’s Capsule design still configures the remote’s buttons in the order by which they’ll most frequently be activated. For instance, the touchpad could work as the remote’s browsing wand, which precedes the remote’s display of arrows that work to focus on different searches, ultimately leading to the array of buttons that can be used during viewings, such as pause/play and rewind/fast-forward.

Ditching the cognitive obstacles of traditional remotes to make the search process quicker, Vaishnav maintained Capsule’s optional landscape orientation and voice input methods. Users can either use Capsule’s built-in microphone to vocalize various titles and search keywords or users can type in the film’s title or keywords by holding the remote horizontally and typing with two sets of navigational buttons at the same time. Built to be ergonomic by design, Capsule’s shape keeps the cylindrical shape of a traditional television remote and features an off-center groove on its underbelly to indicate the remote’s upright position.

Designer: Shivang Vaishnav

Designed to adapt to current smart TV hardware, the combination of matte surfaces and stainless steel accents make Capsule feel right at home on the console.

By including stainless steel accents, the shadows found on Capsule work to make it appear a lot slimmer from certain angles.

Capsule still features voice command technology for those who prefer it over typing.

Designed to fit naturally in your palm, Capsule was built with an ergonomic design.

Users can also type in movie titles by holding the remote horizontally and typing with the remote’s adjacent navigational buttons.

The Moorgen Smart Remote’s design is weirdly attractive… but why?

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It may appear hostile, with the way it takes on this scaly armadillo-inspired aesthetic… but that hostility doesn’t translate to you wanting to avoid the Moorgen Smart Remote. It makes you curious, it makes you practically want to pet it. There’s something unexplainable about the Moorgen Smart Remote’s strange allure, but I’ll try my best to justify why I can’t stop staring at it!

The smart remote was designed not for television, but rather for operating smart lights and curtains around the house. Its difference is highlighted by its unusual form, with highly tactile buttons. The ability of the buttons to simply activate in-built presets means they’re equally important, and aren’t meant for navigation or menu-selection, allowing all of them to be equally sized and maintain the integrity of the 3D pattern.

By breaking the mold of remote design, the Moorgen does something so radically different you can’t help but keep looking at it. It’s quite like the Tesla Cybertruck. So incredibly unusual that love it or hate it, there’s no ignoring it. Except that with the Moorgen Smart Remote, its “unusual-ness” isn’t just visual… it’s tactile too. Even when you’re not pressing the button, I guarantee you, your thumb will be running up and down the remote, just constantly in awe of its hostile-looking-yet-somewhat-soothing texture. It’s the same reason your first reaction to someone who’s just shaved their head is to go “can I touch it?”. The Moorgen Smart Remote was designed to sort of play mind games with you and to absolutely engage the senses… and that’s exactly what makes it so effective and memorable.

The Moorgen Smart Remote is a winner of the iF Design Award for the year 2019.

Designer: Moorgen

A Universally Appealing Remote

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Remember when all your phone did was make calls? Then came text messages, then games, then the music player, radio, camera, internet-capabilites, and then the phone just became a really tiny computer that could control other internet enabled devices around you. Now that’s just a little too much for me. I’m fine with manually switching on my lights, or using a remote to change channels on my TV. The Smart Remote really fits my requirement here because I don’t see my mobile phone as a controlling device. Designed as a universal remote with just the right amount of functionality and a lovely clean aesthetic, the Smart Remote will free your mobile of a couple of useless apps. It can control your TV, Hi-Fi sound system, the lights or the temperature in your house. It really enables you, and gives your mobile phone the breather it needs because hey, what if we want to make calls and adjust the thermostat at the same time?

Designer: Elium Studio for SevenHugs

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