Must Choose Colors

Plastic hues, spray paint colors, rubber parts and glow in the dark pigments. You've seen pictures of almost all combinations. Now it's time to make a decision.

We think:

- remote: clear looks best with the overlay. May partially spray paint the bottom to hide the ugly PCB's behind but not over the edges which would stay transparent.

- receiver: clear, or spray paint black or white or silver leaving the LED hole clear. Black looks mean, white looks clean, silver looks futuristic, clear is nice because of many reasons though in our opinion it makes the product look less "finished".

- rubber: depends on the receiver. The glow in the dark colors don't make that much difference in a regular setting. Therefore it seems we should go with black and offer the glowing colors as a separate product if people really want them.

This is "interactive product development"... we're curious to hear what you think about the new colors and the different combinations.

Comments

By Lance_Lake at 2010-08-17 10:37:59 Reply

Clear as much as possible. Even if you want to hide some "ugly" parts, for me, I would want fully clear (and once you give a price, if it's feasible, I will be buying).

By dreamloverlabs at 2010-08-19 09:41:22 Reply

Haven't posted pictures of the back... will do soon. Right now it seems that if we were to just print out some instructions about the keystrokes on some shiny but thin paper and put it between the pcb and the plastic that would be quite useful. As we add more features there will be lots of key combinations to remember.

By johnsteed at 2010-08-17 15:20:20 Reply

Hmm. Well, I have to say again that I'm concerned about external spray painting, as the units (especially the remote, if attached to key ring with sharp metal keys nearby) will likely get scratches in the paint exposing the underlying plastic color. That would make it look cheap and old quickly, unless the underlying plastic was a similar color. And the only reason to do that would be if the exterior paint wasn't so much for color as it was for texture (such as the rubberized paint on the remote of the PetSafe collar I have).

So, my vote for plastic color would be smokey translucent dark gray tint. This gives you LED shine-through and a bit of internal visibility on the receiver, a discreet remote when held in public. Black rubber seals would look fine on that too. Admittedly, the luminescent ones were fun to look at, and some made for quite a nice look.

By dreamloverlabs at 2010-08-19 09:39:18 Reply

The overlays themselves are scratchable, and even clear polycarbonate can be scratched. If anything a layer of paint will make this more scratch resistant because it adds a bit of texturing (isn't as smooth as flat plastic).

Suggestion: don't put near keys. And as soon as we have some cash we'll try to create a leather cover for the remote.

By anodeuk at 2010-08-19 07:30:54 Reply

Receiver - your previous blog poll (with pictures) produced a resounding vote for the clear receiver. Rather than adding paint, perhaps you could improve the visual appearance by using a black PCB and battery.

Rubber - definitely black. For those special occasions, an optional extra of UV seals sounds a good idea.

Remote - the fact that the clear one looks best with the overlay is fortuitous as it then maintains a family resemblance with the receiver. It'll spend most of its time face-up but again a black PCB might improve the internal appearance. If you still want to hide it, how about either paint or an overlay on the inside rear of the casing?

While I'm writing, can I just compliment you on the quality and clarity of your blog. It (almost) makes it worth the wait...

By dreamloverlabs at 2010-08-19 09:35:14 Reply

Black PCB: definitely can try that. Another cool thing: the PCB edges (regardless of the solder mask color) are fluorescent in UV light (not phosphorescent).

By Henry at 2010-08-19 09:25:25 Reply

I'm starting to wonder if you guys walk around naked a lot... :-)

I'm not too fussed about the receiver because it'll be hidden most of the time.

However, the remote is far more important. The missus will want it to look sober and not attract attention. It should be possible to use at the supermarket and be confused for an everyday remote, like a carkey, garage opener or pager.

Perhaps spraying the inside would avoid scratches. I vaguely recall this being discussed before.

By dreamloverlabs at 2010-08-19 09:33:57 Reply

Regarding spray painting the inside after trying it with some parts we realized this doesn't work well unless the part is completely flat. So it works ok for a phone or a hard drive but as soon as there are bosses on the inside these become evident on the outside.

Now that said the parts we tried this with were not very smooth, they were machined. The mold still hasn't been polished 100%. So we will likely give it a try, again, when we have very smooth parts and see.