NeoSublime » Product Design

One year designing paper products

Mario Troise — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:13:35 +0000

It’s been almost one year since I started working at Smuzi with product and packaging design. I still have a lot of fun designing paper products and there are always great challenges coming up. Paper is one of the most versatile materials out there.

Future Nintendo DS

Mario Troise — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 01:49:02 +0000

Nintendo broke many barriers with their latest consoles. It always makes us think “what’s next?”.
I created this model last year and completely forgot about it. Now that there is a hype over the upcoming 3DS I searched my files and decided to post my design. Let’s see if they can work hard enough to make a console with all these features!

The screen
This is where it all starts. This portable has a single flexible touch screen. It’s bright enough and it shows graphics in 3D, not to mention the mega resolution (what is going to be the resolution for small screens in 1 or 2 years?). And I mean 3D graphics that pop out of the screen, not “special 3D effects you can almost see without glasses”.
You can use the console in any angle or lay it flat. This changes a lot in terms of playability. The console can be used as a board game and played over a surface. You can use both hands to play. It’s also great for multiplayer games (of course there can’t be too many people touching it at the same time).

The sensors
My design is packed with everything: motion sensors, cameras, GPS, light sensors… It has 2 cameras in the front and 1 in the back. The front cameras track the hands and faces of players creating a complete interaction with the games. You can play and grab objects without touching the screen. The 3D capabilities of the screen and these sensors are the heart of the system.
All the cameras recognize any gestures, faces and movements. It’s a complete suite for augmented reality games.

The system
I don’t want to list all specifications of this console (it’s a fictional concept after all). Let’s just say it’s got a killer screen, amazing graphics and a fast processor. The system allows multiple applications and games running at the same time and you can buy everything online. But hold the press: this is not a pad or netbook! If you want a solid OS, document readers, internet suites, e-mail, music, video and porn get a laptop and a room. This is a videogame console.

The design
Simple and comfortable. I like mechanical buttons, so I kept the arrow and round buttons. It also has dedicated volume buttons on the side and it still packs a stylus – mostly for drawing apps. The stylus pops out of the body when pressed. It has an SD card slot for games and files. It could be a Micro SD card slot.
I did this black model and a very colored back-to-the-80s version (maybe I will finish and upload it). I think Nintendo should explore more colors in future models.

Photos are here. Sorry for the rough models, I really don’t have time to render and finish them properly.

Stripes

Mario Troise — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:17:09 +0000

Yesterday I probably broke a personal record creating so many stripe patterns.

Collection of tins and boxes

Mario Troise — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 13:30:51 +0000

I’m not really a collector, but I try to buy small metal boxes when I’m traveling. They are beautiful and useful souvenirs.

These are tins and boxes I bought or received from friends. They are from US, Canada, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway, France and Brazil.

You can view all the large images here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mariotroise/sets/72157623047876271/

A lot of paper

Mario Troise — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:59:02 +0000

This is my work at Smuzi, a paper design company. I create packages, boxes, cards, notebooks, toys and pretty much anything else that involves paper design.

Alatka

Mario Troise — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:52:26 +0000

Croatian designer Maja Mesić created this simple product to make drawing easier and more natural. Following an ergonomic form, the Alatka is a very funny and different way to draw and paint. I wish I could get some of these!

Via DecoJournal

Italian jewelry

Mario Troise — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:53:30 +0000

Beautiful (and expensive) jewelry from stores over Ponte Vecchio, in Florence. They have everything there: rings, necklaces, watches, gemstones, earrings, charms and anything else you can put around you. I was surprised with the vast array of materials they use to create these jewels.

Smuzi is now open!

Mario Troise — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:51:40 +0000

It all started with a great idea: design products with simple materials. To make a long story short, I started creating samples a couple of months ago and people loved them. I usually plan everything, but this time I decided to go with the flow. The company was founded with the goal of making beautiful utilities – mostly with paper.

Right after everything was confirmed we reserved a space at a gift fair. That gave me around 40 days to design all products, the sites, catalogs, business cards, banners, folders and so on. I really can’t believe how I did it, but in this period I designed over 50 products and set up the sites, e-mails and everything else! It was hectic, I got sick because of the work overload, I had to cancel other projects… But it was completely worth it!

Smuzi is now open! At the gift fair everybody was astounded by the products. The compliments gave us energy to continue our work and create more and more.

Visit smuzi.com for international info or smuzi.com.br if you are in Brazil.

By the way, these designs are temporary, I plan to do something more retro with the sites.

Back from the gift fair

Mario Troise — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 16:12:50 +0000

Remember the project I said I was working with? I’m working as an art director at Smuzi, a fresh new design brand that produces utilities and packaging.

I’ve been out last week working at a gift fair called Brazil Promotion. We released all the products and got in touch with many new clients.

I’m organizing the photos now and will upload them soon. I just need some time to relax.

Vero

Mario Troise — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:03:17 +0000

Last year I invited Karl Zahn, a NY designer, to help me design a new yoyo for Vulto. We worked together for almost 8 months designing this yoyo called Vero.

This project was a lot of fun, but also one of the hardest projects I’ve ever directed. Vero is going to be released this month by Vulto.