Designers: SoftBook Press, IDEO Product Development, and Lunar Design
Client: SoftBook Press
Contact: Scott Underwood, IDEO Product Development, 650.688.3409

As a preview of the paperless world, the SoftBook shows what reading could be. The battery-powered reading device can hold up to 100,000 pages of text, pictures and graphics within the familiar form of a hardback book. A built-in modem connects to the SoftBookstore or a corporate information center where professional titles, recreational reading or business material can be downloaded. The book-like portrait orientation, page-turning switch and leather cover blend electronics and publishing.

"A small step towards integration of hardware and software and a big step for Softbook Press. The Softbook shows us the path to Internet-based information appliances for the millennium. How do you turn pages with an electronic book? The designers of this product took this question seriously. Designing a hardware toggle switch to easily flip through pages in place of a software scroll bar exemplifies the creativity needed to produce easy-to-use business tools beyond the PC. A tactile leather cover 'opens' your book for reading, avoiding a clunky plastic on/off power button. Elegant."
Sam Lucente, IDSA, Lucente Design Inc.

© 1999 Industrial Designers Society of America