"Breaking the Rules"

The Math Clock

The purpose of a clock is to allow one to easily tell the time at a glance. It is an item of convenience and it allows better planning and organisation. At first, you will feel that this design boldly takes away the convenience and replaced it with a complication. However, this design actually retains the convenience, while adding a complication. The 12 numbers that are on the face of the clock are replaced with math equations which answers are the original numbers. One would feel overwhelmed at first, but will gradually realise that it is still easy to tell the time. We are familiar with the position of the clock hands and hence would still be able to tell the time. Therefore, this design retains the clock original functionality while making it much more interesting. It breaks the conventionality of having a clock with plain numbers on its face.

The High Heel Telephone

The telephone was the main means of communication between households back when handphones were not popularised. It traditionally consists of a handset connected to a number pad device. That design still remain largely in use till today, however, there are exceptions such as this High Heel telephone. The high heel itself is both the handset and the number pad, making it more similar to a handphone. Moreover, it doubles as a decorative item. Hence, this design breaks the assumption that telephones must have a separate handset and number pad device, and that its only purpose is to allow communication between people.

Portable Handheld Scanner

The scanner is a device that converts hard copy documents into digital ones. The traditional scanner is a relatively bulky device, requiring one to place the piece of paper onto a transparent surface and pull down the cover before scanning can begin. Should the paper be not within the glass surface and covered entirely, the image will not be captured well. The portable handheld scanner's design however, shows otherwise. Not only can the paper be far larger in size compared to the scanner, it can also be exposed while scanning is in progress. Furthermore, since this handheld scanner is much smaller in size and lighter in weight, it could be easily carried around in a bag as opposed to the traditional bulky one.

Modern Book Shelf

Book shelves no longer need to be perfectly rectangular and uniform in size to place books. Modern designs like the book shelf shown in the picture above still retains its functionality pretty well. Moreover, with different shapes and sizes of compartments, larger items can be used to add some decor to the shelf as well. In fact, the whole shelf itself could be a decorative item. In addition, not having uniformly-sized compartments does not mean the shelf would not balance, and even if it does not balance, the whole structure can be fixed onto the wall. Hence, this design breaks the rule in placement and in purpose.

Pencil Tip Sculptures

The pencil has been a writing and drawing tool for centuries. Its graphite tip is used to create words, lines, dots, pictures...anything one can imagine can be put on paper. When too much force is used, the graphite tip easily breaks and one would have to sharpen it before using again. Now, how about the pencil tip itself being THE creation? The tiny and rather fragile tip made of graphite? Yes it can be done. Artists carefully carve the tiny piece of graphite into incredibly detailed sculptures. It definitely breaks the rule of the pencil's original functionality. It now becomes the subject instead of an object.