Making Tech Headlines · Page 8
A Butter Phone Grip Defeats the Design Police Without Melting
· New York time
A writer for The Verge describes being won over by an obnoxious phone grip that looked like a stick of butter. The accessory belonged to a friend and was paired with a boldly striped case, making it difficult to confuse the setup with another exercise in discreet minimalism. The writer's first reaction was skepticism. A 12-year-old's observation that butter was in vogue helped set the scene for an essay about an accessory that was deliberately conspicuous rather than elegantly invisible. Its appeal lies partly in that refusal to pretend a phone must be a neutral slab. Phone grips are small additions to objects people carry all day, but they give users room to make those objects look personal. A bright, odd accessory can turn a mass-produced device into something more recognizable to its owner. The butter version simply makes that argument with the subtlety of a grocery display. There is a mild rebellion in liking a design that looks silly on purpose. Consumer electronics often ask buyers to admire smooth surfaces and restrained colors. This grip asks them to admire a fake dairy product attached to a phone. It may not win the specification contest, but it has already beaten the much tougher opponent: the urge to take every accessory seriously.
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