How many times have you taken your sketchbook out the door and wished you could easily carry a regular old pencil –– be it your garden–variety #2 or a blue Prismacolor –– without the lead point stabbing you or otherwise breaking? For those who prefer to use lo-fi wood writing tools that don’t include a clip or require refills, this can be a small but common annoyance.
Inspired in–part by his own frustrations, NYC–based designer Chengtao Yi developed an ingenious and low-cost solution for carrying a single pencil seamlessly with a notebook cover in the form of the “pencil note”.
Little more than a vacuum formed polycarbonate notebook cover with enough space for a full-sized pencil, the bulge both tightly secures a standard pencil while making it easy to take out when needed:
“I always carry a pencil and a notebook for writing and sketching wherever I go,” explains Yi, who earned his degree in Industrial Design at Pratt in 2015. “Unlike most of the pen, pencils do not have a clip, which makes it a very annoying user experience. I believe pencil and notebook are made to be together. So It is almost inevitable for me to design a notebook that has room for a pencil.”
On an interesting side note, Yi chose frosted plastic to provide a vague silhouette of the pencil inspired by a character’s “health bar” in video games – humbly indicating how much of the pencil has been used.
Check out the rest of the young designer’s impressive portfolio over at Chengtao Yi Design.
