Four Point Squeeze

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'four point squeeze'

This concept was designed by Richard Miles as part of his Masters in Industrial Design at Loughborough University in 2005. The brief for this project was to identify and address a social issue resulting from the use of mobile phones in public space by redesigning the product to modify user behaviour.

Richard carried out user observation to find out how people use their phones in public and how their use affected others. His research revealed that people often cup their hands around the mouthpiece of the handset to mask the noise of their voice and maintain a discreet volume when talking in public.

Building on his observations, Richard designed a mobile phone featuring four pressure points.

These points must all be continuously depressed by the user to maintain the connection, forcing the user to cover their mouth when talking.

The location of the four pressure points deliberately encourages the user to adopt a specific arrangement using both hands to shield the phone and conceal their mouth.

This content was updated: 14/07/2011