Edge Multi

The maximum with the minimum

After the successful financial performances of Edge (the 4 channel remote control for home automations designed by Emo design), Telcoma asked us to redesign the old multichannel remote control. The outcome is an unexpected mix of clever solutions, both technical and design wise. This result was achieved due to a tight collaboration with the Telcoma R&D along the exploration.

At the beginning only one thing was clear; the design language had to fit the design vision developed with Edge. Technically this remote control is quite simple which means it has to be capable to control many channels of home automations.

After the first sessions of brainstorming this simple object seemed to be solved. A compact layout with a colorful OLED display to show which of the 100 channels you were using. The possibility to custom name the channel, date & time displayed, etc. Wow! A lot of fancy things. Technicians were exited. The Emo design team did a rational analysis on the situation.

How many channels are needed on an average house?

Let's count in an extreme situation. 2 entrance gates, 2 garage doors, 10 window roller shutters, 1 swimming pool automatic roof. So 15 channels are enough. If we consider that Telcoma is not even providing automations for roller shutters we could even say that 10 channels are more than enough. Ok let's say 20 channels is a good amount for this kind of product. After this if we consider the Telcoma philosophy, which is about pragmatic, reliable and no frills products, we asked them what do we need a colour OLED display for?

All that was settled before seemed to be fully over-designed and over-engineered for the kind of product Telcoma needed to put on the market. The risk was to get a sort of "fancy gadget" clearly useless and not credible. Last but not least it would have been too expensive. At this point the solution was already in the old product. Technically it was perfect and functionally enough but it just looked dramatically old fashion.

With the design language, we fully kept the edgy style introduced with the 4 channels remote. Elegant yet pragmatic and without frills. A precious tool emphasizing reliability and sincerity to the user while showing the real expertise of Telcoma automations.

The product has been "dematerialized" as well, with a shallow but measurable reduction of the environmental impact. The parts have been reduced by avoiding the use of an extra polycarbonate cover for the expected OLED display. Instead we decided to use traditional dual digits LED display glowing trough the main case of the body. This of course is a basic technology but good enough for user (they just need to know the number of the channel) and if treated in a contemporary way it becomes extremely attractive.

A further interesting thing about using the dual digits LED display in this way is that when you are not using the remote they disappear behind the case. This contributes to boost uniqueness to this product.

Coming back to environmental performances also disassemblability (DFD) has been seriously taken into account during the project. It is enough to unscrew the case and parts are falling apart. The case, the rubber keys and the electronic board are then ready for the best dismission process of the region.