(wip) The Jon Alyn Designer Phone Cases

Work in Progress

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Around Christmastime of 2018, I was fascinated by luxury watch design. No real desire to wear one – and damn sure no need to buy one – but the engineering and aesthetics really captivated me for a solid month. Idly, I thought to myself, “Hey, it’s too expensive to make watches, but maybe I can design digital watch faces for the iWatch!”. Apple wasn’t having any of that since you have to be 1st party to even design for them – which would be an issue if the watch was even remotely popular.

And so, the dream of making luxury watch faces along with a oh-so-cool idea for a luxury brand (Gypsy Vanner) faded into obscurity.

Covid introduced a Second Renaissance around here, and a primordial motivator to try to get as much artistry out of me while the gettin’s good. Phone case design has been a new attraction for me, and I find the artform incredibly engaging, as well as a unique UI UX challenge, if you can believe that.

I designed the mobile phone cases as pieces of fashion first: more bags or jewelry in terms of how it fits with an ensemble – and it’s meant to be part of an outfit. That meant making the phone plainly legible at a distance with neutral or striking colors. Then making the core design readable within a few feet. Lastly, to add enough detail to be seen up close, say on a desk or eye-level.

The Art Direction I kept purposefully tight, centering around 3 primary hues and breaking my rules as beauty demanded. Simple patterns and geometry make it easier to make vector constructs and move designs around on large surfaces. Repetition of line and shape are also strong motifs of the design – as well as establishing patterns, and then breaking them.

All that’s left to do is polish up the designs a bit, clean up the branding, and then slough all 8 through Printify for manufacturing and distribution.

And, of course, to write a blog on how you too can make your own mobile designs.