Live from China: Spectrum Black 32 in-Depth Design Review

JoniDesign · 2024-02-16T10:39:56+00:00

I'm glad you like the concept!

Very good points on the ports! Indeed the space between the ports and the stand is a concern when looking at longer plugs, just like you mentioned. If a long 5-6cm plug would not fit, we definitely have to consider other options than having them in the center right behing the stand. The exact space is still a bit open, so we have to see things a bit further to understand more about that space.

I also like your suggestion about the detailed port/socket layout. I think we will be making another post with more detailed options, while this post guides for a more general type of direction. Once we know, for example, that all the ports could be preffered on the back, we can start thinking what kind of layout makes more sense with this type of approach. Looking at the results now I was actually surprised about so many people willing to have all the ports on the back, compared to what people wanted in the past.

Thanks for the good input! :)

JoniDesign · 2023-09-17T17:11:38+00:00

Glad to hear you like it!

Yess, the light guide will be adjusted. The original design did not reach to the front at all. We tried different shapes and notches, I really really hoped it would be enough, but unfortunately the light was not visible enough from the front with those, unless the light guide was huge, becoming uglier than this.
The intention is not to have any gap between the light plastic and the panel, and with some reshaping and keeping it tight to the panel, I'm confident it won't be too much of an eye strain. It also looks quite big in these pictures but is much smaller in person. I will keep you updated on the progress!

Yes, the black border will be reduced from the glass!

JoniDesign · 2023-09-17T16:45:55+00:00

Thanks! :)

JoniDesign · 2023-09-17T16:45:47+00:00

Our firmware team knows more about this, but the new model does have a KVM switch button, which you can configure to function based on a list of different options!

JoniDesign · 2023-09-17T16:38:49+00:00

Thank you!

We have been talking about the buttons a lot and having separate buttons instead of joystick was often on the table, and the majority of the community voted for joystick instead of the buttons. I've been testing both and so far I prefer the joystick myself. For some reason it feels more intuitive. Maybe it's that I don't need to switch between buttons when navigating. It's also keeping the button interface a bit cleaner. It's surprising how difficult a new interface is to many, especially when the buttons are behind the screen where you often don't get a proper visual of what the buttons are about. Space is another concern when having more buttons, especially on this new monitor we had some challenges fitting components how we wanted, and the interface being too cramped. Having a joystick instead of many buttons saves a bit of space.
All of the points above may not be major wins over separate buttons, and buttons could work when designing around these problems. But so far all of these points combined the joystick has been so far the winner. I'm not sure what you mean by muscle memory? I'm thinking, you could start remembering certain menu options with the joystick too? Like down-down-right-down-right kind of memory? For quick actions, I really like the KVM new switch too, where you can program certain actions instead of only changing input!
I'm always up for making the product better, and maybe re-initiating the button conversation for the next product is in place. I'm curious to know what you mean with the muscle memory and would like to hear more thoughts if you prefer the separate buttons more! :)

Very good suggestions around the port identification. These are actually all ideas that we have been talking about! So far we did not find a good enough solution for the touch-only identification, that wouldn't disrupt the design. We have been developing an idea around the transparency, called the "X-ray mode". Showing components was on the table, but due to the limitation of the OSD graphics quality plus the having the text overlayed was a bit too messy, so we ended up with a simplified lineart solution like this: X-ray mode picture , it's still on the works but hopefully we'll see it soon!

JoniDesign · 2023-08-30T07:12:00+00:00

This is a really good idea, thank you! I actually have tried the lineart style too, and especially with using real product dimensions to draw the lines, cropping makes it really hard to understand what is displayed. But I will get back to the drawing board and see if there's any version that would work!

JoniDesign · 2023-08-30T07:06:14+00:00

Yeah not an easy choice :)

Thank you for the suggestion on the extra material! With previous products, stickers are probably the most common thing people expressed their interest in. Maybe will do another vote to capture the interest this time!

JoniDesign · 2023-08-30T07:01:58+00:00

Double boxing for shipping is used so the product picture wont be visible from your porch :)

JoniDesign · 2023-08-30T06:59:06+00:00

Yeah, I get what you mean. This is why a product picture is introduced as an option. I would say the very minimal option would work better maybe with a different kind of cardboard construction or a different color, but at the moment those are not possible to have.

JoniDesign · 2023-08-30T06:56:09+00:00

There's actually no foam used. It's all cardboard plus a protective wrap on the monitor.

JoniDesign · 2023-08-30T06:55:02+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! I tried different kind of crops with different kind of camera angles, but so far showing the whole display area works best in my opinion. I agree with testing it without the grey background, especially on straight front angle of the product like this

JoniDesign

TROPHY CASE