The ZINK Pen was third place winner in the future category for redefining what a pen is in the digital age. The ZINK Pen uniquely centers the user interaction around a piece of ZINK Paper® rather than on a computer monitor. It also leverages the size advantage of Zero Ink®, defining the meaning of true mobile printing.

With a Zink Pen and a cell phone could any piece of paper become an interface? This is the question that drove our team towards the final concept for the Zink Pen. The idea behind a graphical user interface or GUI has been around for over thirty years. After the advent of the computer mouse in the late 1970’s users were able to reach into the computer and manipulate these interfaces for the first time. For the next thirty years interfaces have followed the same basic principle; allow the user to access and manipulate the data presented on screen. This principle has only changed slightly as technology has advanced, the mouse is now being taken over by the touch screen and the touch screen is being changed with the introduction of gestures. With all of these solutions however the constant has always been the screen or display, and the method of input has been the variable. With Zink we saw the first opportunity for an input method to determine an interface.

The Zink Pen puts the control back in the hands of the user. The Zink Pen combines portable scanning and Zink technology to forever change printing. With a simple Bluetooth connection to a users cell phone the Zink Pen becomes a computer without a keyboard or display. An artist now has the ability to create using only one tool that is limited solely by their imagination. The businessman is able to create and print documents, contact lists, and presentations, virtually anywhere. The student is able to query Google, share photos, create, and play games, all in the pages of their notebooks.

A description of the Zink Pen may be best explained with a simple game such as tic-tac-toe. If a user was to draw a tic-tac-toe grid on a piece of paper and place an X or O in one of the nine squares, the pen can then be placed on its side and slid across the drawing and would print an opposite letter in another square. The user now has the ability to play against the computer all within the physical world. Taking this example and applying it to other applications such a Google query starts to lead to more intriguing possibilities. Can a user Google in a notebook? Or write in a certain sized font?

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Who is Jeffrey Gerlach

I am currently a student in the Industrial and Interaction Design program at Syracuse University. I have been there for four years, and will be completing my thesis/graduating next year. My experiences of going to college far away from home and a studying for a semester in London have given me a passion for travel and experiencing other cultures. Design, for me is a way of sharing experiences.

An emerging technology that has not widely been put into application is incredibly exciting to design for. It requires good use of storyboarding and user centered design in order to find the convergence of needs opportunities now and in the future. This makes a competition like the Zero Boundaries contest very interesting to participate in and even more interesting to see all the submissions.

Who is Nicholas Matarese

I am going into my 5th year at Syracuse University studying Industrial and Interaction Design. Much of my inspirations comes from talking to, and learning about, people’s experiences in their every day lives. I hope to better and enrich a persons life through design.

I feel that the Zink Zero-Boundaries competition allowed me to view the world in an entirely new way. When I first learned that Zink was aiming to move the printer off the desk and out of the office my imagination started to run wild. The technology has so many possibilities and I am excited to see what the future brings.