British consumer tech start-up Nothing has recently announced the stage 1 winner of its Nothing Phone 2a Community Edition Project, with Kenta Akasaki and Astrid Vanhyuse from London emerging victorious in the "Hardware Design" category for their Phone 2a concept named Phosphorescence. This innovative concept showcases a green-tinted phosphorescent material element on the phone's back that emits a gentle glow in the dark, inspired by the analogue properties seen in the watch industry, aiming to be both aesthetic and functional by helping users locate their phone in low-light conditions. Nothing stated that this unique feature can last for hours in the dark before gradually fading and recharging in daylight.
The winners of the first stage of the project will now have the opportunity to collaborate with Nothing's Industrial Design Team and R&D team to transform their concept into a physical reality. Following the conclusion of stage 1, Nothing has initiated the second stage for the project, inviting participants to submit wallpaper designs for the upcoming community edition phone. Entrants for this stage are required to provide a series of four wallpapers that can complement the winning hardware design, with submissions open until May 15.
Subsequent stages after the wallpaper designing phase will include packaging design in June and a marketing campaign in July, as part of Nothing's overarching vision to involve its community members in the creation process of the Phone 2a smartphone. Winners of each stage will have the opportunity to work closely with the company in contributing towards the development of the new Phone 2a model, which will be launched once the entire creative process reaches its conclusion. The Community Edition Project by Nothing, unveiled earlier this year, seeks to engage participants in designing, packaging, and customizing a specialized version of the Phone 2a smartphone through a series of collaborative stages.