A while back, a technology blog wrote some lovely words about the INQ¹ packaging, and threw in a question too:

  ”This is undoubtedly the coolest phone box we’ve ever seen. What on earth has a DJ/geisha got to do with a mobile phone that offers integrated Facebook and Skype? It makes no sense, but you will stare at it for longer than is healthy - as you will with the colourful instruction cards inside.”

 Thought we’d tell you why today.

At INQ we make a new type of handset - the Social Mobile -  designed for the way people communicate today. The services we’ve built into the device are there to be used, and not sit stranded and unwanted in some obscure sub-menu. 

Communication is at the heart of everything we do. We express this in our brand through one of its most striking and creative aspects: art. Not in any lofty way, but in vibrant and streetwise forms: illustration, comics, film - whatever we like really, whatever catches our eye. 

With the INQ¹ box we wanted to create an object of beauty - something to cherish not chuck. All too often, packaging needs up in landfills, or recycling bins at best. While we’d like people to keep it, use it and treasure it.

When we design our handsets we remix and edit internet services so that the play best on a mobile. Similarly, we remixed the idea of a box and made it into a place to display artwork.  The box art, and the illustrations on the help cards, come from people whose work we really like. You can check them all out here.

 A big shout out to Yuko Shimizu, our box artist. Her name and URL are rightly credited on the box. 

 Yuko, we love your work.