One of my favorite parts of going on road trips when I was younger is listening to the radio in the car. You never know what you’re going to get when you switch through stations. And even at home, tuning in on to a physical radio is always a fun time, something that the new generation may never experience ever. But there are still some radios in the market and even more design concepts for those longing for the “good ole days”.
Designer: Gisung Han
This concept for a radio is an interesting one as it doesn’t just play on the nostalgia of tuning in to the radio. The Calming Noise Radio also harps on both the aural and tactile experience that we had when we operated a physical radio back when people still tuned into it. Since the only tactile feel we get know from listening to music is tapping on our devices, this concept harps on the dials as we go from one radio station to another.
The designer made the dials to be “unusually large” so that visually and tactile-wise it stands out. It actually looks like the wheel in The Price Is Right (for those who actually know what that show is) and is meant to be both familiar and unique. The radio is in a familiar rectangular shape with the felt-like grills giving an interesting contrast with the round wheel of the dials.
The Calming Noise Radio, if it gets turned into an actual radio, will also probably play around with the “subtle static noise” that we get from old radios with the analog frequency adjustment sound. This will of course be pretty strange and unfamiliar for those who grew up in the age of MP3s and music streaming but will bring a nostalgic feeling for those who still get goosebumps from the sound of LPs and cassette tapes.
