Responses by Hannah Shevell, managing director, AKQA Amsterdam.
Background: The purpose of Digital Paper is to innovate within writing culture by introducing the first luxury e-writing device of its kind, made by the most iconic writing brand in the world. For nearly 120 years, Montblanc has obsessed over every detail of writing, but it has not remained stagnant as a business. Instead, it’s looking forward, transforming new products into devices that will forever preserve the act of writing. This is the purpose behind Digital Paper—to embody the values of Montblanc and to “inspire writing” in the form of this new device.
Although the audience for Montblanc is typically for the affluent traveller or business-minded millennial, AKQA and Montblanc made this product with the thinking that it could suit the needs of anyone who appreciates the emotional, symbolic and functional benefits of writing.
Design thinking: When we started the north star vision with Montblanc, we sought to design a product that served as an invitation to reimagine writing for the digital age, to make it more deliberate, more human and more vital than ever before. More than two years of thinking went into the solution of this project. From the vision to the user experience, features and functionality, the design system and a bespoke set of icons, to the hardware design and haptics of how the pen feels as it hits the screen—we worked hand-in-hand with Montblanc to ensure that every detail feels uniquely elevated and definitive of its brand. An intuitive user experience is always at the core of our design thinking, so paired with brand cues and features we felt should suit the needs of our audience, are the core of our solution.
Challenges: While the strongest aspect of this project was the partnership itself—with Felix Obschonka, director of new technologies at Montblanc as our main client for more than two years—the project’s development had its ebbs and flows. An example of that is the device’s e-ink display: the technology is analog in nature, with ink particles drawn to the edge of the screen as the pen’s electromagnetic field passes over the display. While this brings benefits of a natural writing experience and better battery life, it also comes with its own limitations in refresh rates and color. The challenge was to harness and lean into the benefits and beauty of analog instead of seeing limitations: a beautiful dance between creativity and pushing technical boundaries, only achievable through collaboration of all disciplines of product development.
Favorite details: I’m most proud of how we managed to stay true to the heritage of Montblanc, a brand that embodies the mission of inspiring writing across demographics and cultures in everything they do and stand for. Everything from the value proposition to the identity concept is taken from a relentless focus on that calling. Together, we want people to write more now with the reassurance that whatever you write fits into the ecosystem of their lives, securely stored in the cloud. It’s that simple. That thinking fuels the concept of the identity system, as well as why we started dissecting the anatomy of the lines drawn with a fountain pen. The angle, the flow of ink, the feeling—everything is derived from that, from the operating system to the craft of the icons and the precision of the experience design.
New lessons: One thing I learned with this project is how our role can take many different shapes and sizes with clients. We started out working with the Montblanc team on a steady and fixed project to define vision, UX and design. We ended up working with them for another two years as consultants. Although the scope became leaner, our value input through the project remained, and we learned how to cast for more prolonged projects. This consultancy model is now a way of working for us with many of our clients, and it began for the AKQA Amsterdam studio largely with Montblanc.
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