PPB March 2015

THINK

74 •

PPB

• MARCH 2015

FAST FORWARD

THE MIGHTY PEN

THINK

FAR FROM BECOMING OBSOLETE, WRITING INSTRUMENTS ARE UNDERGOING

A REINVENTION

BY TAMA UNDERWOOD

HO SAYS THERE’S NO PLACE FOR PENS in a modern world?

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City has announced plans to

issue a stylus equipped with near-field communication (NFC) technology to each of its visitors begin-

ning this year. The Pen, as it’s called, has a sensor that reads information from NFC tags embedded in labels on pieces from

the museum’s collection. As visitors tour the museum scanning their favorite design items, The Pen stores the data for

retrieval at special interactive tables where visitors can access images of works in the galleries and sketch their own designs.

At the end of a visit, The Pen is returned and all the objects collected or designed by the

visitor are accessible online through a unique web address printed on every admission ticket.

These can be shared online and stored for later use in subsequent visits to the museum.

In creating the stylus, the museum sought ways to invite visitors to learn about design by designing themselves, rather

than looking at design through the small screen of a more traditional smartphone app. The Pen is meant to encourage visi-

tors to engage with the works on view in the museum.

To convert the concept for The Pen into a robust piece of consumer hardware, Cooper Hewitt worked with an

international team, including GE, Spain-based Sistelnetworks and New York-based strategy and management consult-

ing firm Undercurrent.

Cooper Hewitt reopened in December 2014 after a three-year renovation of its space, the grand Carnegie Mansion

on New York City’s Museum Mile. It’s credited as the nation’s only museum devoted exclusively to historic and contem-

porary design.

TECHNOLOGY