Built Together: The Journey from Concept to Mass Production
🕙 6 min read
Dear Friends,
We want to start with a heartfelt thank you for walking this road with us. As we pause to reflect, the distance we've covered feels monumental. To our veteran users, this journey is one you’ve seen unfold; you know exactly how we got here. To those just joining us, we invite you to explore the foundations of our product. Along the way, we’ve encountered everything from kind encouragement to outright doubt, from neutral caution to truly earnest support—all precious memories that shaped who we are today.
Now, let’s revisit the full lifecycle of turning our vision into your reality!
Initial attempt
Core Component Assembly
Initially, we created several prototypes for this project.
Design Exploration
Next, we began experimenting with different aesthetics and considering various forms of expression to convey our core design philosophy.
Color Adjustment
During this process, we utilized water transfer printing technology and experimented with many different color adjustments. This was a very meticulous job, and fine-tuning the color depth proved to be more complex than we initially anticipated.
Content Selection and Challenges
To ensure the best user experience, we aim to extract minute-by-minute quotes from books as much as possible. Although there are many publicly licensed books available, finding the correct quote corresponding to every single minute is not a simple task. Furthermore, with such a massive quantity of quotes—up to hundreds of thousands—how can we guarantee they are all accurate?
Therefore, we decided to follow the example of a past campaign launched by The Guardian, and we recruited literature teachers and students from local universities to collectively gather and verify these quotes. This process is further detailed in our blog: from-zero-to-100000.
UI design
Concurrently, we further iterated the interface design to create a more immersive experience.
First vision
Second version
Final version
Assembly and Trial Production
We chose to collaborate with an ISO 14001 environmental management certified factory for trial production.
The completion of the first trial production run largely met our expectations. There were only a few subtle areas that still required mold adjustments. However, this success provides a solid foundation for our subsequent mass production.
Packaging Design
Beyond the product itself, we place a great deal of importance on the packaging. We want the exterior packaging to reflect a consistent atmosphere that aligns with the aesthetic of our Novellamate Literary Clock. Simplicity and elegance are the core messages we want to convey.
Product Usage
We invited one of our friendly users to experience the product and share her ideas and suggestions to help us with further product refinement.
The Perfect Gift for Bookworms
For my book-loving besties, I often buy them reading-related accessories in addition to books. But now that I've found a literary clock like Novellamate, I know it will absolutely shock them. They will be so surprised by this cool clock, and its appearance is also absolutely gorgeous! Therefore, I believe Novellamate will be the most special gift for anyone who loves reading and aesthetics.
And Where We Go Next
This journey from a spark of an idea to a fully realized product has been an incredible one, and it wouldn't have been possible without your belief in us. The final stage is just around the corner!
The story continues! Our Kickstarter campaign officially launches on November 6th.
Head over to our KS page now and hit that "Follow" button so you don’t miss out on launch day exclusives. Thank you again for all your incredible support and passion!
📢 KickStarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/novellalabs/novellamate-the-literary-clock-that-inspires-your-day
🎁 Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BerSpucEt/
Novellalabs Team
