"The ball point pen has always been my preferred tool when designing; It is a tool I carry everywhere I go, because you never know when inspiration will strike. I wanted to take advantage of something I always had with me by transforming it into a tool that I could use when away from my other tools. Alt pen would allow users to fix things rather than throwing them away because of simply lacking the proper tools."
Video by Dose Pictures based in Chicago. See more on Kickstarter.
The inspiration behind the Alt pen was all about precision, detail, and minimalist design.
When designing the Alt Pen, my priority was to ensure the outer diameter of the pen body was competitive with other pens on the market; this proved challenging because of the the internal structure, but I was able to get the diameter to be ~9.8 mm. The next big challenge was the pen bit design.
The pen bit is the part that fits over the top of the ink refill—It seems like such a small part, but it is the driving force behind the functionality and aesthetic of the Alt Pen. I had to develop a design that would front load and retain the ink refill while ensuring that the visibility of the pen tip was not hindered.
The last major challenge was to figure out how to retain a maximum amount of tool bits within the body of the Alt Pen while ensure the overall dimensions of the pen body would stay competitive with other pens on the market. If that wasn’t difficult enough, I also had to eliminate all noise that might be caused from metal tools stored in a metal body. Long story short, these challenges were overcome.
Multiple CMF directions were developed. The goal was to create options that could fit into the everyday carry of consumers. I closely examined what people were buying, as well as the colors and materials that were trending to come up with the options shown above.
The pen bit is held in place magnetically, allowing for a the ink refill to be quickly swapped out. This magnetic retention also holds the tool bits in place.
Alt pen was designed in both satin bead-blasted Aluminum and mirror polished stainless steel.
Alt pen with 8 precision tool bits, the pen bit, and a D1 ink refill.
The packaging that Alt pen will ship in also doubles as a premium case for the pen and all its tools. This box is designed to be both durable for shipping and for use as a case to keep all of your tools secured with Alt pen.
The rear storage holds up to 4 precision tool bits each secured by a magnetic compression cap. The magnetic cap allows the tool bits to be easily removed and also suppresses the tool bits to eliminate rattling noises; this gives you a premium user experience that most similar tools cannot provide.
Video by Dose Pictures based in Chicago. See more on Kickstarter.
Photos by Candace Carson
The Alt pen is the perfect item to add to your everyday carry. It is an unobtrusive tool that provides immense value to the user.
