Map recently designed a clever build-it-yourself screen kit for Kano that allows children to create their own high definition screen. The Screen Kit encourages learning and educates kids about the components that make up a screen and how it functions. The Screen Kit is designed to work together with the remaining Kano components but with an HDMI connectivity it can also be used with other devices too.
Map worked collaboratively with the Kano team to design the Screen Kit, and the resulting product encourages learning and educates kids about the components that make up a screen and how it functions. Map has partnered with Kano to design all of the core products in the Kano family. For continuity, both partners wanted the Screen Kit to share the design strategy and build-your-own approach as the Kano Kit. The assembly process of the Screen Kit is a learning platform for children that allows them to discover what each component is, how it functions and what part it plays in making the screen work.
"We're really happy to be continuing our creative partnership with Kano. Since the original Kano Kit launched, a screen has been the number one request from the Kano community," commented Jon Marshall, Director of Map. "We're proud to have created something that not only integrates beautifully with the Kano Kit, providing organisation and portability but also deconstructs the elements of a screen allowing users to build it themselves and learn about the technology."
The design reveals the three main elements of a screen: the LCD display panel, the display driver circuit board housed under a transparent window, and the button board for adjusting display settings. Kids build the screen and make cable connections themselves, guided through the process with an illustrated storybook.
The screen has a distinctive wedge shape incorporating a number of subtle innovations. The wedge allows for two orientations, a vertical desktop mode or a horizontal laptop mode. The depth of the wedge creates stability and the perfect angle to view the screen in both orientations. And finally,the wedge shape also creates a cavity space behind the thin LCD display panel to allow the Kano case with the Raspberry Pi 2 to be clipped in place and neatly connected with an HDMI cable to the Screen.
When not in use, the screen has been designed to neatly store all the elements of the Kano Kit making it portable. The keyboard slides into the back and creates a pocket, which acts as storage for the power block and cables.