Revolutionary Calculator by Alexander Hulme

Alexander Hulme has designed a pocket calculator with a cut-and-paste style memory. Inspired by people scribbling numbers on scraps of paper, it features two extra LCD screens that are used as buttons to store figures. It also features an in-line display, with the ability to go back and forwards to check and edit calculations.

The project uses several LCD screens as buttons giving an interaction closer to a webpage than a traditional consumer product. In many ways the calculator is a bit of a forgotten object. Although there are a many designs out there, very few look at more than the exterior casing. As a result, the pocket calculator hasn’t really changed functionally in over 40 years.

By trying to understand an object like this as part of a system (In this case, one working out sums), it’s shortcomings quite quickly become apparent. Problems like hiding away numbers you really need to see or not being able to go back and change things. Simple problems that somehow have never been addressed, mainly because the existing archetype is so intrenched. Watch this video to see how it works.