Discover PocketMod. The low-tech PDA.
The PocketMod website lets you create tiny 8-page booklets that fold together from a single letter size sheet of paper. You can print one on your laser printer, fold it together, and carry it around, well, in your pocket.
The hardest part is deciphering the cryptic folding instructions.
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It takes some time and patience to figure out. But once you master the technique, assembling these tiny books becomes quite addictive.
PocketMod sells its concept as a low-tech replacement for a Personal Data Assistant (PDA). Yet, somehow we don't see many of our clients switching their time-management system to a folded sheet of paper.
Still, it is a fun project -- and who knows? A PocketMod template might be an innovative solution for some client's design problem. Plus we do admire an interesting folding dummy when we see one.
Want to build your own PocketMod?
The PocketMod website provides a flash-based application that invites you to design your own PocketMod using a variety of pre-designed calendars, to-do lists, SuDuko puzzles, etc.
If you'd like design your own unique PocketMod, there is a PDF to PocketMod converter that converts PDF documents into the PocketMod folding dummy. However this utility only runs in Microsoft Windows (or on a new Intel Mac with Windows installed).
For designers with no access to a Windows computer, we've created two simple folding dummies you can use as a template for your own creation. Open or place in any program that supports PDF.
PocketMod Template Numbered.pdf A simple PocketMod template with the pages numbered to help you create the appropriate layout.
Tiny Troubleshooting Guide.
This looked like fun. So we decided to develop a couple tiny PocketMod-style booklets that might be useful for our Mac-based creative clients. Here is a link to our first PocketMod creation:
Tiny Guide #1: My Mac Won't Start! A tiny troubleshooting guide for the designer faced with a blinking question mark or a grey screen. Print it out, fold it up, and keep it handy in case your computer acts up!
Tell us what you think. If we get some good feedback from this first experiment, we've got a couple more PocketMod ideas to share.
Comments
The really cool part is that you actually get two for ones price.
Unfold your pocketmod, flip it over and fold it again, and you have another one....
Posted by: madsh | June 22, 2006 06:27 PM
Why don't you post these in .swf form so we could import them directly into the pocketmod program. You could create them all under one file so we could do that.
Posted by: Bill | October 29, 2006 02:31 PM
Hi,
Pocketmod users might also find useful a pocketmod template in DOC format that I created here
Posted by: EyesOfCalvin | February 12, 2007 04:14 AM