The story behind the design choices: Why do I choose anchor, sailboat, and compass to replace the gear and lightbulb?
There is always some sort of story behind a purposeful design, I like reading those stories with I join a Group Buy, but this time I was a bit hesitant in sharing the story as it can sound a bit corny. Now I feel it is important that I share why I made the choices, given the divergent opinions on the 'drastically different looking board' here being discussed. I do believe everyone has provided a lot of value in their feedback, and I am sure some will be taken into account as I keep finetuning things. Some of the comments are confirming my prior beliefs about some additional changes. As I am not in a hurry to run a Group Buy given CyberVoyager production is in progress, more feedback sparks more thinking, and is always beneficial to the board design as well as future owners of the board.
With the preamble out of the way, here are mainly two rationales behind this design choice.
First, I have no intention of replicating Think6.5 R1 because it is not fun and not challenging as an enthusiast. Further, I do not participate in the group buy profit sharing and replication of Think6.5 R1 will not make sense for me. Therefore, the question is, do I change the design elements for R2, or keep the design elements and just modify the structure (to gasket)? I opt for a refreshing design that has the potential to be aesthetically more pleasing than the R1 design.
Second, back to the meaning of the design. It was not meant to be a "nautical" theme. In a literal sense, it is nautical; yet at a higher level, the thinking process has little to do with nautical. To start off, I already had a replicated design last year for R2 based on the R1 design with a new gasket structure added. But as I pick up the project now, I want to divert from the original design to add elements that are more meaningful for 2020. The anchor came from my wife's idea of "refuse to sink," as the world is sinking to some extent; and then the sailboat and compass are lucky icons in many cultures that symbolize peace and success in life, be it the status quo or your new adventures. And the symbolic value is that I hope everyone's life will anchor in a safe haven. In terms of the design, the anchor is made to shape like a "T" in Think, and I have designed other original Think elements (e.g., lightbulb badge) that are not yet shown here. To be honest, I feel 2020 is a special year and it may never get old. But I do consider removing 2020 from the 2U badge. With all the above said, the overall design flavor is actually very close to Think6.5 (same angle, similar chamfers, and trying to be a good looking minimalist design).
In anyway, this design story is not intended to change your opinion of the design. Aesthetics can be a tricky thing, particularly design elements that pop out visually. So apparently this sequel to Think6.5 will not be in everyone's taste. But with me sharing the context and design thinking process, at least you are aware that these are not random elements placed together. And as more badges are released and some are perhaps modified, I hope they will at least salvage some friends' love for the original Think6.5.
Lastly, quite a few people DM'd to ask me about whether I have any plan to do a replication of Think6.5 R1 version as a group buy. Regretfully, I will not. As I mentioned above, I am not interested in running the same GB twice, particularly as I am not participating on the financial side (e.g., profit-sharing) of the Group Buys. I am happy enough and grateful that AirPotter and Gray Studio help me materialize my design visions into actual products. I have released all my parts of the copyright of Original Think6.5 to AirPotter so it is up to him if he chooses to run in the future.
