But what really nailed it into my memory forever more was The Magic Pencil. It was a great big orange pencil that floated about and wrote letter forms whilst an almost hypnotic voice-over expert repeated a mantra of how to write correctly. The light that activated with each stroke and disembodied nature of this spectacle meant that it genuinely felt like I was witnessing real magic and despite the fact that in hind site it was just a geezer with a black glove on holding it up low-fi style, I was fascinated.
In case none of this is ringing any bells, please watch this video and try to imagine yourself being 6 years old;
Wacom were the corporation to take this concept and realise it to its full potential (from a designers perspective at least) and since leaving infants school for the world of full-time employment I have had various Wacom tablets (pronounced Wakkom), most recently forking out for one of their large Bamboo jobbies. I wish I hadn't bought it now, not that it isn't a fab bit of kit but because this morning I have come across their latest product which to my eyes is nothing short of incredible and has zoomed right to the top of my must-have gadget of the year. It's called Inkling and and will certainly change the way many work forever more - offering a way to go back to basics whilst remaining the highest of hi-tec. It manages to link the joy of direct feedback from using paper and pen replacing the disappointing scratchy plastic nub on a textureless skiddy surface achieved by conventional tablets.
In short, you connect a peripheral to the top of any old page or sketchbook you happy to be most comfortable working from and just draw away whilst it vectorises your image onto the screen. When I saw this promotional video I was awestruck and immediately transported back to the feeling of magic the original Magic Pencil gave me back in '86.
Please take a look for yourselves in more detail at their website: http://www.wacom.eu/index2.asp?pid=9226&lang=en and purchase it here: http://eu.shop.wacom.eu/Inkling for 169 Euros.
PS, I don't work for Wacom.
