How do you design your tech for a culture that prioritizes floor seating? Your entire approach to stands, accessories, angles, and usage need to go through a dramatic phase-shift. That’s what happened prior to designing The Folio, when Samsung Design Delhi conducted their research to realize that most middle-class families in the global south resorted to low-height seating (carpets, mattresses, floors, etc.) – something traditional laptops and tablets never considered.
The Folio is an Android-based tablet with a simple design upgrade. Instead of featuring a stand that angles the tablet upwards (the way you would with most tablets), the Folio sports a dual-kickstand design that lifts the entire tablet up by around half a foot, enabling floor-seated usage. The kickstands can be used regularly too, propping your tablet up in the default manner – but this hovering table-like stand design uniquely benefits The Folio’s target audience, who can use the tablet to play, read, learn, etc.
Designer: Samsung Design Delhi (SDD), Samsung India Electronics Pvt. Ltd.
“The Folio is the first ever Floor Table Display with [an] iconic Dual Kickstand allowing various lockable angles of viewing in both landscape and portrait formats while placed on the floor,” says the Samsung Design Delhi team, who won the iF Design Award for their concept. “It combines the richness of larger screen displays with the essence of portability from the smaller screens.”
The Folio takes on a unique challenge but comes up with a fairly simple and clever solution. The tablet doesn’t have to be dramatically different – just its kickstand does. The accessory attaches to the tablet with dual kickstands and the ability to rotate your tablet freely. This unlocks a whole myriad of docking angles and styles, the most important of which is the hovering-type dock that gives people the ability to use the tablet while seated on the floor without hunching over.
The Folio’s design magic shouldn’t just be limited to Samsung’s tablets – I can totally see this being an accessory that works with all sorts of budget tablets, making tech-fueled learning more accessible in the global south without really having to change cultural practices. Who knows, maybe it could serve additional roles too, like having storage for styluses, working as a multiport hub, or just being an extended battery pack for a power boost!
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