Designing GRID, one compartment at a time
How a tray for pens became a system for everything that drifts across a desk.
GRID began as a pen tray. Within a week of testing, it held a phone charger, two USB sticks, a spare key, a roll of tape and a folded receipt nobody wanted to throw away. The brief changed on its own: a desk organiser has to make room for the things you never planned to keep.
Four compartments, three dividers
We settled on a long channel for pens and three square wells, each sized from the objects people actually dropped into the prototype. The dividers lift out, so two wells can become one when a cable bundle needs the space.
Why 35 millimetres
Deep enough that nothing rolls out, shallow enough that you can see everything without leaning over. We tested five heights. At 35 mm, hands found things without looking.
A system rather than a single object
GRID shares its footprint with TRAY and stacks with a second GRID. Its colours match ARC and DOCK, so a desk can grow one object at a time and still look considered.