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Comment by filoleg | Hacker News Reader

Slightly off-topic, but the website design looks like a worse version of Teenage Engineering website (https://teenage.engineering/products/po) with larger font size (a bit too large imo). Not dissing the website though, it isn't that bad overall, just thought it was interesting, since I haven't seen many others attempting that.

EDIT: after a closer look at the page, I realized that they explicitly mentioned partnering with Teenage Engineering on parts of the device design. The website resemblance makes more sense now :)

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Bottom of page:

> By the way, the crank came from our friends at Teenage Engineering. They were our partners for Playdate’s design. Isn’t it nice?

Edit: you took a closer look while I was typing. You're excused. ;)

Upon closer look, they got some nice game development partners too, like Keita Takahashi of Katamari fame. This partnership (with both Teenage Engineering and the likes of Keita Takahashi) seems like a perfect synergy in my eyes. While I am still not super excited about the product yet, I am very glad someone out there is going for stuff like that.

the website design looks like a worse version of Teenage Engineering website

It's a style that Panic has used for years:

https://panic.com/transmit/

Yeesh, that isn’t good on an iPhone.

It's funny, I was also going to comment on how this has a very Teenage Engineering vibe before I found out that they're affiliated :)

Was thinking "this looks like a teenage engineering product" right as "Teenage Engineering" came on screen.

I just checked TE's web site, and it's good to see so many products marked "sold out." I hope it means that people are starting to realize that technology doesn't have to be boring.

In my experience, it does mean exactly that. Went to the local modular synth store (which I like a ton; they have tons of events like weekly meetups, workshops, etc.), and they often tend to run out of Teenage Engineering PO series devices. Talked to the owner (as it is a small shop, so he more often than not works the register himself), and he confirmed that they cannot stop ordering new batches, since they get sold out so quickly. And that's despite the fact that they sell it not any cheaper than through other channels (official website, amazon, etc.).

Can confirm, had to wait a few months before I could get my hands on their PO-33 sampler — one of my most cherished pieces of hardware now and def worth way more than its price tag to me (as someone who doesn’t generally buy music equipment).

I like the visual style.

Ya, it works as an ad, even if I wouldn't want this kind of design for more serious content.

Agreed. It's a great design.

It mostly works well on mobile, but the layout results in hilariously big images on desktop.

The top unit could benefit from scaling to the viewport height. Right now the grey section is 100% the height of the viewport, meaning that scrolling is not an obvious interaction. Having some yellow and text peeking up could make that more intuitive.

It is ridiculous on a 2560x1440 screen. It seems to be designed for a "10ft television" view distance. Much better at 25% zoom.

Not sure why you're being downvoted. The site is awful on desktop - definitely designed for mobile alone. Which seems strange - considering the target market for this.

Ctrl+-- makes it tolerable on desktop.

Speaking of company/product names in the new top-level domains making cool domain hacks that aren’t even really “domain hacks” anymore (like TE’s great one), I was astounded to note yesterday in the giant Apple thread that Apple doesn’t seem to own “macbook.pro”.

Playdate is way more usable on mobile. I can't really read the text of teenage engineering

Thanks for pointing this out. The device instantly reminded me of the Teenage Engineering products, but I didn't read thoroughly.

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