It Started with a problem . . .
Three years ago, my wife Diane was sitting at the kitchen counter, watching TV on her iPad.
“What are you doing?”, I asked.
“I’m watching Fixer Upper,” Diane replied.
“Why are your holding your head like that?”
“Oh, there’s glare on the screen.” Like many of us, she had a folding cover for her tablet. She was tilting her head backwards a little to avoid the glare.
Sensing an opportunity to use power tools, my son Matt and I went out to the garage and made her a wooden tablet stand.
“I love it! It’s perfect!” Diane exclaimed when we presented her with it.
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Trial and Error
A week later, it was under the kitchen counter, out of sight.
I asked “You don’t like it?”
“No, no, I love it! It’s just …. ugly.” It was ugly.
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Matt and I tried again, this time with better wood and a better finish. It stayed in view for just under two weeks.
“You don’t like it?”
“No, no. I love it! It’s just clunky.” It was clunky.
Discouraged but not defeated, we decided to buy Diane a tablet stand, one that would be attractive even when she wasn’t using it. We looked. And looked. Some were okay, not ugly exactly but not really something she wanted to see around the house. Some were ugly and some were just plain weird. One had long legs like a spider. There was no way Diane was letting anything resembling a spider into our house.
Eventually, inspiration struck and we decided to combine a picture frame with a tablet stand. People loved the idea and the PixPad was born.
We had a lot of help along the way. Thank you to everyone who has made this possible.
Six different graphic designers shared their skills and insights to turn our concepts into finished designs, whittling our 31 graphic designs down to the 11 best.
An experienced patent attorney led us on the long and arduous journey of patenting a new product, writing and rewriting our application.
We vetted four different manufacturers and were thrilled to find that the one who was the easiest to work with also offered the highest quality.
Working together as a family has been an amazing experience, bringing us closer and making us appreciate each other more than ever.
We are very happy and proud to make the PixPad available to you. We hope you will love owning it as much as we love bringing it to life.