Mobile Distress is a machine for cosmetic fracture design. It imprints devices with semi-random fracture patterns – permanent visual histories – in a controlled and safe manner. This process introduces the aesthetics of distress and decay to consumer electronics, and in doing so resists narratives of progress and newness embodied in product design.

The base of the machine is a Pioneer B20Fu20-51FW 8″ Full Range Driver, driven by a SURE AA-AB009 Amp Board, whose coil controls a threaded rod with an attached dremel bit. These parts are housed in a custom, acrylic structure. The bit rests above the phone, which the user manually positions to produce the desired fracturing.

In the case of denim or leather products, visible erosion of the material is a marker of value. We enjoy the aesthetic of a worn leather belt, whose signs of wear suggest a sort of history. This type of enjoyment doesn’t seem possible with electronics, in which visible erosion indicates dysfunction and low use-value. Electronics are not generally designed to erode elegantly. Still, the pristine condition is not necessarily a sustainable aesthetic for electronic products, since breakage is an inevitable reality. This is especially evident with smartphone screens, which shatter easily. A shattered iPhone is distinct from all other iPhones, and regardless of functionality, and ceases to perform as a social marker. Shattering an iPhone violates the narratives of a mass-produced design object, destined for obsolescence. If a screen-scar doesn’t affect functionality, its interpretation remains ambiguous. One might posit a culture that embraces the partial destruction of screens, in which the threshold between our physical and digital bodies is a site of aesthetic exploration. A shattered screen relates information about the history of the screen and the identity of the screen owner. A deliberately shattered screen shows self-awareness with regard to the limitations of technology.

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