To a certain degree, I do have a history with photography; be it solely the faded memory of analogue photography and developing (I'm a college dropout, but that's another story), my great appreciation for looking at nice images, and the personal experiences with my own digital cameras for over 10 years.

In other words, I had no knowledge about the mechanism or manufacturing of... any machinery, really.

Intrigued and curious as I was, I accepted his proposal and we had our first video chat where he explained the overall idea and the accessory grandness and risks of the whole project, as well as the rather short period of time to reach the deadline of the official kickstarter which went public in November 2017.

I am no product developer, so besides perhaps an occasional personal opinion, or a further approach based on my sketches, I'm not taking credit for the product design.

Many of the subjoined images were based on documentation that was provided by Laurence and his team, and will most likely deviate from the current model.

The first thing on the list was vectorising the logo that, at that time,

had already taken shape in form of a pixel based image.

Later on, after several variations, tweaking the crossbar, height and such,

the f-monogram would eventually disappear to be replaced by the 'Reflex' wordmark.

In the course of developing these two totally different designs, there were many other things there had to be taken care of. 

Because of the uncertain whereabouts of analogue photography on the market, one of the bigger challenges would be to gather the right parties to back the project.

One of the strategies would be to create a series of sketches to attract the target-audience. We wanted to make sure that, next to the updates and integration of modern technology and materials, the customer still would recognise the legacy and proper values of an old 35mm camera.

It was inevitable that changes would be made along the proces, so I really wanted to provide myself with a vector-based image, in order to make the adjustments of the pixel-based easier and less time-consuming.

The following image is a sketch based on a 3D model I was given.

Meanwhile, I was asked if I could give the model some suiting materials and textures, so I learned my first steps into Blender, although it was in too short of a time to actually deliver anything good at that point.

Meanwhile, I'm stepping up my 3D game, and it comes in handy every once in a while,

but it's not something I want to pursue as a professional skill.

I myself am really into the typography and lettering side of graphic design, so I wanted to create an authentic crafted sketch of the 'F'-logo in the beginning, something I thought Laurence would appreciate also.

I stumbled upon some 'irregularities' or 'uncommonness' along the shape,

but I still think the design has a certain charme to it.

Of course, the product was not all about making it just look pretty.

There were many technical difficulties we encountered while creating the first detailed parts of the camera. It's one thing to give it a look, but it's something different when you need to provide the manufacturer with the correct files and data.

Here's a small part of the trial and error in the making:

Sketch of one of the camera dials, based on the 3D model made by Xavier Guerra.

Ideas for the web colour schemes

For those fast few months, the whole experience did leave me with a variety of mixed (yet always positive) feelings. Perhaps this bit might give a bad impression, but that would be absolutely untrue. To be very clear, I am just the kind of person who easily accepts all the good in peace, but can linger on for hours about the smallest possibility of improvement.

I think the most 'negative' part was me eventually being concerned whether I was the right guy for the job, or at least some parts of the job, or not. I love a good challenge and the broadening of knowledge and skills that comes with it, but since there was quite some stuff to accomplish on a short period of time, it was hard to put the right amount of finesse in every step. I'm fast at what I do good, but then again, I also like to take time when it comes to the creative proces, or whenever I don't feel sure about something, before I hand something in.

One other difficulty, sometimes, was communication. Meaning; I've never had a client who was working along, but whom I could never talk to in person, like; sit around the table. The only communication went via video chat or messenger, and it's a rather hard (funny at times) task to ask or explain something in technical details. After every meeting, I had my desktop literally filled with screenshots covered in quick mobile-phone-hard-brush-like indications, along with a Notes- or TextEdit-file filled with abstract markings quickly typed down while handling out information,...

On the positive side, I've learned a lot. Really, loads.

I've learned new skills, software, shortcuts (gotta love shortcuts!), new work manners as well as work ethics,... I've learned how to define the boundaries of my possible services as a graphic designer a little better, as well as where to be more transparent towards a client in many aspects. I've taught myself that the value of my function is equally important to the wishes of a client, and that I should be able to share that knowledge, since Laurence was very open towards my personal findings.

I was also given the possibility to gain new perspectives on marketing, on a larger scale than I was familiar with.

I've learned that, next to the somewhat bothersome experience I shared before, our way of communicating must be an achievable way of communicating, as long as it's properly prepared and thus constructive in general.

To wrap this up, I'd like to thank Laurence for the opportunity.

He and I go back quite some time now (+15 years or so?). I later even found out we went to the same art school in Antwerp (at different times).

We met each other when we were both quite a bit more active as musicians, and we ended up playing in the same band. I was violently sweating my ass off behind the drums while he was taking over the crowd with his unpredictable moves as our frontman.

Eventually, Laurence moved to London, and apart from an occasional birthday greeting on Facebook or whatever, a couple of years went by without having any genuine contact, so I was quite surprised when, all of a sudden, I received a message in my inbox.

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As for now, about a year later, Reflex reached its Kickstarter goals, production is going, and I'm pretty sure I can come back to you soon with an update.

Laurence Von Thomas - Design and Founder of Reflex

Xavier Guerra - Junior Designer/CAD Drafter

Simon Barnett - Production and Mechanical Engineer

David Riesenberg - Consultant Design and Mechanical Design

Dominic Lane - Consultant Prototyping and Electronics

Abtech Precision Engineering - Prototyping and Parts Machining

Carla Cabras - Graphic Design and Layout

Parallax Coop - Product Photography