With a view to promoting innovation in the desktop printers industry, Artefact design studio has unveiled its See What You Print (or SWYP) concept printer, operated via a touchscreen interface. SWYP aims to simplify and accelerate the task of printing by combining features of simple photo editing and immediate printing in one unit, which enables users to see exactly what the printed page will look like.
SWYP's touchscreen interface allows users to load an image or document, crop or rotate it, and finally initiate printing when the editing is done by swiping it downward. There are no more unwanted printouts - the results are always predictable, given the fact that the screen is calibrated to the printer.
The unit connects automatically and wirelessly to a camera or any other photographic device to facilitate uploading images. SWYP's boxed shape is intended to resemble a ream of paper, while its unfolding paper tray is covered with fabric and also serves as an on/off switch operated by opening and closing the tray. While many users of desktop printers mainly complain about the cost of ink cartridges, however, the Artefact designers do not mention this issue at all.
It's not that hard to imagine such a printer becoming a reality, but Artefact does not intend its project to become a retail product at this point. SWYP is only intended to illustrate "that it is possible to innovate in very mature and stagnant markets."
The following video presents how such a printer could work:
