Mac book Air,’ Apple’s latest master-piece, is the world’s thinnest laptop ever. However, here in the U.K, we still use the world’s biggest three-pin plug. Most people carry laptops with adapters and plugs because laptop batteries have limitations on the time they can be used. When people carry laptops with U.K plugs in a bag, it always causes problems such as tearing paper, scratching laptop surfaces and, sometimes, it breaks other stuff. The main problem is the UK standard 3-pin plug is not considered in the process of designing for mobility. My all intention of the project was directed to make the plug as slim as possible and follow the British Standard regulation at the same time. ‘Folding Plug’ changes the shape form the normal U.K plug into a 10mm thickness object, solving these damaging problems.

The ‘Folding Plug’ is also advantageous when people have to travel aboard. People normally carry up to three electronic devices for their long-term journey, such as a mobile phone, a digital camera or an iPod, However, we usually carry only one universal plug. Whilst multi-plug adapters and USB chargers allow us to use one plug socket for many devices, they are still bulky objects. The flat properties of my folding plug have inspired the development of a multi-plug adapter that also performs in space-saving ways. By using the folding plug whilst it is folded, ‘Multi Flat Plug’ and ‘USB Charger’ allows for 3 devices to be plugged into the mains, but only inhabiting a little more space than a standard 3-pin UK plug.

Min-Kyu Choi