there is nothing more infuriating than spending an entire day indoors waiting on a delivery, only to find a ‘sorry we missed you’ card pushed through the door the moment your back is turned.
on-going delivery nightmares have been the bane of my life over the past few years, so as soon as i heard about the new ding smart doorbell i was instantly intrigued. designed by husband and wife team john nussey and avril o’neil, the ding doorbell is made up of three parts: a subtle doorbell button, an elegant doorbell chime that sits in the home and a free smartphone app.
whenever someone presses the doorbell button the chime dings, just like a normal doorbell. but unlike a normal doorbell, a voice call is also placed through the ding smartphone app to your mobile, allowing you to talk with the person at your door from anywhere. that’s right, anywhere. whether you’re at the bottom of the garden, up in the loft, or on your holidays halfway across the world. pretty nifty, right?
the beauty of ding is really in it’s simplicity.
rather than trying to make it an all-in-one security cam, smart lock and motion sensor, john and avril wanted to create a product that does exactly what people want it to do: avoid the annoyance of that calling card on the doormat.
“doorbells haven’t evolved to suit our changing lifestyles,” says john. “there are either ‘dumb doorbells’ that come with your house or are bought in a rush from a hardware store. or ‘smart doorbells’ that are driven by technology, offering you more features than you could ever use,” says john. “we have designed the ding smart doorbell to be simple, beautiful and smart, improving the user experience and ensuring its design works elegantly with modern homes.”
in 2015, they entered the ding smart doorbell as part of the design council spark programme, and were awarded funding for being the most innovative product amongst 350 other applicants. then earlier this year, john lewis saw potential in the idea with ding joining their jlab accelerator to help fast track their growth. working alongside industrial design partner map project office and a group of industry advisors ding have already successfully funded their kickstarter campaign to raise $50,000 to take the project into production.
asides from the fact the ding will make my life infinitively easier; what i like most is the unobtrusive minimal design. the button is slim enough to fit on door frames with a simple ‘click in’ installation, while the chime is finished with high quality fabric and can be wall-mounted or conveniently placed on any flat surface. the product is initially being offered in charcoal grey but kickstarter backers can also vote on a limited edition colour option of teal, cobalt or salmon.
what are you waiting for? there’s still time for you to throw your weight behind the kickstarter campaign and secure your own ding doorbell on pre-order, due to ship in august 2017. i can’t wait to receive mine!
8 Responses
possibly the prettiest doorbell and speaker I’ve seen in a while and likely the first time I’ve ever said that! really like!
How clever and what a stylish little thing! Have a great weekend. x
Awesome piece of kit! Nice that it looks good too :)
Wow, what a clever idea! I love the minimal design of it. I wonder what caller’s reactions will be when you suddenly start talking to them though? I can imagine some rather surprised reactions!
Wow eine sehr gute Idee, das werde ich ausprobieren! :)
A very nice idea to use the smart doorbell. Just a quick suggestion, we can also try using security cameras at door for the more safety.
Amazing Article.Thanks for sharing !
I have come to this while searching for “simple smart doorbell” that would ring inside the house AND in my garden office. Simple concept that seems to be infuriatingly hard to find because they are all very expensive video devices that don’t seem to work, from the reviews. So thanks for the blog post, but I am dismayed to find that in March 2018 it is still in the “pre order” phase.