The name
We combined the two key components of the SQUAVE’s shape: the ‘SQUAre’ and the ‘wAVE’, hence the derivation of the name ‘SQUAVE’.
The shape
The original concept behind the shape was that we wanted to offer something a little different. Sure, a regular square, rectangle or circle would have been more conventional but that's just not how we do things.
We wanted to create something that people would be drawn to, would easily recognise and would like to collect. Something a little different that stands out from the competition.
We tested numerous early designs and prototypes using various shapes, taking on board plenty of feedback along the way! In fact, we even took our first steps into the world of 3D printing so that we could print prototypes to actually see, hold, touch and feel the SQUAVEs.
The tessellation
Whilst deciding on a shape, we knew that we wanted something that would fit together as a collection - some kind of jigsaw puzzle or tessellation, so we also had that as a criteria in evaluating our shortlist.
A tessellation is a special type of tiling - a pattern of geometric shapes that fill a two-dimensional space with no gaps and no overlaps that repeats forever in all directions.
The shape allows collectors to arrange their SQUAVEs into any groupings and layouts that they desire while still always forming a ‘tessellation’.
The size
During our prototyping we tried various sizes and thicknesses for the SQUAVE before making a final decision. Smaller sizes had insufficient real estate for the placement of the image, while the larger sizes worked fine when viewed in isolation, but soon became too big when several SQUAVEs were placed together as a collection.
The final size has an overall outside height and width of about 56mm.
The material
Similar to the evolution of the shape, we tried and tested various materials before we landed on the finished product. Plastic, timber, paper, cardboard, glass, steel and various composites were all tried in the prototyping phase before we finally landed on aluminium.
Aluminium seemed to give us the right balance of a quality feel and a great weight - not too heavy for people to carry around and not too fragile so that it would break or crack if dropped.
The magnetic backing
Our SQUAVES properly stick! We wanted to make sure that we use only the highest quality materials in our SQUAVEs and of course this extends to the actual magnet adhered to the back of each SQUAVE. This means our squaves will retain their magnetism for many years.
We use a UK supplier for our magnets. In fact, they guarantee that the magnets we use in our SQUAVEs are produced using strontium ferrite which means they pass the stringent test requirements of EN71 making them "toy safe". Also, no plasticisers are used in the production of their magnets.
Our magnet supplier states that by using such high quality materials, there will be negligible degradation over many years - not even a 1% degradation in magnetism every 10 years!
That’s very different from the normal souvenir magnets that use much cheaper barium ferrite, and hence the reason why many other fridge magnets don’t retain their magnetism.
The result
Naturally we love the final product - we feel it is the ‘goldilocks’ design! It is not too big, not too small, not too wavey, not too thin, not too thick, not too light, not too heavy - we believe that it is just right.
...and it's very, very tactile!
Definitely worth a mention is just how tactile the SQUAVE is.
Typically the first comment or piece of feedback that we receive from people the first time that they pick up and hold a SQUAVE is just how tactile it is - they then usually continue to play with the SQUAVE and rotate it in their hand while talking to us.
Naturally it's the combination of each and every one of the properties we assessed during our prototyping that have resulted in this great feel that the SQUAVE has - it's the size, the material, the surface finish, the weight and the shape.
So although the old saying 'seeing is believing' certainly holds true for the SQUAVE, we actually think that picking a SQUAVE up for the first time is pretty special too.
Trademark & registered design
We are so proud of our SQUAVE that we even went to the trouble of registering the design shape here in the UK with the Intellectual Property Office. This means it cannot be copied, and gives our partners assurance that there won’t be any cheap imitation SQUAVEs hitting the market here in the UK.
SQUAVE® is also a registered trademark owned by SQUAVE Ltd.