Ericsson Dialog is a Swedish telephone

Telephone

The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...

 model by Ericsson

Ericsson

Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...

, released 1964. Millions of the model were sold and it retained its place in homes well into the 1990s. The Ericsson

Ericsson

Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...

 company presented King Carl XVI Gustaf

Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden

Carl XVI Gustaf is the reigning King of Sweden since 15 September 1973, succeeding his grandfather King Gustaf VI Adolf because his father had predeceased him...

 of Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 with a unique handmade Dialog telephone on his 40th birthday.

In the early 1960s the Swedish design

Design

Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...

 company Acking, Olsson & Silow (AOS) received the most massive assignment of its history: the phone company Ericsson hired AOS to design Dialog, a new standard

Standardization

Standardization is the process of developing and implementing technical standards.The goals of standardization can be to help with independence of single suppliers , compatibility, interoperability, safety, repeatability, or quality....

 telephone that was to apply high end technology and reach international markets. Dialog attained great popularity and maintained its place within homes up until the 1990s. This design classic has become an object of desire amongst collectors and telephone enthusiasts. New technology and the increased liberties in form resulted in the end of the era of number disc telephones. Dialog's 1972 version equipped with buttons in place of the number disc never became as popular as its predecessor.

The Norgwegian telephone 11AB22 introduced by Elektrisk Bureau in 1967 used the same shell as Dialog, but had completely different electronics. The 11AB22 was the worlds first transistorized telephone, and unlike the Ericsson Dialog used an electronic ringer instead of bells, and was equipped with a dynamic microphone.

Design process

Due to the massive amount of telephones intended to be produced, uncommonly heavy emphasis was put on design. The exemplars for the future basic telephone of every home were Ericsson's own models from the 1930s. Dialog was to both be modern and follow Ericsson's design tradition. The ergonomics

Ergonomics

Ergonomics is the study of designing equipment and devices that fit the human body, its movements, and its cognitive abilities.The International Ergonomics Association defines ergonomics as follows:...

 of the handle were focused on. Additionally acoustic

Acoustics

Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...

, productional

Mass production

Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...

, and aesthetical

Aesthetics

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...

 questions needed to be solved.

The handle was accurately sized according to the regular face which had been taken as the starting point of the design process. In the completed product the distance between the mouth part and the ear part was noticeably shorter than earlier models. The handle was made as light as possible to minimise the stress inflicted upon the wrist

Wrist

In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as 1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand;...

 and blood veins of the speaker during long calls. The weight of the base unit was also minimised especially due to logistic

Logistics

Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...

 and packaging reasons. The number disc consisted of several parts and was designed so that it would be possible to replace with a set of buttons in the upcoming versions of the phone.

The depth and thoroughness of the design is perhaps best depicted by the fact that the inner lighting of the phone was one of the matters taken into account: the inside could not be left pitch dark in order to avoid insects inhabiting the product.

Materials

The material of the telephone shell is thermoplastic

Thermoplastic

Thermoplastic, also known as a thermosoftening plastic, is a polymer that turns to a liquid when heated and freezes to a very glassy state when cooled sufficiently...

, specifically ABS

Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene

Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene is a common thermoplastic. Its melting point is approximately 105 °C ....

. This granted new possibilities as to the form and colour of the product as well as made it very durable; the telephone can take heat and everyday use, though daylight tends to fade and yellow the colour.