Tech startup: I really do make mobile phones!

Chapter 49 Taking Advantage of Old Wang Again
Orange Technology's small workshop.

Using LogoMeker's public domain resources, Chen Mo designed some logos for Orange based on his own ideas.

Ultimately, since the Orange 1 phone uses an engineering plastic shell, Chen Mo chose a minimalist logo for it.

The visual composition of this logo is: outer frame letters + blade-shaped letters + secondary color.

The outer frame lettering features a small orange "C" that symbolizes a halved orange, with a small curve at the end representing the orange's stem. The overall design uses an ultra-elliptical curve to enhance the sense of softness and technology.

Blade Letters: The white letter "Z" symbolizes the edge of a blade. The negative space can be designed in the shape of an orange slice. The font is sans-serif, and the ends of the strokes incorporate the curve of an orange stem, adding a touch of natural friendliness.

Secondary color: Dark gray (used for letter shadows and outline), to enhance the logo's visibility on the Orange 1's hard plastic casing.

The Orange OS 1.0 system features a dynamic logo in its boot animation: a round, half-cut orange appears, simulating the expansion and contraction of the fruit pulp, while the letter "Z" gradually changes with the angle of light, appearing like a blade.

It has to be said that although Chen Mo had a miserable life in his previous life, he did learn quite a few skills in order to pay off his debts.

This simplified version of the Orange Technology logo is already his best work to date.

Of course, Chen Mo also considered that the phone case was made of engineering plastic, so he did not choose the logo that had a better technological feel.

"Wow!" Zhao Tiezhu leaned over the computer. "Brother Chen! Your logo looks much better than that rotten apple with a bite taken out of it!"

Before the release of the Apple 4, although it had already accumulated enough prestige in North America, its influence in China was limited to tech enthusiasts discussing the iOS system in forums. It had not yet achieved the kind of phenomenal popularity that would follow, where almost everyone knew about each new generation of the phone.

After learning that Brother Chen valued Pingguo Company, which was "unknown" in China, Zhao Tiezhu naturally spent some time searching for it.

The rotten apple logo of Pingguo Company, which looked like it had been bitten into, naturally left a deep impression on him.

However, at this moment, Zhao Tiezhu felt that the logo designed by Chen Mo for Orange Technology was much more pleasing to the eye than that rotten apple.

“This orange frame looks like a sliced ​​orange, and the ‘Z’ in the middle even has a slight curve at the end.” He laughed with a slightly carefree attitude: “Hey! It’s so bouncy and smooth, even a rough guy like me can’t help but want to touch it, let alone those young girls.”

"Haha!" Chen Mo laughed and pretended to kick him: "Go away! What are you thinking, kid?"

Zhao Tiezhu wasn't annoyed. He shamelessly laughed, patted the dust off his trouser legs, and raised an eyebrow to tease him.

"Brother Chen, you're a true all-rounder, handling everything from batteries to logo design!"

"What do you mean by 'all-around'? I was forced into this role!"

Chen Mo pushed the laptop forward, and the logo design on the screen swayed.

"When our company has money someday, we'll spend a million to hire an international designer to make this logo more high-end and classy."

"Why bother finding an international designer?" Zhao Tiezhu grinned and sidled up, striking a pose to show off his nonexistent biceps: "Brother Chen, look at my face. A natural-born artistic genius is standing right in front of you."

"How about this!"

Zhao Tiezhu looked like he was taking a loss, crossed his two index fingers, and made a "ten" sign.

"One hundred thousand! Just one hundred thousand, and I guarantee I'll design the world's number one orange logo for you!"

"Give me 100,000, that's more like it." Chen Mo picked up a list, rolled it into a tube, and pretended to tap him on the head: "An infected person of art bacteria? You're more like infected by abstract bacteria!"

Zhao Tiezhu held his head in disbelief: "Brother Chen, can't you give me a chance for the sake of my sincere artistic heart?" He even pouted and imitated crying.

"Alright! Let's get down to business!" Chen Mo wasn't going to get entangled with this scoundrel any longer, or this matter would never end.

“The battery 3C certification will take about half a month, and we can’t wait that long.” He unfolded the purchase list in his hand, with traces of Chen Mo’s pen still on the edge of the paper: “I’ll work on the software, and you go and work on the hardware. The most important things are the touch screen and the chip. They must all be in place within a week.”

"Brother Chen! Why are you in such a hurry?" Zhao Tiezhu took the list from Chen Mo and glanced at the parts circled in red: "The chips are fine, but the screens will be a good opportunity for them to raise prices!"

Because the first batch of Orange 1 is only 1000 units, which requires at most 1003 capacitive screens, large manufacturers don't care about this small order and can only source from small factories' leftover stock and wholesale markets.

If Zhao Tiezhu were to source the goods piecemeal, the cost of the capacitive touchscreens would definitely increase.

Chen Mo thought for a moment, then frowned and said, "I heard there's a small factory in Bao'an, Shenzhen, that has a batch of leftover capacitive touchscreens with three-point touch that failed in trial production. You can go look for them first!"

In his previous life, Lao Wang released the "Orange 4" in October, which used this batch of capacitive screen leftover stock. However, Chen Mo didn't know if that small factory in Bao'an still had that batch of leftover stock.

"Brother Chen! Didn't we agree to guarantee quality?" Zhao Tiezhu's eyes widened. "Can we use the leftover stock from the failed trial production? What if the screen malfunctions the moment users touch it? Our Orange 1 will become a laughing stock!"

Chen Mo tapped out a regular rhythm on the laptop: "This batch of screens only has an error in three-point touch. We just need to restrict the touch function to single-point operation in Orange OS 1.0."

He then brought up the Android application interface and scrolled down the cursor. At this time, there weren't many Chinese Android applications.

"Currently, most Android apps on the market, except for a few games, don't really need multi-touch. By saving this time, we can bring forward the release date of Orange 1 even further."

Zhao Tiezhu clapped his hands, suddenly realizing, "I get it! This is what they call 'if the hardware isn't good enough, make up for it with software'!"

Chen Mo smiled and nodded. If Zhao Tiezhu hadn't reminded him, he wouldn't have thought of continuing to fleece Old Wang of the few remaining benefits.

Just then, Old Wang, who was in the detention center, sneezed and felt a chill on his head!

Zhao Tiezhu glanced at the list again, then looked up at Chen Mo: "What about those loose items that aren't circled in red?"

"You can collect the individual pieces later!"

"But the two core components, the chip and the screen, must be the best quality on the market!" Chen Mo emphasized, staring into his eyes, "Screen the quality to the limit, or you'll be held responsible if your reputation is ruined!"

"Understood! Don't worry, Brother Chen, I care about this even more than finding a wife!"

Zhao Tiezhu shoved the purchase list into his arms, turned around and rushed towards the door, creating a gust of wind.

"I'm going to block the entrance of the science park in Bao'an right now. If they really have this batch of goods, I'll do whatever it takes to get it for Orange 1!"

The sun was almost setting, around five or six o'clock.

"It's getting late, let's go tomorrow!"

"Then I'll go buy some loose items to stock up today!"

Before Chen Mo could finish speaking, Zhao Tiezhu's figure had already flashed out the door.

In Orange Technology's small workshop, only the blue light of computer screens flickered, reflecting the helpless smile on Chen Mo's lips.

Until that last sentence from the kid, "Brother Chen! Don't forget my 18-month bonus," drifted in from outside.
He laughed and cursed, "This kid's a real money-grubber!" before turning his attention back to reskinning the Android system.

(End of this chapter)