Dbrand’s new glow-in-the-dark skins have a circuit board texture you can feel
Dbrand’s latest gadget skins capitalize on our curiosity to peek inside our electronics. Its new Circuit Board collection, created in collaboration with LinusTechTips, features a complex pattern that looks like a functional PCB because the pattern was created with the assistance of engineers that design actual circuit boards.
The company describes the complex design of the new skin collection as being an “accurate representation of a printed circuit board” but it don’t represent a functional PCB copied from an actual device. Instead, the pattern is a “mosaic of functional circuit board elements,” Dbrand CEO Adam Ijaz tells The Verge, that showcases components like resistors, capacitors, and traces laid out in a schematic that prioritizes aesthetics over functionality.
If you’re after a more authentic PCB appearance, you may want to instead opt for Dbrand’s X-Ray skins made using actual X-rays of 125 different devices including smartphones and laptops.
The new Circuit Board skins are printed using Dbrand’s new “three-dimensional UV printer” that can print two-dimensional imagery but with certain elements having a slightly raised texture. In this case, all of the simulated electronic components and traces on the skins end up with a tactile feel.
There are three variations of the Circuit Board skins available. In addition to a triple black “dark circuit” and a white on orange “short circuit” colorway (named after LinusTechTips’ Short Circuit series) there’s also a version that glows in the dark, manufactured using a “high-performance phosphorescent vinyl.” In the dark it has a bright green appearance while glowing, but in the light it has an off-white yellowish tint.
The Circuit Board skins are available for 741 different products, according to Dbrand. You can get them for devices as small as an Apple AirTag, which for $58.95 gets you front and back skins for four of the trackers. Or you could wrap something as large as an Xbox Series X, which is somehow cheaper at $44.95 for skins covering all six sides of the console.
If you opt for the glowing skins, which don’t cost more than the other variants, Dbrand will also include a small UV flashlight to charge them up — while supplies last.
