They were created by hand
It’s no secret that the PlayStation 5 console and its DualSense controller are covered in tiny symbols. These are crosses, circles, triangles, and squares familiar to all PlayStation gamers.
The mystery of tens of thousands of symbols covering the PlayStation 5, DualSense, and other accessories of the new Sony console has been revealed
They are really very small, and due to their size, they primarily perform not a design but a practical function – they create a non-slip coating that should improve grip.
However, for these purposes, Sony could create the appropriate plastic texture, and that’s it. But the company decided to take a much more difficult path. Sony has not previously disclosed details on this subject, but now they are.
If you zoom in on the DualSense surface well, you can see that the symbols are applied to the plastic in several layers. It doesn’t look effortless, and now we know that this coating was created by hand!
Of course, not in the sense that each gamepad is covered with symbols by hand, because there are 40,000 such symbols on each gamepad. The point is that initially, Sony designers manually created textures sketches, which were then digitized, copied, and applied to prototypes of a new gamepad. The goal was to find a balance between design and the efficiency of the resulting texture. Tactile sensations were the cornerstone of this project. In the end, Sony settled on two layers: the first layer is about 15 microns high, the second 30 microns.
It should also be noted that symbols are not applied to gamepads – that would be too difficult. Instead, they are formed by injection molding into plastic parts thanks to tiny slits cut by a laser. Actually, panels for other new Sony devices from the PlayStation 5 line are produced the same way.
