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Cygnett's ICON case contains the story behind the artists and art
Perusing the many, many iPhone cases on display at CES is always a daunting proposition: Not only does every case manufacturer appear at the show with hundreds if not thousands of cases to show off, but even when all of the cases on display are finally out on store shelves, customers tend to fall right into standard patterns when purchasing a new iPhone case. People who buy cases usually don't do a lot of shopping around or feature comparing -- usually they just go to a store near them, look through all of the cases there, and just buy the one that looks like what they want and has an agreeable price. Plus, while manufacturers always bring a rainbow of colored cases (and lots of popular licensed brands) to the CES floor every year, we invariably get told time and time again by manufacturers that only one kind of case routinely tops the charts: Simple, clean, black. For all of the fashion trends and choices out there, black always seems to sell the best. Still, there are always a few cases worth pointing out every year, and this year the honor goes to Cygnett's ICON Art Series of iPhone cases. Cygnett is an Australian company, and the ICON series is a group of iPhone cases that boasts some amazing art from around the world, including Aborigine artist Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, graffiti artists Tats Cru and Scarygirl creator Nathan Jurevicius. In addition to offering iPhone cases with these artists' works on the back of them, the ICON line also provides a writeup inside each case, that informs you about the work and the artist. It's a little thing (and when your iPhone is actually inside the case, you can't read the writeup anyway), but I definitely like that the company is aiming to use this art for something other than to just make your case look good. The money raised from the cases (each is available for US$29.99) goes partly to the artists as well, so wrapping your iPhone in this way is a nice way of respecting some really great work. When it comes down to choosing an iPhone case, the choice is more or less up to you -- obviously there are more heavy duty options if you're looking for protection, or more practical options if you want a wallet-style case or some extra gadgets on it like a battery pack or a stand. But cosmetic cases are all pretty plain, and it's cool to see Cygnett pushing not only the art on the back of the case, but the story behind it as well.
