Speaker Redesign and Design for Manufacture
The first stage of this project involved the deconstruction and analysis of an existing speaker on the market to determine manufacturing methods, part materials, and assembly process, as well as to reverse engineer the design brief that was used when designing the original speaker. This, in conjunction with teaching content, helped to greatly expand my understanding of real life manufacturing methods and how the restrictions associated with different production methods need to be taken into consideration throughout my design process, especially with regards to injection moulding.
All internal/electrical components within the existing speaker were to be reused for the redesign, to force a more guided design outcome.
The second stage of this project entailed the selection and fleshing out of a new design brief aimed around a new, different target audience than the one the original speaker was designed around. The design brief my iteration was designed around was as follows:
The main target users for this speaker redesign are older people (aged 50 and older), both male and female, who are looking to be able to play music out loud, but are reluctant to purchase modern speakers which look intimidating and have confusing, minimalist interfaces with unclear labelling. They are still attached to the styles and interactions of products from the past, but are interested in exploring modern technologies. They also do not place high importance on the sound quality of the speaker and are tight with their money, but are willing to splurge on occasion.
The users will most commonly be using the speaker inside their own home, and it will likely not be moved around very much (i.e. it will remain in one main/permanent location). The speaker will be placed on an elevated, flat surface, such as a bench, table, or nightstand/bedside table. The speaker will also be the main, or only, audio playing device for the house, and the user will want to listen to the radio, as well as potentially a number of different source inputs.
The third stage, of course, involved some background research into designs that have a similar target audience and analysing the important design language and features that are typically desirable to this demographic, followed by some fairly surface level ideation to lock in a final design. The ideation was fairly minimal due to the focus of the project being more on the design for manufacture and demonstration of sound CAD modelling skills.
The final stage of the project was the production of the final speaker design on CAD (Autodesk Fusion360) to a high level of fidelity. All the internal electrical components from the original speaker were modelled using the exact dimensions, and incorporated into the final design solution. All of the body pieces were also modelled to ensure that they were completely manufacturable and abided by real, industry manufacturing guidelines
Overall, I am quite pleased with how this redesign turned out. I think that I nailed the aesthetic features associated with 70’s design and achieved what I was aiming for visually. I particularly liked that I was able to transfer some of the techniques found in the original speaker to this redesign, such as the columns that secure the internal components to the base plate without requiring any forms of adhesive. However, I think that the organisation of the internal components could have been executed a little bit better. While this is partially a result of the PCB being very restricting, as the button switches and ports are attached directly to the board meaning I am locked into certain dimensions, it is also down to inexperience in really exploring in detail how to house internal components. Obviously, I would like to continue gaining experience with these sorts of design considerations to be able to improve my own abilities for the future. I would also make the screw bosses on the main body cylindrical rather than squared off, as this would save a small amount of material and is just better practice.
