CONDUIT
Why do we listen to music? When you put on your headphones you escape the everyday into a world of your choosing, narrated by your favorite artists. In this respect the personal audio device is not merely a product, it is a conduit through which the user connects to their dreams and aspirations.
The earbud was based around the interplay between two surfaces, creating affordances for various hand positions, and comfort in different ear types.
Taking a minimalist approach utilizing subtle affordances, the portable speaker was a simple twist top with a micro usb in the bottom to charge.
I tried a number of hole patterns for this speaker and in my research stumbled across the interior of a sunflower, which can be mathematically described using a fibonacci spiral. I used a formula for the spiral to generate a spreadsheet of positions and plugged the results into Solidworks, after experimenting with different sizes and densities I settled on 499 1.1 mm holes, the 500th being transformed into the volume indicator which extends down the front of the device.
These headphones are big, they don't fold up and they are very conspicuous. They are not designed to be put in a pack or hidden away, they are designed to be seen, a bold visual statement attesting to the users authenticity and strength of character. Rather than hide the cord away I designed a thick ribbon extending from both earpieces as a bold visual statement. At the end of the ribbon is an audio jack and a volume control, a riff on the second generation Ipod shuffle, an audio player which I own and admire.
Image taken by mK B courtesy of Nerfski
Image courtesy of Splitshire
PROCESS AND DEVELOPMENT
My process began with some divergent cad doodling, exploring different form, materials, and colors. I had no clear idea what I was looking to achieve, just had fun with it and did what felt right, I enjoy beginning a project in this type of unconstrained intuitive space. I began with earbuds, they are a quick problem space to iterate in thanks to their simple shape.
The form was inspired by a design persona and a few precedents which I imagined my persona would surround themselves with.
This was the mood board used as reference throughout the process.
Development began with hand sketching to try and capture some of the evocative qualities in the mood boards, and develop a design language based upon these elements.
After the initial sketching to flesh out some concepts, I developed and prototyped the earbud, as the simplest expression of the design language developed through the mood boards. after some tweaking informed by the physical prototype I began to iterate the larger forms of the speaker and headphones, first by sketching and then through Solidworks, to refine the initial ideations.
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