The Situation
The purpose of this page is to guide you through the steps I took in order to meet the requirements at the task at hand. I had to re-design and improve an existing iPod dock for manufacture, stylized to a specific brand.
The task was to design an iPod speaker dock and remote in the style of an existing brand or designer. In this case Dyson was chosen. I was given a specific technical package that was taken from an already existing product. I had to present the functionality of the technical package so that it was physically easy to operate as well as being easy to understand. The key part of this task was to design for manufacture. I was responsible for taking this project through to detailing for high manufacture. The final design needed to minimise manufacturing costs and environmental impact while demonstrating a high degree of design detail in order to deliver a high quality product.
The Process
Ideation
Now that I knew what my tasks were I drew ideation sketches of my initial ideas of what the iPod dock could look like. I purposely did my early ideation before researching anything about Dyson so I would not limit my ideas.
Research
Understanding the brand values of Dyson was one of the most important steps in my research. To do this I got images of all of Dyson’s products and used contextual maps to identify their explicit values. This covered shapes, colours, textures, details, signature elements, interaction elements, etc. This also gave me insight to their implicit values. However, further information was found on their website. This allowed me to see how Dyson differs from its competition.
Researching the technical package had two stages. The first stage was to create an accurate 1:1 scale CAD rendering of the technical package that included all the parts such as the main circuit board, the speakers as well as other parts such as the buttons and dials. The second stage was identifying and following relevant Australian Standards that affected the type of product that was being designed.
The final stage of research involved investigating the interaction between the user and the product. This was vital as it allowed me to identify how to user would be using the product and what functions it needed to perform at it’s absolute best. The image below on the left shows one of my contextual maps placing Dyson highly as an innovative and sturdy product. The image on the right shows technical drawings of the components in the technical package.
Brand Values
From my research i found one key physical feature that is done throughout the entire Dyson range is the minimalistic but sensible approach to colour. The main colour on all Dyson products is grey. Dyson then traditionally uses a specific shade of yellow on parts of their products that they wish to draw the users attention. This yellow is used on the product where there is innovative technology. It is also used on their products to identify the action areas, guiding the user in how the product itself may be used. As Dyson has progressed they have used other colours than just yellow such as purple and blue. However, all their products continue to be dominantly grey.
Early Dyson products were very form intensive. They focused on parading the mechanical features. These early products, (vacuum cleaners) were intended to be stored in cupboards so they were only seen when they were in use.
As Dyson progressed to other products such as hand dryers, fans and heaters, although they were still innovative, they hid the mechanical side of their designs. Dyson deliberately cleaned the form of these products to make them more approachable as these objects are to be used in everyday life.
Concepts
Once I understood the brand values of Dyson as well as the other points of my research such as the technical package and the user interaction, I further developed my ideation into concepts. I came up with three main concepts and then focused on the one I thought was best after receiving lots of feedback.
To further develop my design I made foam models in order to receive user feedback as well as understanding the physical size and shape of my design. The size of my design was primarily driven by the technical package. The docking area of my iPod dock was however determined by anthropometric data of the hand as well as the dimensions of all types of iPods and iPhones.
Once I was satisfied with the overall shape of my product I pushed my design into CAD. This was a very important step as by doing this I came to realise that the original way in which I wanted to mould the parts that made my dock was impractical and not very efficient. This prompted me to further develop my idea and change the way that my product would be moulded to maximise efficiency and get the best results.
The Solution
Features
My final design follows the brand language of Dyson’s latest products. Those being the ones that are designed to be on display at all times such as the bladeless fans and the hand dryer. My design follows all necessary Australian Standards. The Image below shows the coloured points of interaction and innovation. On the top of the dock are the Power and volume control buttons.
As shown below, the overall shape of my Dyson iPod dock is very straightforward. There is nothing in my design that doesn’t need to be there. Visible in these images are the large dominant circle features. I have also incorporated lots of curvature into my design. The surfaces are smooth rather than form intensive, this is to follow the values of the products that are always visible in the home.
Materials
ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene)
The three main reasons I chose for the Dyson iPod dock to be manufactured out of ABS are because it is a cheap material, it is also strong and most importantly it is recyclable, thus making my product environmentally friendly.
Being an environmentally friendly product is key for Dyson. Dyson put a lot of thought and effort into their products so that they can be recycled and reused. Dyson have even developed a product take-back scheme for customers wishing to dispose of their old machines responsibly.
Process
Injection Moulding
The housing of all Dyson products are injection moulded, this lead me to designing all parts for the Dyson iPod dock to be mouldable, though this does no include screws and the tech pack.
Moulding
The iPod dock that i designed has three major parts; the front housing, the centre cylinder (docking area) and the back housing. Having three separate parts made the most sense for moulding purposes. These can be seen below and are 100% mouldable. For more information on moulding click here.
Remote
The remote has six buttons that includes; power, play/pause, back, forward, volume up and volume down. It is made up of three parts; the top housing, bottom house and battery lid, the battery lid is located on the side. It is fully injection mouldable. The buttons are specifically placed in an hierarchal order from most used to least, the size of each button is also determined by this. Buttons are grouped with each other depending on their function. For example the volume control buttons are positioned together. The play/pause, forward and back buttons are also positioned together in a way that represents the shape of the dock itself.
Storyboard
The story board shows five basic steps that displays several functions of the dock.
Environmental Impact
By comparing the results of the two speaker docks you can see that my design has dramatically improved the impact it has on the environment. The main reason for this is because of Dyson’s approach to recycling and the procedures they have in place. The biggest impact contributor was the Eco-toxicity; this is due to material selection. Too improve this I could look into using a substitute material rather than ABS.
