Final Outcome – Mobile Phone Music Enhancer (Pulp)

After much thought, I finally found a design I was happy and fit its purpose at its best. I wanted to allow the design to be as quirky as possible and to make people wonder what the products main function was. I came across the idea of being able to direct sound, which as you can see from the images below, the top can be moved at different angles with ease as pulp is a relatively easy material to bend, especially in this case with certain folds. From looking at Bose products, I attempted to merge their Waveguide technology in the smallest form possible by keeping to the idea of tubes. All phones are able to fit within the space available from the smallest phones right up to a Samsung Note.

Here is a very quick mock up created on Solid works to see how it would appear in a 3 Dimensional form.

Hand Render

To Scale Drawing (A3)

Sketch Sheets

Here are a few of my sketch sheets, showing my journey through thought. Originally, I looked towards the idea of docking the phone into the Pulp body to allow the sound to be enhanced but then come across several issue. The main one being that this idea was based around iPhone. Iphones happen to have speakers right at the base of the body, whereas other phones will differ. This is why I then went on to look at different ways in which the phone can be easily placed and removed into the product without having to worry what make of phone it is. When testing with different boxes and packaging, I came across the idea of creating a slot to slide the phone into and was lucky enough to find that this worked extremely well with several different model phones.Below are several sketch sheets, taking you through the processes used.

Docked Ideas

Tube Ideas

Slot Ideas/Further Development 

Bose Electronics

For many years, my family have owned several Bose Stereo systems and I personally find that they produce the greatest quality of sound. The crisp of sound along with the depth of bass is incredible. From this I went on to look at how the products are made. Unlike your average stereos, Bose products contain a system known as a ‘Waveguide’. This consists of many passages from the speaker itself to the exit grill, allowing a much more compact product produce the sound of another much larger. I will take this idea into account when designing and developing ideas. Below are a few images showing ‘Waveguide’ technology in use.

Companion 20 Multimedia Speaker System

Acoustic Wave Music System II

Wave Music System III

Change of Direction

After taking a break and leaving the case idea to the side, I then went looking for a new route, and was lucky enough to find one quite quickly which I am happy with. Being a fan of all types of music, I thought I would base my project around the sound of phones and to attempt to find a way in which I could amplify this.

I started by going straight in with sketching. Looking at different ways and shapes I could play with. From this I tested placing Mobile Phones (in this case the HTC One) inside different styles of boxes and paper containers. This ranged from Cat food Container to egg cartons. From these tests I found that the egg carton portrayed the best result, boosting the sound much greater than the others. I found this rather odd as egg cartons are commonly used for sound proofing music studios as it absorbs vibrations. Below is the image showing my test.

As a last ditch effort to gain some extra research from my tests, I gathered as many odd shaped cartons as possible. With these i made slight edits to, cutting parts to be able to insert the necessary phone. After many attempts, an incision on a sweet container allowing the phone to lie down comfortably produced my best results yet. I was extremely happy to come across this as it gave me a firm direction in which this project was going. Below is the image of the most successful test.

Project Area

When it came down to finding a solid area I wanted to focus on, I looked through several options. The one I kept coming back to was that of Gadget accessories. Mobiles, Tablets and Laptops are used everywhere these days. I don’t actually know a person who doesn’t own at least one of the 3. With my idea of using mixed paper as my material choice, I brainstormed ideas and originally had my heart set on the idea of sleeves/casing for all of the items mentioned. After some planning and designing, I realised that the idea of having casing on an item is to protect it from wear, water etc. and knew that a paper product would not fit this purpose well. Here is a quick sketch sheet I drew up for this idea 

Material Research

I found it extremely hard to begin with this project as the brief was without a doubt the most open I had come across in my studies. After creating a mood board to give me some inspiration, I went on to look at what sort of materials I could use as a starting point.  Looking through several surveys and research I came to find numerous amounts of evidence showing which materials are recycled the most. This happens to be Paper and Card. The reason for this is because they are by far the easiest materials to break down. Here’s just one graph I came across onwww.earth911.com which is a website gihly based on recycling and the re-use of old products

At first I was hugely surprised with this outcome as I thought that the majority of categories would overcome that of mixed paper. My family is not one that recycles and never has so I haven’t taken much time thinking of this; although since starting this project they have started recycling. With this in mind I have become set on the idea of collaborating with mixed paper as it seems the most logical idea.

My Pinterest

My Pinterest

Here you will find images I go to seeking inspiration. For the current module I am taking part in, I have two boards:-

1. Play and Creativity; Field module

2. Something Old; Something New

Mood board; Existing Recycled Products

Today we were given our brief; TO CREATE A NEW ART/DESIGN CONCEPT (AT SKETCH LEVEL ONLY) FROM RECYCLED MATERIALS, BASED ON RECENT LECTURES. These are a selection of images I believe show our given brief at its best. Most products shown portray a great sense of Fun and creativity from the designer.

Fun Offices

After being advised how company offices are becoming more involved with their playful sides, I came across this fantastic image which shows a variety of very well known companies worldwide. Having several jobs throughout my life, the most exciting of offices I have been near was that which had a free hot chocolate machine; not that i’m complaining.

Play and Creativity Sessions; Field Module

Week 1; Session 1

Today began by taking a brief insight of how workplace’s are introducing fun and play to their offices. Some of which are very large and well-known companies, such as Google, Lego etc. We were given a sheet of paper with multiple circles on, and then in a small time frame, sketch as many ideas as we could to fit the shape, for example a tennis ball or a bike wheel. Throughout the day we took part in several different thought processes. Another was taking a product, this being a plastic bottle, and finding many uses for it. I came up with many ideas, ranging from playing football with it to using it to collect stationary.

Session 2

This session was based around motivation. We were asked to write down 15 valued experiences (either from past or future) and had to remove the least important until we were left with just 5. The main thing I could see from mine is that the main aspiration of mine is all about money. Owning a company is something I have always wanted from a young age, although not completely knowing what area I would like it in.

Week 2; Session 3

For this session, we started with a task which at first seemed easier than it really was. We were put in groups of 4 and had to attempt the marshmallow challenge. This consists of creating a structure from no more than 20 pieces of spaghetti, a yard of string, a yard of tape and a marshmallow. The aim is to make a frame which has the ability to hold the marshmallow at its highest point. We found that although our final idea was a good one, as soon as the marshmallow was placed on top, it all came crashing down. From taking part in the marshmallow challenge, we then went on to watch a TED presentation which was based around the idea of the marshmallow challenge and went into detail on how children present better ideas and taller structures than those of adults which I found pretty hard to believe.

Session 4

Today’s session was based around our emotional state. We talked about what helps us concentrate and relax. For me I find noise is a huge distraction, along with having any access to social networking sites etc. I was glad to hear that I wasn’t the only to find motivation when I in the shower, when I have managed to take my mind away from work, comes along my better ideas. We then went on to write a poem, with no access to any technology or gadgets, we were advised to take a walk around. As I am not a keen writer I found this pretty difficult.