Fan Concept
In Short:
I joined a compact engineering team as the sole industrial designer, tasked with creating a consumer floor fan featuring a Bluetooth speaker and LED light strips. After the client approved my final concept, the engineering team proceeded with detailed CAD modeling and prototyping.
Client
Private
Category
Consumer Product
Location
Chicago, Illinois
Year
2024
Skills Used
Market Research
Hand sketching
To-scale sketching
Rough prototypes
Adobe Photoshop
Procreate
Tall floor fan featuring a thick vertical unit.
Integrated Bluetooth speaker with 360 sound.
Adjustable height for the fan head.
LED 'party lights' that can be toggled on and off.
Analog buttons to control various features.
Display screens to indicate fan speed and speaker volume.
Simplified Controls: Consolidated the interface to a single power button and one screen, enhancing the fan's usability while reducing manufacturing costs and simplifying electrical engineering.
Ergonomic Handle: Designed a robust handle with an integrated latch release button, facilitating easy adjustment of the large, heavy fan head.
Refined Aesthetics: Updated the exterior housing to better align with current market trends and client aesthetic preferences, ensuring prototyping feasibility.
Enhanced Functionality: Incorporated manual vertical oscillation options at the client's request, offering additional user flexibility.
Laying the Foundation with Sketches and Mood Boards
In our initial meeting, I presented the client with a comprehensive set of hand sketches, mood boards, and examples of existing products. This approach was designed to quickly gauge the client’s preferences in terms of design aesthetics and functionality. The insights gained from this session were instrumental in shaping the first formal round of concept development, ensuring that the proposed solutions were closely aligned with the client's vision.
Selecting a Final Direction from Three Concepts
For this stage, I prepared three distinct concept sketches to present to the client and engineering team. The goal was to converge on a single, unified direction by the end of the meeting, setting the stage for a detailed final concept presentation the following week. During this collaborative session, we had the flexibility to select one concept in its entirety, merge elements from multiple concepts into a new composite, or introduce new features that had emerged since our initial discussions. This process ensured that the final chosen concept would fully align with the evolving project requirements.
Pre-Client Presentation Review
Having worked on the engineering side of projects, I’m very aware of the challenges that arise when designers propose concepts that can be difficult or even impossible for engineers to implement. To avoid such pitfalls and ensure the final product accurately reflects my initial design, I organized a preliminary meeting with the engineering team. My goal was to gather their insights on the feasibility and excitement level of my final concept before presenting it to the client. Additionally, to aid in conveying my ideas and to potentially utilize the internal components in their prototype, I sourced a fan with similar features and functionality to the concept I was developing.
Client Approval and Transition to Engineering
The client enthusiastically approved the final concept without any modifications, a testament to the collaborative groundwork laid in earlier stages. With the engineering team already aligned and prepared from our internal discussions, they swiftly moved into CAD modeling and prototyping. At this time, I passed the baton to the engineering team, marking the completion of my role in the project.