myPod Docking Station

For Designer Bootcamp we're designing the standard, the everybody makes one at design school, the ubiquitous iPod dock. This is actually the second iPod thing I've designed, the other was a speaker dock back in mech. engineering (link is to some old concept sketches, the actual manufactured one sucked, my group knew nothing about design, they decided on some super boring design that didn't work). This one is much more interesting. I didn't have to rely on engineers!

I had a few criteria for myself on the dock

-easy access
-display iPod
-charge/sync iPod
-easily store ear buds
-keep the aesthetic of Apple and the iPod
-good design semantics (simple to understand how to use it)

My basic original idea. (out of many, we all had to have several concepts worked out).

The initial foam model, ear buds stored in lower compartment.

The iPod lays down over it all covering up the unsightly ear bud cords, just displaying the sleek lines of the iPod.

Prototype #1 was built with Rhino (the Mac beta! it works well) and Adobe Illustrator, then made with laser cut 1/4"MDF board stacked, spray painted, and then vacuum formed with clear polystyrene over it. The clear material really gives a beautiful shine on top of the red coat on the base.

I learned with the foam model that the ear buds need a deeper cavity to store them with out pushing up the iPod, so, I made it deeper and wider by cutting the back supports for the iPod body into pillars, acquired almost 1.5 square inches!

Of course, it's got syncing/charging ability!

The red color doesn't really hold the Apple aesthetic (unless you look back at those old colorful iMacs!). The next iteration will be white. Also, I want to round out those hard edges on the inside of the dock, give them a small radius as hard corners are rare on Apple products.
I'm also concerned with the bulk of dock, I'm going to look into slimming it down.

Up next, refinement of the current prototype #1.

Thanks for reading!

Huzzahh!!!

Sweet Zombie Jesus! Look what I found!

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I'm going to be rich! Or not.

Anywho....What I really discovered was...
....a concept sketch I did a few years ago while still stuck in engineering for a iPod dock and stereo on my hard drive. It was for the only class I ever enjoyed in mechanical engineering, a manufacturing and design class. We actually team designed these iPod docks and then prototyped them using SolidWorks (an engineering design program, that I'll probably still use in industrial design, it's really powerful). Then of course, we actually used CNC machines to make them. It was really interesting, but a pain at the same time. Lots and lots of time was poured into this iPod stereo dock. And we didn't even use my (two) designs. My group members (the idiots) settled on the easiest one to make.

If I remember correctly, the dock was supposed to be compact for easy transport and above all, cool looking, not boxy like so many are. We settled on one that looked like a football cut point to point. Heck, we even painted the stupid thing to look like a football. It was a terrible design. We got a C and were lucky to get it actually. The abomination of good design is below.

Fugly iPod Dock

My concept sketch was included in the full proposal for manufacturing paper we created (47 pages!). I luckily still had a copy on my hard drive. I'm thinking it would be interesting to expand on this design as I am interested in consumer product design. Anyway, the image of my sketch is below.


The whole design was a shell with the speakers which, when closed, encased the ipod, the dock, and the remote. But when you opened it by sliding the two shells apart form each other 'till they stopped and then rotating them out and open, you had an interesting to look at fully functional portable iPod stereo. You could even leave the iPod on the dock, close the shell and there were little slots on each side for the iPod to slide into, thus storing and protecting your design for travel! God, it was amazing. The jerks thought it would be to hard to make. Well yeah, it would have been tough, but we would have an A if we succeeded and an amazing prototype. But no. We went with the football design from Captain Jock Itch (he was a lacrosse player).

My other design, the iBall, as I dubbed it.


As you can see, both my designs were certainly pretty cool looking and couldn't be further from boxy.

I think I'll make a fine industrial designer someday.

Anyway, thanks for reading, feel free to comment.

Holy Moley! 3 posts in one day! I am SUPER POSTING MAN! Cower in fear as you read my posts!