Desktop Speaker
Design Principles
December 2016
This project involved choosing a design shop in London, as well as the borough it was in, then designing a set of desktop speakers using inspiration from these. My chosen shop was The Conran Shop located in South Kensington, and I designed a speaker intended to be placed on a desk with an emphasis on minimal design that would fit into a modern workspace. I then manufactured a non-working "looks like" prototype to demonstrate the product's finish and size.
The final design featured a greyscale design with chrome highlights found on the engraved side-rails and back piece, a silver anodised aluminium top, matte black stand and super glossy reflective black underside. I decided to include an aux port and removable lead, rather than a built in lead as my research showed that this was the most common point of failure in desktop speakers, so making this component interchangeable increased the product's potential lifespan.
The product has a slight retro feel to it, with the sharp edges and geometric shapes showing Bauhaus influences, and the overall form is inspired by late 1800s gramophones as can be seen above.
