Crosslink Speaker
Timeline
Product Prototyping
14 Week Project
Tools
Model Shop
Spray Paints
Illustrator
Solidworks
Keyshot
Objectives
Product Study
Sketching
Drafting
Prototyping
Product Fabrication
Design Brief
Design a functional speaker through learning the composition of an existing speaker. Developing a concept through inspiration, sketching, prototyping, and crafting a final refined product.
Credits: Viva La Vida by Coldplay
Learning the Speaker
As I disassembled this Doss speaker, these questions were constantly in my mind.
What parts goes into a speaker?
How do these parts function?
Which parts are essential to a speaker?
What can be modified or improved?
How do the parts assemble on the redesign?
Inspired by Bridges
For my speaker, I envisioned a design that conveys grandiose and boldness, and found my inspiration in the immense scale and distinct appearance of bridges.
Arched
Structured
Linked
Transforming Inspiration to Speaker
I settled on this compact and simple design, which has potential for further form and user interactive features.
As I brainstormed the idea of interaction. I designed the speaker to be removable, enabling it to be placed both vertically and horizontally. This allows for it to be portable and settled in place.
Bridging the Grill
Now, the form was fairly plain and needed more style. So I began to think, how could I make this speaker more unique? This thought led me to a process of creating a distinct appearance for the grill.
Complete circular connection through reflection in water
Ropes extending out and holding the bridge to the arches
Modular bridge connected through two rotating platforms
Continuous lines following the curvature of the bridge
Multiple intersections into the bridge
Make it Grander
After completing my design for the grill. I felt that the pure verticalness of the speaker and stand was too stale. I desired something more pronounced... outstanding... grand. That was when I came up with a challenge to make the speaker tilt or stay in a vertical position with no mechanical pieces.
My solution to achieve this tilting feature was through a simple change in form. By turning the circular pin to a flipper shape like in pin ball, this enables the speaker to stand vertically or tilt. I also made further tests with the shape and roundness to create the desired tilt angle.
Tilt in Action!
The Evolution of Crosslink
In total, I made 5 versions and 6 prototypes of my speaker concept. Each prototype was a lesson that lead to an incremental improvement for the overall design.
Continuous Rapid Prototypes
The prototypes below range from the starting concept with a rough form to the final near-functional appearance model. Along the way, each model revealed different challenges and constraints that I resolved in order to smoothly produce my final design.
Appearance model
Fitting components 2
Refined exterior
Fitting components
Fixing front plate and attachment
Rough form
Front
Back
Version 5 (Final)
Crosslink Components
Upon completing my final orthographic drawings and having all the parts properly fit. I moved onto creating 3D visuals for presentation.
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Fully 3D Modeled Speaker
A little extra, I modeled out my speaker to the exact dimensions to the part drawings, and made every component in the speaker. This ultimately helped with finessing any unclear areas in my orthographic drawings.
CMF that Expresses the Details
For my decision in CMF, I chose a more subtle color palette. Overall the speaker is white, but this accentuates the details in the form and functions of this design.
Building to the Final
Even after overcoming the many challenges from the different stages of design, the final working model is the pinnacle challenge.
And yes these are the steps to building the entire speaker
Crosslink Showcase
Key Takeaways
- Familiarizing myself with the product and all its components to build a well rounded product
- Constant prototyping to learn the problems and benefits developed in each concept
- Being purposeful in every part of the design