Design Name: Portable CD Player
Design Description: A portable music player that allows you to listen to your CDs wherever you go.
Design Purpose: I chose to design this as I like to revisit past technologies and improve their design, its like adapting a an old book into a movie. I looked back at old portable CD players and observed how outdated their industrial design had become, so I chose to redesign one to make it more simple and intuitive, while still retaining its original purpose.
Thought Process: I believe that the music we listen to is a lot like the clothing we wear in what it says about us. It is as much of a form of expression as it is a form of entertainment, and therefore, the music we listen to should be expressed and exhibited. This belief led me to design the product to put the music on display, easily visible through a transparent window on the front of the device. I also wanted the product itself to feel clean as to not distract from the main detail, the disc in the middle. It has few complications, but you instantly know what everything does, from the eject button on the front, to the volume and play buttons, to the clip that doubles as a battery door on the back, everything is as simple as possible, while still being understandable.
Product Specifications: The device would be an astonishingly small one for its class. with a foot print of only five squared inches and a height of just one half of an inch, this portable CD player would be the smallest of its kind. The product would run off of 2 double A batteries, and last 3 months. On the rear there is a clip that doubles as a stand so you can snap it onto your pants or stand it up on a table. It has a headphone jack for receiving audio, along with internal speakers. Discs can be inserted through the slot loading disk drive on the bottom, and the player uses an innovative new method of playing disks, where the bottom of the tray spins but the disc itself stays in place.