October 2014 – March 2015
University of Wuppertal, Industrial Design
Collaboration with Braun
The project opened with a twist, assuming that the company Braun would once again develop audio equipment. TWIST is a bluetooth speaker with a revolutionary interface concept, incorporating the design DNA of Braun.
The project started out with the analysis of the current market situation of bluetooth speakers. In addition, a usage analysis was carried out, identifying typical use-cases and scenarios. Target groups were defined and the current, as well as past Braun product portfolios were analyzed.
Development of a strategy
In the first phase of the project, an extensive product, market and user research were made, to find potentials for innovation. I decided to focus on the products interface as a unique selling point and started collecting ideas for revolutionary and yet intuitive means of control. Once the functions and the technical package were defined, a variety of formal approaches was explored, in order to find a brand specific style, which is appreciated by the user group.
Once the functional and technical packages were defined, different design concepts have been drafted, ranging from a traditional Braun language to current trends.
The speakers controls revolve around the top portion of the device. A button, rotary switch and click wheel cover all of the functions.
In addition to the hardware, a companion app was proposed, in order to to control the speaker remotely. Formal aspects of the speaker, like the click-wheel and the speaker-grid were incorporated into the apps interface, to produce a seamless experience between the physical and the digital side of the product.
