Project Scope:
- Industrial Design
- Design for Manufacturing (DFM)
- Crowdfunding Visual Communications Design
Client: EzeeCube
Sector: Technology, Home Media
Project Year: 2014-2015
Project Brief
EzeeCube is a Hong Kong based technology start-up. EzeeCube arrived with an early stage prototype that lacked manufacturing considerations. EzeeCube wanted a premium product that only large companies with abundant resources willing to produce at a large volume of units could create. The focus was creating a premium quality product while maintaining the feasibility to the scale of EzeeCube.
Design Development
Our approach for this project was to reassess the details and optimize the tooling based on the cost restrictions. We re-designed the whole product structure, putting into consideration all the elements including: acoustics, feel, assembly, and calibrating performance of the stacking mechanism. We designed the new EzeeCube while retaining the essence of the existing prototype by modifying and refining it.
Design for cost efficient manufacturing
The top and bottom covers were designed to be identical on the outside, so that the same mold could be used for both covers, reducing the amount of tooling.
Attention to detail
Design language is important to us and we recognized a slightly curved top could allude the idea of stackability. We also calibrated the stacking performance of the EzeeCube. A sturdier stack resulted in a better sound feedback. This way the acoustics created aided to the idea of a premium product.
The external aluminum frame of the EzeeCube was designed to be extruded with minimal CNC finishing in order to reduce tooling cost and increase production efficiency.
