INITIAL BRIEF

An initial brief was offered by Titan to design a range of Smartwatches for men to add to the any of the existing Titan Brands - Sonata, Fastrack, etc. Titan had a series of Hybrid Smartwatches that were due for release and thus a spectrum of smartwatches needed to be envisioned to complete the offering. However, successive discussions involved briefs framed at different opportunities and explorations(all listed in the pictures).

All briefs would broadly involve:

1) A translation of socio-cultural trends into design expressions

2) Codesign with specific target groups based the selection of a subrand or collection

3) An outcome with the scope for mass production or a concept car method to open a window into a future use cases After considering the avenues that one could take the graduation project, it was eventually decided that a project at the intersection of business and design would be both educational for the designer and beneficial for the company. Thus, the project eventually steered toward developing a range of approaches to help break cycles of commodification in the product design of watches.

1

GROUND WORK

Watches are very unique products. Thus, coming up to speed with the world of watches is necessary to be able to create something that is relevant for the sector. The questions below each sub part give a summary of the themes explored to demystify the world of watches. 01 WRISTWATCH TEARDOWN

What’s inside a watch? How do the parts fit together? What is designed at Titan? What is sourced from elsewhere?

06 CROSS-FERTILIZATION IN WATCHES

What are the other sectors that influence the design of watches? 02 WATCH TERMINOLOGY

What are the terms associated with watches?

07 TREND FORMULATION

How do trends work? Where are the trends for watches set?

03 WATCHCASE MATERIALS

What are watches made out of? What are the benefits and drawbacks of a material?

04 WRISTWATCH GENRES

What are the different kinds of watches? What are the kinds that Titan makes?

08 INNOVATION IN WRISTWATCHES

Is the design of watches stagnant? How does innovation take shape at this scale? What kind of innovation do companies benefit from? 05 WATCH GROUPS & PRICE SPECTRUM

How significant is the difference in price of watches? If all watches tell time, what differentiates them? Where does Titan fit within the world of watches?