stripecatch process book
Cell phone cases tend to be either utilitarian or stylish. Added wallets and tripods are useful, but often have a rugged aesthetic, while your chic, designer case adds little functionality to the device that goes with you everywhere. But why not have both form and function? Stripecatch can be added to any phone case, so it fits into your existing style and allows you to add your own personal expression with adjustable bands. The bands add different functions depending on how you choose to arrange them. Now your phone can gracefully attach to objects to create an instant tripod, act as a minimalist wallet, and countless other applications while still fitting into your personal aesthetic.
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LETTER FROM THE DESIGNER My work is a way for me to understand the connections we are forming with our digital objects. In the duration of my lifetime, we’ve seen massive change in human behavior and social relationships because of the introduction of digital technology. I love change, I see incredible opportunity to connect with others as well as our own identities by using digital tools. But in this infancy of the digital revolution, there is much still to understand. How are we connecting to the devices themselves? What do we want from our relationships to physical devices? What happens when a service loses all physicality? What do we want to be permanent, and what can have a more temporary presence in our lives? Precedents like Purple by Artifact, Her the motion picture, and Project Ara by Motorola are apt examples of projects that work to answer similar questions to my own.
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StripeCatch is my way of understanding how modifying our most omnipresent devices in a very physical and interchangeable way can change our relationship with the device itself. Please enjoy and tell me what you think,
Kelly Lohr Designer
MATERIAL A key challenge of this project was being inspired by rope as a material. Inresearching it’s connotations through design, fashion, and sport, I hoped to build a base for leveraging it’s inherent strengths in later designs.
MANUFACTURERS
NEOCORP Neocorp was at first hesitant to work with me because their large minimum orders and diverse product selection. They told me to look at their retailer, and I was inspired by their bungee cord selection.
COLONIAL MILLS Colonial Mills was very welcoming in talking about thier production process. However, they were limited in the rope diameter that they produced.
DESIGNER BUILD-STORM I called in the help of my fellow designers to help find design opportunites using rope to augment a digital device.
PROMPTS • How can a physical object portray social messages? • How do we increase the convenience of a digital object that remains in one physical location? Are there ways of increasing or decreasing visibility to increase use or decrease likeliness of theft? • If the device is something that travels with the person, what
PERSONA RESEARCH In order to give designs more direction, I decided to focus on consumers driven by fashion. I interviewed three women who fit this description, tried to understand their motivations, and compiled mood boards from their Pinterest boards.
SKETCHING AND IDEATION
PIN UP BREAKTHROUGHS When talking through my thoughts with other designers, I was asked how I would make bungee cords more familiar to women. At that point I realized that bungees are already conveniently available in many colors in the form of hair elastics. The direction of my designs modified to use this pre-existing resource.
WORKS-LIKE MODELING Once I modified to using hair elastics, I had to figure out the mechanism that they would catch on. I tried to balance material thickness, manufacturing process constraints, and the functionality of latching mechanisms. Quick models were built out and tested with chipboard.
FINAL CONSTRUCTION StripeCatch final models were lasercut from acrylic and assembled by hand. I had difficulty getting the solvent weld perfect, but once I standardized the process, constructing beautiful StipeCatches was a breeze.