PROJECT MIXTAPE

“It is important that we make things for each other.”

- Sir Jony Ive

I used to love making mix tapes for people.

Sure, now you can make and share a Spotify playlist. But it’s not the same.

my mission

To design and prototype a modern, spiritual successor to the mix tape that is easy to share, intuitive to use, and most importantly, fun.

An obvious, boring solution.

A thumb drive is easy to share and intuitive to use. It’s just not very fun. But given how widely adaptable they are, maybe I could work with it. I had an idea, and shopped dozens of shapes, sizes and colors.

I chose this one.

Measure twice

Based on the specific thumb drive dimensions, I drafted a blueprint to determine how much room it would take to fit 3 in a case. Because cases are fun.

In which case

I searched through makeup cases, pill boxes, sewing containers, but I really wanted something as thin as a cassette tape. Something that could slide smoothly into a pocket.

In this case

I settled on this watercolor travel palette. It’s made of tin, and I liked the idea of mounting the thumb drives inside with magnets. It was time for the first draft …and the first lessons.

Lessons

Even the strongest glue struggled to bond the magnets and aluminum thumb drives.

Grind prep areas

The thumb drives sat tight against the tin, and it was tough to grab them by the fingertips.

Add grip space

It didn’t feel fun yet, but I wasn’t sure why. How could I solve a problem I couldn’t see?

Take a break

The stars align

I realized it was kind of a pain to keep the thumb drives nice and neat in the case. And pain isn’t fun. So, how could I force them to stay in their original positions?

paired magnets

Package design

I found transparent, adhesive printer sheets and mocked up an interior legend to use with color-coded stickers.