“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 playlist. But you could also send a birthday email instead of a real card. It’s just not the same
A product design challenge
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 can hold lots of songs, is easy to share and intuitive to use. It’s just not very fun. But it’s the only wide-spread, off-the-shelf media standard left. I’d have to work with it, so I bought and tried dozens of brands.
I chose this one.
Measure twice
Based on the specific thumb drive dimensions, I drafted a blueprint to figure out how much room it would take to fit 3 in a case, because cases are fun. Cassette tapes had cases.
It wasn’t easy.
The issue wasn’t finding the right case size, but the right slimness. I searched through makeup cases, pill boxes, sewing containers—all too thick, too bulky to smoothly slide into a pocket.
Bingo.
I finally found this slim watercolor travel palette. It’s made of tin, and I liked the idea of attaching small magnets to the back of the thumb drives. It was time for the first prototype …and the first lessons.
1
Even the strongest glue struggled to bond the small, shiny magnets to the polished aluminum thumb drive bodies.
Small areas of prep grinding
2
The thumb drives were too flush with the tin, and it felt clumsy pulling them away with only two fingers.
More grip space between surfaces
3
It still didn’t feel fun, but why? How could I solve a problem if I didn’t even know what the problem was?
Take a break, do some tests