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AMP

Design Studio 2 - Trio Project
Spring 2023

2-Month Industrial Design Project

AMP is a convenient, on-brand earplug dispenser designed for School of Rock Albany, a music school for elementary to high school students. Designed to look like an guitar amplifier, the AMP serves as storage, decoration, and a means for easy access to an important, often overlooked piece of equipment in loud environments.

My Role

I was the lead for the project’s ideation, overall form, and client communication. I also conducted the aesthetic research and all visual brainstorming, creating the thumbnails and concept sketches. I helped guide visual and CMF choices made during construction and--after construction--finished the product, adding the paint, dials, and felt.

My group members were responsible for the prototype and product construction and wood-working. They decided the product dimensions, scale, and mechanisms, based off of our available materials and abilities.

Brief, Research, & Problem Definition

For this project, we contacted nearby music school, School of Rock Albany branch and discussed some common issues the faculty and students of the school encountered.

As a music school teaching loud instruments like guitar, drums, and more, students are required to wear earplugs during practice.

Their current dispenser was the cardboard box the earplugs were originally packaged in, and staff reported it as being finicky, unstable, and inconvenient.

They requested we design an improved earplug dispenser, so we developed the following problem statement after discussing specific needs and wants:

“How can School of Rock store and dispense
earplugs in a way visually cohesive with their space and brand,
as well as easy to use and refill?”

Ideation

School of Rock’s is a corporation whose brand draws from rock, punk, and alternative music subcultures. However, it also teaches a 5-18 age range, and thus also requires age-appropriateness.

We used School of Rock’s brand as a guideline for our ideation phase, and began sketching ideas.

Rough Initial Sketches

Refined Sketches

Developed Sketches

We settled on a design based on three criteria:

SIMPLICITY OF USE

NOTICEABILITY

VISUAL COHESIVITY

Rough Prototype & User Tests

We created a low-fidelity prototype from foam core, testing for scale and the dispensers core functions, deprioritizing visual appeal.

Using the prototype, we conducted three user testing sessions and received feedback positive feedback regarding all three of our goals.

Final Prototype

We would be delivering the detailed prototype to the school for them to use permanently, so our goal was to make it as close to the final ideal product. We needed this prototype to have high visual fidelity, be long-lasting, and preserve the functionality of the rough prototype.

All in all, we feel as though the AMP was a very successful product. Our client and users seem very satisfied with the product itself--even asking for a second copy of the dispenser, and we believe it answer the problem statement effectively. We balanced aesthetics and functions, which resulted in a design that, although simple, best fit their needs and integrates with the company’s space well.