The BLACK+DECKER rapid driver is a fast charging, powered screwdriver aimed at apartment renters and new homeowners wanting a lightweight and easy to use tool that is ready when they are.

While researching two new screwdriver releases with distinctive unique selling points, we found that customers were not considering the BLACK+DECKER products due to charge times being up to 7x more than most competitors. 

In addition, products in the same price bracket coming with a storage case, while the new BLACK+DECKER releases only came in a card box. Consumers also wanted to know how long the screwdrivers held their charge for, and the technical amp-hour message was not understood except that bigger was better.

From our research we start to pursue a cleaner aesthetic so that the screwdriver would fit into the home and not an aesthetic this is traditionally found in the power tool industry. this included the potential to use an alternative brand colour combination of orange+white instead of orange+black. we felt this combination was more uplifting, energetic and positive. At the same time we were wanting to design a shareable marketing message, where the product could easily be lent to a friend or family member with a storage solution the would fit in with that lifestyle. these concepts were passed over in favour of a more traditional power tool aesthetic with fewer soft, home products design cues.

Multiple models where produced to develop and evaluated the design throughout the process. Quick colour sandstone prints helped to develop forms and colour splits high fidelity CNC cuts were used to check the final cad data and a twin material 3D print with working internals was used to evaluate the final design and usability of the product before committing to production.