If the CD doesn’t carry the load anymore, what does?
Music has always been and will be a big part of human life. Recent statistics from the music market, interviews with industry leaders, and general sentiment of consumers unequivocally show that CD and other laminated media will soon extinct. All the same, we as listeners still crave tangibility and ownership, as shown in an increase in the rate of vinyl production, consumption, and trade since the 2000s. However, the fad of vinyls seem to be found only among a few physical-media enthusiasts.
How is the future going to find the balance between the convenience and experience for the general audience, and how design can prepare them for what is waiting for us? Using the approach of speculative design, the current project provokes a question of how music could and should be experienced in the post-digital era: a unique experience filled with tactile richness and personal joy. This unique approach, which is both nostalgic and futuristic, invites you to ponder as to what music is and what music can be to human beings.
CONCEPT development
The four pillars:
1. Ownership: improving the relationship between humans and the object
2. Tactile richness: enhancing the sensory attributes through dynamic textures
3. Track sequencing: track sequencing is critical as today's users rather buy a track than listen to the whole album
4. Unique experience: finding a new role for music in a physical form
2. Tactile richness: enhancing the sensory attributes through dynamic textures
3. Track sequencing: track sequencing is critical as today's users rather buy a track than listen to the whole album
4. Unique experience: finding a new role for music in a physical form
Based on the observations of the target audience and the four pillars, I conducted a personal analysis and developed a design brief as a way to validate my approach. These are my design criteria:
- Can visually represent music genres to users
- Must be portable
- Must have futuristic as well as traditional features
- Can provide users with a unique experience
- Must be portable
- Must have futuristic as well as traditional features
- Can provide users with a unique experience
SKETCHES
I got an inspiration from the Russian artist, Kandinsky. These sketches are an exploration of the relationship between the visual and the auditory by using geometric shapes combined with different materials to create a contemporary aesthetic.
Conceptual Design for Interactive System
Auditile is a modular structure-based design, it can be subdivided a complex product into smaller parts. Once the user is finished listening to the whole album, they can disassemble Auditile's musical instrument pieces to enjoy the auditory visualization of the musical instrument.
These designs are part of a graduation project. Presented in May 2017 –– For Pratt Institute, New York
I do not own the rights to the album artwork and the song by Kraftwerk “Neon Lights"
