Simplicity is Key

Project Intention

In partnership with Vancouver Special, we were presented with the opportunity to design a home accessory that would retail for $60 or less and is inspired by the aesthetics of the Main Street Store and it’s target user group. The aesthetic of Vancouver Special is carefully curated and follows a Scandinavian design, as many of the companies showcased are from that region. The founder of Vancouver Special, Anne Pearson, tries to bring in local Vancouver designers that illustrate a similar style while also bringing an original, west coast flare. Each piece is wisely selected based on its originality, aesthetic and function, in the home, while trying to maintain an affordable price point for young, design-interested individuals.

Inspiration

We took a trip to the Vancouver Special store (3612 Main St, Vancouver, BC V5V 3N5) to gather inspiration and a chance to talk to the Owner. We were inspired by the simplicity of all the products at the store and the colourful yet simple additions of colour to each product. As a team we decided that we wanted to design a product that everyone would interact with on a daily basis. After brainstorming and looking at precedents and objects that everybody interacts with and has in common regardless of what age; job etc. we came to the conclusion that everyone carries a set of keys with them. Therefore we wanted to focus on designing an accessory that would be used in a home setting where individuals can place their keys in an organized way that is fun to interact with. Key terms that we kept in mind during our design process included:

Minimal - Craftsmanship - User-Friendly - Ritual - Functional - Intuitive - Family

1st Prototype

We started by creating simple slots in the wood where the “keychain” would be the component holding the keys onto the product. This was a quick keychain prototype with string and making a knot on top to hold it on to its place. The keychain lacks details and is still extremely rough.... the good thing about this kind of concept is that the user can replace the keychain with any colour and can replace it if it breaks.

We also made the back portion of the product wide enough so that the user could put their belongings on it - such as phone, sunglasses, wallet etc. This design however would create some issues in regards to mounting it on the wall because the surface area on the back is too small in comparison to the amount of material it has to hold up.

2nd Prototype

We reduced the width of the back so that there is less space to place other belongings (phone, wallet etc.). After user-testing and research we realized that most people keep those belongings close to them and not necessarily on the wall (if they were living with roommates they might keep it with them somewhere safer). We explored different options for the keychains. A triangle shape that would fit in the slots. Some problems we encountered with this design are the sharp edges. This design has 2 major components: how it functions on the design when organizing the keychains and how it fits in the hand, when it is off the wall, with you on a daily basis. After the triangles we decided to explore a circular shape and this was definitely a preferred option. For the circular design we left some space on the back, but once again encountered the same problems in regards to how this would be mounted on the wall with such little surface area on the back.

3rd Prototype

Inspired by Vancouver Specials vibrant colours, circle keychain exploration and the method of the keychain fitting in a slot, we decided to explore with acrylic. The acrylic keychain would be laser cut and would need a chain or something attached to it for the key. We definitely encountered several problems with this,... The acrylic material is beautiful because of its wide range of colours however it would get easily scratched. In addition, fitting the acrylic keychain in the slots wasn’t as easy as we had anticipated. The process wasn’t smooth and this would turn off users from using it. It would need a lot of testing in order for this concept to fully work.

Using CAD, Solid-works we rendered several different acrylic shapes in different colours to see how it would look. Anne, the owner of Vancouver Special loved the vibrant colours and wanted us to further explore this design concept and integrate colour in for the final design.

Not giving up on the acrylic design concept, we further explored it and laser cut our most preferred shape. Although it looks nice, the actual action of placing the keychain in the slots still wasn’t as smooth as we wanted. A lot of changes would need to happen and time-wise we were not in a good space to further explore this. We dropped the Acrylic concept but took what we learned and the feedback to the next iterations.

4th Prototype

Feeling lost after exploring the acrylic design concept, and short on time, we decided to go back to our initial shape and re-make the slots with the simple string keychain. Looking at existing designs, we used a wooden ball and leather strap rather than fabric string and a knot. Simply changing to a leather strap, elevated the design. A problem we encountered was the size of the balls and if people would find this comfortable to hold and place in their bags/purses etc. The biggest one was way too big so we decided to further explore with the smaller ones. After user-testing we came to the conclusion that most individuals liked the small ball found it fun to have on their keys.

5th Prototype

Going back to the basics, we decided to play around with the ball and ways to attach it to our object. Rather than hanging it, we came up with the idea of sliding it. Anne really liked the simplicity and “magic” that is behind this concept. We decided to change the measurements a bit and settle on this concept for our final prototype and design concept and refine it along the way!

Production

Starting the process of creating our final key holders in the Wood-shop at Emily Carr University. No jigs were necessary for our design. We started off by planing and jointing pieces of hemlock and cutting the dada out on the table saw using 3 blades, to prepare the wood for cutting out the circular shape on the table router.

Using the table router was the best option for our design. This provided an accurate and clean cut.

Final Touches

Anne mentioned she wanted to colours, we decided to stain the wooden balls. This however was more challenging than we had anticipated. The wood did not absorb the dyes and as a result the balls looked like tie-dye and did not create the effect that we wanted. Anne did not like the stains either.

In regards to attaching the leather strap we explored a variety of options to hide the knot. We ended up using epoxy and brown/black leather straps.

This was our final critique with Anne where we showed her our final prototypes. Because she didn’t like the stains on the wooden balls we opted for its natural colour and played with different coloured leather straps. She agreed that leaving the wooden balls natural was the best option, however she thought it was too “boring and too brown” and wanted us to incorporate colour in the design. She suggested we look at coloured rope for the final design and give the customers the option of including colour. In regards to the actual holder, the measurements were good however the colour (black & white) we choose for the french cleat was not something she liked. She wanted us to leave it in it's natural birch plywood colour rather than us painting it in a solid colour. As a team we preferred the solid colours and decided to leave some french cleats in its natural birch plywood colour and paint some black and white, for a clean and sleek look. Individuals would have the choice of what they would like their french cleat colour to be (depending on preference, wall colour, choice of keychain etc.).

Anne had expressed her interest colourful string. We want to have a box full of different coloured keychains where the customer can choose their preferred ones/make combinations etc. We put oil on the wooden ball keychains, and finished them off with wax.Epoxy was used to attach the rope to the wooden balls.

Final Concept

Final outcome with colourful rope for the keychain. Customers will be able to pick from a bucket what colours they want so they can mix and match. Potentially choosing one colour or multiples and assign a colour to each family member or what the key is for.... It is open for interpretation according to the user’s needs and wants! For those individuals who like the clean and minimal colour scheme we also have our brown and black leather option.