Gem - Wireless Earbud Concept - 2019
With wireless headphones and earbuds becoming more common, I thought it would be interesting for a pair of earbuds to show whether they are playing music -- and whether a person is "open" or "closed" to the outside world. Gem is also an exploration on form and materials, originally inspired from some form study sketches from 2017 (the last two images).
Similar to electrochromic smart windows, Gem's outer shell can change color and translucency when charged with voltage. When you are listening to music, the outer shell appears opaque. If you aren't feeling talkative, you can also manually set the headphones to appear opaque.
Earlier charging case iterations aimed open by sliding forwards, but resulted in a relatively large case to account for the depth of the earbuds. The final concept features a spring-loaded core that rises vertically.
