Project U.S.B
SOLUTION
U.S.B Play aims at being an intermediate device between a Laptop and a traditional Music Player. Unlike other portable players in the market, it eliminates the cumbersome steps of formatting & syncing, and simply allows you to plug in the most commonly used devices (Flash Drive) and play your music. This giving your unused flash drives purpose.
This device acts as a portable music player with interchangeable memory allowing you to quickly share audio data.
CHALLENGE
Flash Drives are the most popularly used PC peripheral device and is used to store and transfer data. However, due to their inexpensiveness and availability, they have become disposable. Further, there are problems faced in interaction with the drive & there is great scope for improvement in terms of usability & feasibility.
The aim of this project was to create & design a device that enhances the interaction and experience of the flash drive, making it not just a flash drive but something that you 'connect' with.
USBs perform 3 major functions. These change depending on the device it is attached to.
Flash Drive Design Trends
Flash drive design has moved from ergonomic form >> small size >> add-ons >> brand collaterals. The previous trend still exists when the new trend grows, however it is less desirable.
Insights
Based on data collected from Secondary & primary research, we found that:
Ideation & Development
Keeping our driving insights in mind, I started an exhaustive ideation on possible concepts that help improve the value of flash drives.
Iteration I
I narrowed down on 2 concepts. The first one focused on redesigning the pen drive to solve user problems with usage. The cap of a flash drive is most susceptible to misplacement. This concept looks at increasing the value of the cap by adding another feature (music), thus reducing chances of misplacement. Music was a popular trend for peripheral devices so I developed a concept for the same.
The USB 2.0 concept was just another flash drive. The USB Player on the other hand was more disruptive to the market as it could be used with any flash drive.
Feedback
While most of the interviewees found the player to be an interesting concept, music as a feature is not strong enough to make a separate purchase. Further, while the bridge allows you to use different sized flash drives, it looks disproportionate to the device & there is no way to search for songs
"What stops it from becoming just another Music Player ?"
-Feedback
Iteration II
Iteration II focused on redesigning the bridge and increasing value of the device.
U.S.B. Play
This Device aims at being an intermediate between Laptop/Tablet and a Music Player. It eliminates the steps of formatting & syncing, and simply allows you to plug in the most commonly used device (Flash Drive) and play your music.
Apart from playing music, This device can also be used as a recorder and as an FM Radio Player.
The device is sold as a flash drive with a functional cap. However any other flash Drive can be used with it. The paint strip and the angular back of the flash drive subconsciously hint at the right orientation of the drive while plugging it in.
When the bridge is rotated it switches off all power in the device thus stopping all functions. The user has to switch off the device before removing the flash drive.
The device has a 2500mA lithium-ion battery that can be charged with an A-type USB cable.
The device also doubles as a power bank to charge other devices (cell phone).
When a Flash Drive is Plugged into the Player, 2 folders namely “Audio” & “Recordings” get created. The player reads and saves files there
The device is small enough to fit into the palm of your hand and has a clip at the back to clip onto clothes.
The device has an anti slip rubber body with a glossy paint strip and is available in 5 pastel colors.
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