DESIGN BRIEF
Design a new all-polycarbonate laptop case collection aimed for student use in the K-12 education classroom, for Gumdrop's partnerships with accidental drop protection (ADP) companies.
- The form language should fit in with Gumdrop's laptop case collections, SlimTech and DropTech.
- Bring to market for the 5 most popular EDU laptops, starting with the Dell 3110 Chromebook Clamshell and 2-in-1 devices.
TEAM + PROCESS ________________________
My Role: Lead Designer
Responsibilities: Project management, ideation, technical + texture specs, CAD reviews, test shot sample reviews, renderings, animation, quality control spec, instructions
Software: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Fusion 360, Keyshot, Sketchbook
Main Collaborators: Victor Zhu (Project Lead), Frank Yan (Engineer), James Lau [Director of Program Management (Pre-production & Sourcing)], Brian Piper (Industrial Design Manager)
IDEATION __________________________________
3D CAD ___________________________________
Dell 3110 Chromebook Clamshell - Revised CAD after 1st test shot learnings
TOOLING _________________________________
1ST TEST SHOT
Learnings:
The first Dell 3110 Clamshell test shot taught us the top case's mold lifter marks would not be covered by the heavy frost texture or the glass channel groove.
We modified the CAD and mold to inset the gloss groove further and widen the heavy frost area (image to the left).
For the future, we need to know the lifter mark locations as soon as possible ideally before tooling.
Light frosted back (left); Gloss back (right)
Challenge: Choosing the right textures to provide contrast between the heavy and light texture areas and have a good hand feel and grip..
Looking through the Yick Sang texture books, we narrowed down textures to make into physical texture chips and tested them against different colors and materials. The light texture for the center window has to be clear enough to scan and read asset tags for device management and stickers for customization. The heavy texture has to cover the lifter marks enough.
FINAL TEST SHOT
