Keymaster - Product Redesign
Project: Keymaster
Project team: Alex Morein
Class: PDI Studio II (Spring 2008)
Objective: The first project was made to enhance design skills and reflect upon the design process. In studio, we explored the design process as a distinctive area os inquity and practice. Each student was asked to select a familiar product, think critically about its evolution, and propose a modest improvement.
Project summary: The Keymaster is a new product that was created to simplify and minimize the clutter on a conventional keyring. For many people, keyrings tend to be cluttered with different keys that look very similar, various key fobs, and sometimes even savings cards. This makes it a very inefficient product, as the user needs to flip through their keys to find the one that they are looking for. We decided to create a new method of key organization to save time and effort for the user.
Keymaster - original product
The product that we have chosen to assess is the split ring key holder, also called a keyring. It is used to keep keys and other items together as one single item for convenience. The keyring consists of a collapsed metal coil that is wrapped in a tight helix of two loops and is usually made with steel. To put a key on, the user pries open one end and slides the key onto the keyring until it loops on. The consumer can add other items to personalize their keyring, such as decorative key fobs or small tools such as LED lights, flash drives, and bottle openers. For this project, we will be focusing on just the keyring.
Flowchart of production process: here
Quality Function Deployment (QFD) chart: here
Chart of pollution from key ring manufacturing: here
Product Life Cycle Analysis: Microsoft Word Document
Product Social History Analysis: Microsoft Word Document
Sketches of original product:
Keymaster - product redesign
We discussed a wide variety of products to redesign for this project, ranging from plastic packaging and guitar tuners to pudding wrappers and toy disk guns. In the end, we settled on the key ring because it is an object that is used daily by the majority of the population. Also, we were drawn to the challenge of improving such a simple product. We were surprised to find that the same design had been used for hundreds of years, and while were unable to find the exact year that it was created, we found patents for improvements as far back as the mid-1800's. The key ring itself is a very simple object, yet it has its flaws. Key rings tend to become cluttered, and as many keys look almost identical, it is often hard for the user to immediately find the one that they are looking for. This wastes time and can become very frustrating. With this in mind, we set out to design a product that would simplify the everyday process of finding keys.
The new product was a small and lightweight holder with sliding tabs that ejected a different key per slot. The tabs could be customized with different colors and logos to making finding the right key a simple and easy task. It had a sleek and compact design with tabs that pushed down and slid out for quick and simple use. Throughout the process, we interviewed our peers to find features that they would like to have in a product like ours. With each set of interviews, we added more and more functions to what we already had. In the end, the new product efficiently organized the keys by only allowing one per slot, which made it much easier to find the right key. The hidden key release button on the back opens a clash for easy swapping of keys when needed. We also added extra features, such as a built-in LED light to light up the keyhole in the dark. Also, the side features a programmable key fob that works with most car models and manufacturers. The bottom has a clear plastic pouch that can hold credit cards and savings tags that can easily be scanned right through the plastic.
We realized that the new design creates more waste, so we designed a recycling program to go alongside our new design. The Keymaster is made from 100% recycled materials, and consumers are invited to return their used products for a rebate. The old materials will be recycled to be used in new items.
When researching patents, we were unable to find anything similar to our improved design. However, we found an auto card manager that was very similar, only it dealt with credit and gift cards instead of keys. Also, the auto card manager is very expensive and uses too many unnecessary materials.
Final elevator pitch: Today's key rings are bulky, clumsy, and hard to use. Finding that right key and lining it up with the lock is a battle in the cold or with gloves on, and is hard to do with stiff joints; in the dark, all bets are off. Why not have all your keys in one easy to use holder? One that protects your keys from being bent, and makes them easy to find and even easier to access? One that brings light to make unlocking easier, and that organizes all those savings tags? Meet the Keymaster. Oh, and it can be used for remote entry to your car too.
Final product sketches: 1;
2;
3
Keymaster - feedback and reflections
After we presented our improved design, we received positive feedback from our classmates, many of who we had interviewed during the initial design and development processes. However, the overall critique from the instructors was that we had "become attached to the product idea early in the design process without considering potential flaws and other options." While it may be true that we became attached to the idea early, we did consider many flaws from our original product idea and implemented them into our final design. One thing that we should have improved on was our sketches and documentation. We discussed flaws and improvements at length, but never really took notes or drew sketches of the improvements. The sketches that we did were all of our final idea, so they didn't convey our thought process. That was a big thing I learned from this project - keep track of all design changes and iterations, no matter how small they may seem during the design process.
Another critique was that while the poster was informative, it was "visually unexciting" and did not convey how the product worked. Our poster featured a CAD drawing and rendering of what the product would look like, and we described how to use the product during the presentation. Now that I think about it, our poster works well with our presentation, but does not convey our ideas when viewed by itself. If we redid the project, I would like to put up a diagram of a cross-section with labeled parts that describe how the product can be operated.
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© Copyright 2007
Tiffany Hu
Product Design and Innovation 2011
