Sketchel is a conceptual product design for artists. It aim to helps them organize art material for regular travel and keep track of the art materails available in their bag.
Project Overview
Sketchel was done as a second-year project to create an organizer for a specific group of people (artists in this case). After studying their needs and behavior, the designed product was made as an interactive product that can help artists better organize for their travel needs.
Design Process
Considering our limited time, we decided to follow a flexible design process. Where we do research with a fixed deadline, move ahead to ideate, prototype, and fabricate the product with mobile integration in mind such that we have enough time to shoot a promo video for our product. The Promo video shoot was another challenge. It required us to look for location, characters, script, music, and compositions of shots we should have to showcase the product in use and bring together a good quality video to promote our product.
Research
We started with the objective:
We want to help illustrators, painters, and artists to arrange and carry their painting tools for short travels or as table-top so that nothing comes between their creativity when they travel.
After talking to artists who travel regularly, we came up with the following scope or design objectives:
- The product must have different compartments for tools.
- A portable product.
- Keep track of travel experiences.
- Inspire you to sketch and create.
- Stay awake with you all the time.
Ideation
After we had a list of users’ requirements, we all sat together for rapid sketching for ideation. We all thought of ideas individually by sketching as many ideas as possible, and based on collective voting, we chose one of the best ideas, which we thought was able to meet most of the requirements. Then drafted the selected idea with other details like dimensions, curves, and dynamic parts.
Prototypes
After finalizing the concept, we made rapid prototypes with modular compartments to see what works best and efficiently arrange the art materials. Through our prototypes, we observed a lot of details that were to be rectified, including some of the dimensions at the edges for easy folding. After satisfactory results, we moved on to the fabrication of the product.
Mobile Integration
The bag comes with a simple mobile integrated app that goes beyond just organizing the art tools. It also allows the user to keep track of available tools, make a travel schedule and create a Travel log consisting of videos and pictures. The stable platform also works as a battery-powered led lamp, like an animator’s light box, which is controlled by the mobile app.
Night-mode
Information Architecture And High-fedility Prototype
BTS
Sketchel is a creation of a collaboration between my friends Archa Suresh, Subha Govindaraj, Thadhagath MP, and me, where each of us played an essential part in realizing the product from a concept to a physical prototype. It took a lot of effort for each of us as we all had to use different new skills, which made it more fun. Although this project was a second-year project, it played a pivotal role and made us realize the potential of teamwork.
We divided the project into four parts: Research led by Subha Govindaraj, ideation and fabrication led by Aarcha Suresh, mobile integration by Shuvam Bharti, and Promotion video led by Thadhagath MP.
