CreativeSESSION's Keith Magruder is leaving us!!! He's branching out and starting his own company called SESSIONcreative. I kid.... So Keith is headed out to an interview with Old Navy tomorrow (a fashion design position). We talked about different ways he could show off his work - also a unique way in which he could leave his portfolio behind.
We figured for him to stand out from the rest of the crowd, we definitely need to leave something behind worthwhile, something memorable that would really leave a good impression.
We wanted it to be a USB drive; this is the easiest way to save his portfolio and be reusable later on. Keith wanted to do something crafty; something that is handmade to show his passion for the fine arts. Since his portfolio is so diverse, we wanted to design something that communicates his interest in both fashion and accessories. We sat down and brainstormed, "What clothing-related product can we use that will fit a thumb drive?" We had a ton of candidates: sewing needles, thumb tacks, wooden buttons, clothes pin, zippers, rivots, snaps, and scissors.
We ended up choosing the clothes pin. The width of the pin perfectly fits a small thumbdrive and the pin can be quite useful to clip papers or your clothes.
Check out our process:
Taking apart some clothes pins for measurement. Quick Sketching frame the background this round of design we did not need to make sexy design sketches since the product was a familiar object.
The smallest usb thumb drive we could find. It sits a bit wider than the clothes pin, this means we had to do some custom work.
I should be uploading some of our earlier prototypes. They were much more janky and primitive. These are the latest and greatest.
Thumb drive fits perfectly!
Excuse me for using my name on these earlier models, I just had to!
and here she is plug n' play
We had to do an in-context picture. Although this is not a likely situation, you could use your pin in this manner if you wanted to, but in actuality we imagine it clipping together documents and papers.
Things we like about this design - The top of the pin has Keith's number and the sides have his name. This will be a good way for employers to stay in touch with him.
Keith put together this packaging for his clip. Well designed, my man.
Recyclable black craft box, nice die-cut business card - with a seat for the clothing pin to sit right into.
GIVE HIM A CALL!
HIS WEBSITE Keith's Website
In Conclusion: Some of the challenges we ran into while designing the clothes pin were:
- The final pin was about 3 millimeter wider than the original pin. If we wanted to use the compression spring of the original pin we needed to cut grooves along the side for the compression spring to sit flush and not obstruct the side walls, leaving a cleaner flat design.
- The USB drive needed at least a 11mm clearance. 11mm was challenging for the aesthetic of the design - one end of the pin would be longer, leaving the other end looking like an accident. Some of the design decisions we applied to solve this issue was to make the shorter pin side thinner and trim it off at an angle. For the USB side of the design, we slanted the transition from the front of the pin to the back near the USB, creating a thinner and less obstructive look.
- This design used Keith's name and my name on the side, because we wanted the employer to remember him. We plan on mass producing this concept with a simpler form. Our options now are to make it in casted in bronze or a high gloss black resin; this way it hides the thumb drive.
- STAY TUNED
-Hoang