GIT 210 Final Project Design Brief- Team 15

Redesigning: Laptop Carrying Case

Behance Page Link: (add link)

 

Project Topic: Redesign Product: Laptop Carrying Case

 

Alicia Aldrich

¾ time student at ASU and working full time at a local farm in my community.
Agriculture and landscape design
Landscape Designer

 

Bill Alsobrook

Workload: Full time student at ASU, Own and runs Galveston Pirate Soccer Club and W&B Photography and Design, VP of the Texas Premier Soccer League and VP/Co-Owner of West Indies Football Association, and VP/Co-Owner of Monmouth Town FC in Wales
Area of interest: a ton of them
Dream Job: Doing it now

 

Austin Hale

Workload: Full time student at ASU and working full time at an oral surgery center
Area Of Interest: Software engineering
Dream Job: Oral Surgeon

 

Zohaib Ali

Workload: Taking 3 classes just for fun and working at Microsoft as a Senior Technical Product Manager.
Area of interest: Technology
Dream job: Already have it

 

Leader/Project Manager— Alicia Aldrich
Communicator/Correspondent— Bill Alsobrook
Lead Designer/Art Director— Austin Hale and Zohaib Ali

 

WEEK 5:
By Thursday 9/20 at 11:59 PST:
Complete research
Come up with at least 7 brainstorming ideas (comment on the Facebook post)

By Friday 9/21 at 11:59 PST:
Select some of the best ideas to incorporate in the design
have the questions completed

By Sunday 9/21 at 11:59 PST:
Have a rough draft of the design brief done

By Monday 9/22 at 11:59 PST:
Proof and finalize design brief

By Tuesday 9/23 at 11:59 PST:
Submit design brief

WEEK 6:
By Wednesday 9/24 at 11:59 PST:
Complete the 6 pencil thumbnail sketches

By Friday 9/26 at 11:59 PST:
Rough draft of mind map
Discuss the thumbnail sketches

By Saturday 9/27 at 11:59 PST:
Discuss the mind map

By Sunday 9/28 at 11:59 PST:
Finalize mind map

Monday 9/29 at 11:59 PST:
Submit mind map

Tuesday 9/30 at 11:59 PST:
Complete the 3 semifinal drafts in pencil

WEEK 7:

Thursday 10/2 at 11:59 PST:
Discuss the semifinal drafts.

Sunday 10/5 at 11:59 PST:
Complete preliminary final draft

Monday 10/6 at 11:59 PST:
Have the Behance website ready to go awaiting the final rendition
Discuss the preliminary final draft

Wednesday 10/8 at 11:59 PST:
Complete changes on final draft

Thursday 10/9 at 11:59 PST:
Submit everything. Finalize Behance Page and submit links.

 

There are no comprehensive numbers for the number of laptops sold. Neither is there any concrete number for cases for those laptops. It is estimated that around 109 million notebook PCs shipped worldwide in 2007. In 2008 it was estimated that 145.9 million notebooks were sold, and that the number would grow in 2009 to 177.7 million. In 2010 the number of units sold was 83 Million in the US alone. In 2011 that number dropped significantly to 58,252,800.This number can be explained because this is shortly after Apple introduced the original iPad. The numbers of laptop sales have been decreasing significantly since then with the introduction of a plethora of high end tablets with as much computing power as a laptop for most users.

 

There are also a number of manufactures that produce these products en masse, and Range anywhere from the high end cases of Eddie Bauer to the low end generic cases made by nameless companies. On the market today there are literally hundreds of thousands of products with variations on the same theme, and are essentially modifications on the original briefcase that most professional people carried before the advent of laptop computers; a black canvas or leather satchel that protects the machine from dings and damage. The weight and materials used have become lighter and tougher but the design has stayed the same. Essentially I envision the basic design staying the same but with some modifications for today’s ultra-mobile ultra-connected lifestyle.

Problems with Current Product

Essentially the main complaint people have with their mobile devices, is 1st battery life on their mobile devices, to alleviate this problem we could add in an alternate power source, second, a lack of connectivity, we could address this by integrating a portable WiFi Hotspot.

 

1. What is YOUR product? Describe your newly designed product. Material, cost, color, weight etc...

Our product that we decided to redesign is the laptop carrying case. We chose to redesign this product because we use it so often for school and work. We found that we could improve the laptop carrying case by adding a variety of different features as well as improving the durability, comfort and convenience of the case.

Here is a description of our newly designed laptop carrying case:

Features:
- Pockets for laptop, tablet and cell phone
- Compartments for storage and charger
- Increased protection by having foam padded pockets lined with neoprene
- Solar panel flap for charging device batteries, as well as a built in internal battery for extra battery life.
- A symbol on the laptop case that has thermo active dye in it which turns the symbol red when the laptop is overheating.
- Retractable portable mouse pad
- Retractable clip for flash drive
- Three ring binder compartments that allows you to neatly store you notebooks, files and documents.
- Lined with Aluminum to prevent scanning and identity theft.
- Integrated biometric fingerprint lock
- Memory foam cushioned handles and straps for comfortable carrying
- Adjustable straps and travel features: wheels and sliding handle and carrying straps for bikes and motorcycles
- Comes with a water resistant weather cover.
Material:
- The carrying case will be made of 1200 denier polyester because it is strong, durable and long lasting.
- The lining of the carrying case will be aluminum to prevent scanning and identity theft.
- The pockets for the additional devices with be padded with foam and lined with neoprene material.
Weight
- 5 lbs.
Cost:
- $155.99
Color:
- The laptop carrying case is available in the following colors; black, gray, blue and red.

 

2. Why did this need to be redesigned? How did you IMPROVE the product? 

We decided that the laptop carrying case needed to be redesigned to be improved in a variety of areas such as, protection, comfort, durability, and convenience. We found that laptop cases currently are lacking in one of the above areas and we wanted to make a carrying case that came with the whole package. We added a variety of different features that will make life easier for someone who uses the case on a daily basis for education and work. For protection we added a variety of features that protects the devices from theft, overheating, weather, and damage. We found that a lot of the laptop cases aren’t aimed towards being comfortable, so we decided to add straps and handles that is made of memory foam for more comfort, we also added different features to the straps that allows for comfort in any carrying method. As for durability, we used a combination of different materials and characteristics that we learned from existing laptop cases and combined them to ensure a strong and durable laptop carrying case. We analyzed different laptop carrying case features, and were able to come up a variety of different features to implement into our design that will bring convenience to the carrier such as different compartments and pockets for other devices and storage, travel features, extended battery life features, organization features, and retractable computer accessories.

 

3. Who will use this product? And how will this new design enhance the users overall experience with a product of this type?

With analyzing the previous post, our product would definitely target the tech savvy or really the new generation entering college and workplace. However the "cool" extras such as thermal triggered logos will attract the average laptop case buyer that is looking for a high end to mid end laptop case.

The user experience will be greatly enhanced by helping the user easily store multiple devices without having to worry about where to place them in the bag that won’t lead to any scratches or damage. The compartment structure will also help the user quickly get to what they want without having to dig through a bag to find what they need. The essential computer items are now built in so the user can now leave the house without having to worry that they left their thumb drive at home. They also get advanced identity theft protection built into the bag to help prevent scanning of sensitive and personal information. On top of all of these great features we have made the bag super comfortable to help prevent an uncomfortable experience.

These innovations that we have implemented in this laptop case will truly help the user by reducing complexity, risk, hardship.