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Key Questions
Key Questions
What are the overall product dimensions, material composition, and weight?
How will the product attach to a keychain?
How can we ensure the product can be personalized?
Cardboard Pretotype
Cardboard Pretotype
This pretotype acted as a proof of concept and feasibility. It is composed of a small styrofoam disk with a hole through it, a thin cardboard border, and an NFC sticker on the back, which we were able to program with our personal phones to connect to different Spotify song pages. The overall shape and decoration is meant to signify a vinyl record. This pretotype solidified the "song sharing" concept of our product as we continued to experiment with different keychain lengths.
Styrofoam Prototype
Styrofoam Prototype
This pretotype allowed for functionality testing of an internal NFC chip with modern cell phones. It is composed of two Styrofoam disks with an NFC sticker placed between them and then glued together. Similar to our other pretotype, the overall shape and decoration was meant to signify a vinyl record. This version opened the door for experimentation on size, which we continued to test through the prototyping process.
Pretotype Testing
Pretotype Testing
To test our pretotype concepts, we first explored the feasibility and durability of our product internally, then with a small set of CU Boulder Engineering students in the Advanced Product Design course. This included testing the NFC response rate with several different phone brands, attaching pretotypes to personal items, and observing pretotype movement and durability while attached.
Initial Insights
Initial Insights
During our first round of pretotype testing, we gained insight into NFC function, attachment design, and the overall social influence of our potential product. Most surprisingly with NFC function, regardless of whether the NFC sticker was internally or externally attached, the tap feature only brought up a tune through the top corners of the iPhone versus the center-back of the average Android. Similarly, it was surprising to see the pretotypes look very large compared to other keys on a keychain, underscoring the importance of comparative size in our design.
Beyond external and functional design elements, users seemed to enjoy an element of social surprise and anticipation in the share-a-song process — an element that we upheld through our future iterations and considered more quantitatively. Overall, this information guided our revisions as we moved towards prototyping and organized user testing, where we experimented with smaller sizing, intuitive design, and strengthened branding and social influence.
APD Pretotype Video.mp4Concept Design
Concept Design
To begin our prototyping, we modeled and 3D printed three different product designs for testing: two circular and one square. These shapes mimiced small music-carrying technologies of the past, such as a CD, vinyl record, and floppy disc. During the 3D printing process, we sought to solve for the NFC sticker integration, either internally layered or externally adhered. We also sought to solve for an attachment method alongside our printing that allowed users to carry or attach the product to other items in unique ways.
With our products printed, we planned to program our product's NFC stickers with one song using the NFC Tools app. We selected songs based on the different genres that our first round of users expressed an interest in. With our completed prototypes, we moved into testing through individual user interviews to gain clarity as far as the intuitive nature of our design. To do so, we observed each user interacting with our product (without added instructions) and used this information to make more design improvements.
Requirements and Specifications
Requirements and Specifications
The product shall have a diameter of 1.5” ± 0.1”.
The product shall be 0.25” ± 0.05” thick.
The product shall be able to be attached to a keychain or carabiner.
The product shall open the specified music application or webpage when touched to an NFC capable device.
Key Performance Indicators
Key Performance Indicators
Functionality: Is the NFC response rate consistent and accurate across different phone brands, material considerations, time, and shapes? Does our NFC design allow for individualized customization? Does our design concept add something new to a saturated market of music products?
-Potential Trade-offs: Concept design, quality of NFC, cost, user satisfaction
Size: Can our product fit comfortably on a variety of carabiners, keyrings, bag straps, etc? Are our product dimensions smaller than or equal to most keys or small buttons?
-Potential Trade-offs: Usability, user satisfaction, material selection
Durability: Is our product impact resistant? Can our product survive through daily wear and tear, from shipping to carrying? Does our product provide hactic 'tap' feedback to guide users?
-Potential Trade-offs: Size (thickness) of product, user satisfaction, material selection
Satisfaction: Do users express a sense of satisfaction from our product (such as on scale of 1-5)? Does our product achieve a social connection between users, either by learning of a new song or prompting collection of our product?
-Potential Trade-offs: Concept design, material selection, cost
Cost: Is our product accessible in cost to the average user? What's the lowest cost we can achieve without negatively impacting our fabrication process?
-Potential Trade-offs: User satisfaction, manufacturing efficiency, material selection
Key Takeaways
Key Takeaways
The functionality and location of the NFC heavily impacts user satisfaction.
The comparative size of our design must be similar to or fit alongside other keychain adornments.
Users enjoy the share-a-song concept, but future iterations would benefit from being more intuitive.
3D printing as a fabrication method will allow us to experiment with NFC placement, shape, color, and visual design of our product.
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