Product Design, equals watch project is finished

I have finished the last piece of work I will do on the series of watch concepts I've been working on.  It's been an interesting project, I could go on, but I feel I have pushed the project far enough.  Using my check list, I've taken the materials I have as far as I currently can although with the aesthetics, I could go on forever.  The innovative closing mechanism still needs tweaks, but I think I have proven it can work.  The last prototype was made in wood with plastic and metal work and sprayed with car body paint.  To watch (ha ha) the whole story, please go here. 

This week Samsung released their first smart watch, the Galaxy Gear.  I still think watch screens are too small for surfing the internet and reading emails.  It even has a camera and can be used as a phone. I think it's trying to do too much, but what do I know.  These days everything is decided by sales figures, so we shall wait and see.

One thing I have though about with smart watches is if they would be to help people with alzhimers. Could family members set a calendar that is displayed on the watch to help remind sufferers about comon tasks they need to do? 

featured on core77

My watch design has been featured on the front page of Core77.com, with a discussion in the project forums about if the method for fastening the watch strap to your wrist is innovative as I hope, or if it has been done before.

A watch to watch

I have finished my watch project.  I say finished, what I mean is released, because especially now, at launch, I can see lots of things I'd like to tweak, but for now it is done.  It was quite an enjoyable project, I think mainly because (after the car) I was working on something small, but I enjoyed making lots of models and getting back into the design process.  

Recently I've been musing about this.  As a product designer, I think you have to be in love with taking journeys, not necessarily worrying about the end destination.  If you enjoy the journey, where you eventually arrive will be good.  If you only focus on the end destination, not exploring all the avenues and pathways, where you end up will not be as strong, simply because you willl have not travelled as far (and probably taken a few short cuts to get there!).  I'm not saying my watch project is great or I'm at the end of the journey, but I like the analogy.

watch - sneak peek

So as I may have mentioned, here is the first sneak peek at a series of watches I am currently working on.  I'm a great believer in balancing details when designing a product, so if one area is complicated, another should be clean etc.  With this watch, as the body is very plain, I thought the strap should be interesting.  As a quick concept model it's ok.  I'm a great collector of stuff for model making, so the watch strap is made from the packaging you get when you buy a supermarket chicken (in the Uk) for the Sunday roast - it looks quite good on the wrist and the chook was delicious!