Outcome

Intention:

I often like to listen to podcasts/music before going to sleep. Due to the compactness of my dorm room, my bed is raised to a height which makes it challenging to put my headphones away before going to sleep. In addition, there is also a mess of cables for charging the various items I use every day (bluetooth earbuds, phone, tablet). Thus, I wanted something that would also help with cable management. 

Research/Context:

I could not find anything that would allow for horizontal headphone storage online. The headphone stands I could find are vertical in the sense they require a base to stand up. In addition, I also wanted something with cable management to allow for better organization and aesthetics. I also wanted something that would be easy to mount and that is sturdy enough to hold the weight of all the objects with ease while also maintaining removability. 

Process:

I first sketched out a couple of concepts that would satisfy the two basic criteria I had: horizontal design and cable management. At first, my designs were more rectangular with sharp edges and blocky features. However, these sketches were not that aesthetically appealing leading me to create the final design with a more rounded shape. In fusion, I utilized the loft tool along with creating construction planes to construct a 3D model of the design.

I also needed to add a mechanism to the stand to allow it to attach to the surface. After multiple revisions, I finalized it to a rectangular block cut out towards to top of the vertical portion of the headphone stand. This cutout allows for multiple mounting solutions ranging from command strips to velcro strips. The aim of this design flexibility was to allow for greater applications of this product. 

Sketches

Renders

Photos

Reflection

This was the first time I worked with Autodesk Fusion to design, render and then produce an object. During the design process, I ran into a few challenges in replicating the features in my sketch. As I was new to the software, it sometimes took a significant amount of time to understand the issue with the modeling action I was trying to do and to fix the issue. However, after getting my hands dirty and reading online forums, I was able to implement most of the features that I had in my sketch. 

Moving forward, I would like to improve the mechanism that allows to mount it to the wall/flat surface. This will allow for greater ease of use and increased reliability with the holder. In addition, I also want to try adding a mini stand to hold other objects like glasses.