A minimalist hair dryer built around one bold accent
This project pushed a minimalist design language as far as it could go: a shiny black plastic body kept deliberately lightweight for easy handling, with a single change in tone marking the part line between the main body and base rather than a jarring material break.
Copper was the one bold colour I allowed in — used sparingly on the fans and button so it reads as a considered accent rather than decoration, while a lighter grey metal control wheel picks out the power dial without disrupting the palette. The internal fan slats are spaced deliberately wide, letting the copper mechanism show through as a feature rather than hiding it.
Below is the full journey from first sketches through user research, CMF exploration, prototyping and CAD to the final engineered design.
Ideation & concept development
Rapid Crazy 8 inspiration drawings and initial idea sketches, developed into resolved concept sketches.
CMF exploration
Colour, material and finish research across products, building the case for the black-plastic-and-copper palette.
Refinement & technical development
Scoring concepts against a selection matrix, then resolving symmetry, proportions and split lines through to orthographic views.
Prototyping & user testing
Card prototyping and testing, plus studio sessions studying hair-dryer positions, disability simulation and product disassembly.
CAD & engineering
The resolved form built up in 3D CAD, an engineering drawing and the general arrangements sheet.
Final renders
The finished design rendered from two angles, the copper mechanism visible through the widely-spaced slats.
