Aakanksha Rajhans creates products that are high on utility
Acuwake Sock: A different kind of wake-up call (Photo: DC)
Hyderabad: When the first rays of the sun hit your face and your alarm, annoyingly enough, goes off, the first reaction for most of us is to push the snooze button and grab a little more shut-eye. This is the story for most who crave an extra few minutes before starting their day. One fine morning, when I woke up late, missing my mother’s wake up call, I came up with the design for the Acuwake Sock. This was my group project for the Red Dot design awards.
How Acuwake works is: A person on the other end, whom you choose, be it your mother or a close friend can control this sock. It gives you a rejuvenating wake up call, using micro-vibrators that massage your feet at certain acupressure points.
For me, design is all about increasing the utility of a product by eliminating cumbersome and over-the-top designs. Living on my own, most of my designs look at simplifying everyday chores.
Bloom is one such design that can perform a plethora of functions from cutting and washing to cooking. The “petals” of this product are made of heat resistant and non-stick material that can rotate at 10rpm to 8,000rpm depending on the application.
The packaging and style of a product is as important as the design itself, to me. This is what prompted me to attempt to give the regular mosquito coil an interesting twist. Users generally face the problem of cleaning up the ash the coil scatters; sometimes, spaces are such that keeping a coil horizontally creates an obstruction. The pack (that I’ve designed) has a unique stand that collects the ash and can be placed horizontally or hooked vertically for better utility. A matchstick set inside makes it a complete pack.
As a designer, one needs to think out-of-the-box. For instance, I’ve transformed an everyday beanbag into a special highlight of any room as it is lit with LEDs. The inner case is filled with thermocol balls to keep the beanbag light in weight. Due to the movement of the person seated on it, the pressure on the beanbag changes, creating energy for the peizo electric cells to power the LEDs.
I’m an admirer of the pioneering work of the legendary industrial designer Ross Lovegrove. He embraces the potential offered by digital technologies. Many of his pieces are inspired by principles of evolution and microbiology. Some of his fascinating designs like The Water Bottle and his Staircase (inspired by the pattern of DNA) have really stood out for me.
One of the most important challenges as a product designer is to turn your designs into mass manufacturing products with a strong utility, keeping in mind the requirements of the market.
Akanksha is an industrial designer
( Source : dc )
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