Brief

To design a hand held vacuum influenced by Dieter Rams' 10 principles of design. 

Good design is:

1. Innovative

2. Makes a product useful

3. Aesthetic

4. Makes a product understandable

5. Unobtrusive

6. Honest

7. Long-lasting

8. Thorough down to the last detail

9. Environmentally-friendly

10. As little design as possible

Project direction

To design a vacuum that is aesthetically pleasing, but visually unobtrusive to store around the home on shelves away from closets when not in use. 

Research + A realization 

Traditional hand-held vacuum designs consist of very complex shapes, surfaces and colors which are typically driven by their mechanics. These forms attract a lot of attention and are visually incongruous, often a visual nuisance to leave out. 

1. General Direction

Forms subtly expressive of their mechanics was a plausible direction.

2. Refined Direction

Less obtrusive shapes started yielding a more unique direction.

3. Final Direction & Form Analysis

The idea of a vacuum blending unobtrusively on a bookshelf was a major design component. However, this train of thought limited my thinking process. To surmount this, I began drawing without the constraints of a bookshelf, yielding a form far different than before.

playing with shapes

Key ergonomic attributes allow the user to fully grasp the vacuum while comfortably fitting all fingers around the shape. By blending a triangular form on top to a cylindrical shape made for a more comfortable grip.