Made by Makers Concept Speaker Designs [TFTS Exclusive: Cutting Edge Design From The Designer’s Perspective]

We have always been particularly open to design concepts here at TFTS so its always a joy to hear directly from a design team who are not only happy to speak about their work (why is it that so few designers are?) but who are doing their bit to define ‘the future of things’ and, in this case, we’re talking about MBM, or Made by Makers – a young, Danish design agency who, in their own words, ‘assist companies conducting design processes for complex solutions’.

In this, an introduction to an exciting design agency we will no doubt be following very closely from here on in, we have the absolute pleasure of passing the rest of this post over to Made Makers who offer an exclusive insight into their inspiration, work and design processes with specific reference to no less than six concept speaker designs complete with detail concerning each directly from the designer themselves.

We’ll leave Made by Makers to take things over from here…

There’s a tendency among design companies to hide and protect unused ideas and process material. Often this makes great sense. However, whenever it’s possible, Made by Makers believe that sharing stuff from our processes will allow us to build new knowledge and help us reflect on the ideas we have visited. At least we know that there’s no new insights and no inspiration for others in hiding our sketches in a drawer.

Recently Made by Makers had a workshop in which three designers had to come up with twenty original speaker designs in just three days. Each design should be modelled and rendered and also be easily communicated in one image. These goals and the tight timeframe forced non-critical idea generation methods and high-speed 3d-visualisation to be used. Individual ideas that often don’t make it to presentation level were allowed to bloom and show off the inherent potential.

The three days were structured by one team member (the facilitator – the facilitators preparation is not included in the three day time frame). First a one hour kick-off meeting too place. The facilitator first presented the main theme being ’loudspeaker design’. Alongside the theme presentation a wall covered with speakers from other companies, examples of nice details, materials and technical illustrations was presented. Both to provide concrete inspirational material but also to allow the facilitator explain technical issues related to loudspeaker technology.

After the theme and tech presentation three abstract themes were presented using moodboards. One theme – one moodboard. The abstract themes were “Brands” (moodboard with four brand names with logo), “Personalities” (four pictures of persons) and “Architecture” (pictures of buildings). After a question round, coffee and candy each team member set off to produce as many ideas as possible and visualise and present the best ones. The rest of the three days was semi-structured meaning that individual idea generation was encouraged but at the end of each day a common meeting took place to ensure everyone had gained momentum and to track the progress as the twenty ideas was a common goal. Hence everyone had to ensure that the others had continuous progress else the goal would be missed.

The Wall Sticker Speaker Concept

Designer’s comment: The idea is to allow a little DIY into the user’s speaker configuration without ruining the aesthetics. Each speaker-unit should be sold separately and connecting the units in different setups should be hassle free. Hence, “click-swap” fittings in which the cords are mounted are chosen for wall mounting. I especially like how it’s possible to make a hovering speaker. However, if someone chooses to buy only treble units we’d definitely have to design a subwoofer for the system. I’d love to do this…

The Board Speaker Concept

Designer’s comment: This could be a highly decorative variant of an electrostatic speaker. My primary source for inspiration for this concept is snowboards. I like the potential in letting the user place speakers more freely than today. The speaker could lie on the floor (it’s robust and there’s no problem in letting people stand on the speakers) or hang on the wall either in the cord or specialized racks could be made. The decorative surface elements and the selected materials allow several variants to be constructed – just like snowboards.

The PowerTool Speaker Concept

Designer’s comment: If someone wants building site aesthetics to enter the living room this is the chance. The rigid frame allows flexible positioning and changes the speaker’s perception as a static object to something that can and should be moved around to accommodate different use situations.

The JamJar Speaker Concept

Designer’s comment: How would you like to reuse your glass jars as small speakers for your computer? Just replace the lid with the screw top speaker and bingo. There it is! Feel free to experiment with different jar shapes to obtain the sound that suits your ear. However, some sort of damping cushion should be inserted I guess. These should be available in a lot of different shapes and colours to further allow your speaker to be YOUR SPEAKER.

The Audi Logo Speakers Concept

Designer’s comment: Actually, I used Audi’s logo as inspiration and actually it’s a very direct interpretation for these doughnut speakers. The wireless speakers come with charging stations that also serve as the primary stand for positioning. By making the speakers detachable from the stand it becomes easy to setup different listening scenarios. Also one could imagine that the user would bring a speaker along if – for some reason – the user would go to another room. One “main speaker” has a volume control for individual adjustment if the remote control or stereo set isn’t reachable.

The Body Speaker Concept

Designer’s comment: Clearly, inspiration has been drawn from the female body. I love the idea of a hovering human size speaker suspended in wires. Both a top and bottom wire will be needed. The organic shape is emphasized by the red parting line. Also the red line divides the large surfaces whereby a more interesting overall aesthetic is reached making the speaker a pleasure to see from both front and back.

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Made by Design (and particularly Mikkel Schmidt) for offering TFTS an intriguing insight into their work. Should you wish to view more of their designs or would like to verse yourself more fully with their design agency we would urge you to take a look at their (pretty cool, flash based)website as linked below and/or their blog (also linked)

Alternatively, if you are a designer or are part of a design agency that would like to be featured on TFTS we would warmly welcome your contact (you can get in touch via our contact form linked in the main, top of page menu)

Made by Makers / MBM Blog