Huawei Masterclass
Spectra, the winner of the Masterclass
My role: Chief Designer and Vice President, Huawei Consumer + Masterclass Instructor
Huawei + The New Aesthetics
a Masterclass by Abi Brody at Central Saint Martin’s College in London, England
Photos by Alex Rumford
At the end of 2016, when I was Chief Designer and VP of the Huawei Consumer Business Group, I tasked Ceramics, Furniture, Jewelry, and MA Industrial Design student groups at Central Saint Martin's College with a brief and masterclass to imagine and create new accessories for Huawei’s hand-held devices. The brief was based on the concept of ‘The New Aesthetic’. The winner (Spectra) and runner-up designs were developed into working models and eventually showcased at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to coincide with the launch of Huawei’s P10 phone.
Background
When: the collaboration between Huawei and CSM was a four-month project that started in late 2016. Both the winner (Spectra) and runner-up designs were developed into models and showcased at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which coincided with Huawei's P10 phone launch.
Who: 60 master students: industrial design, furniture, ceramic and jewelry students; 15 groups of 4.
3 proposals, each, a total of 45 proposals.
Goal: Reimagine and reinterpret the modern smartphone accessory via design, concept, and prototype a Huawei experience that epitomizes ‘The New Aesthetic’ and a premium and creative device for the new millennium.
ual: central saint martins
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Abi Brody, Chief Designer and VP introduces the design brief and gives a background to the company.
MA students attending the Masterclass in 2016
A student is taking notes
Early sketches
“Try to reflect the needs of the modern digital nomad. Imagine their day in life and how the companion, accessory, or extension helps and inspires them. When exploring a vibrant or quiet color palette, also consider materials, textures, temperature, and bespoke and cared-for details akin to the stitching of the leather in a premium carmaker’s interior. Consider surroundings. These are all touch points that we communicate with. Our inspirations are both nature and the human spirit’s potential.”
— Abigail Brody
Prototypes
The shape of Spectra, the winning finalist, celebrates irregularity and finds inspiration in the clean lines and unique forms of natural crystal formations. Similar also to the function of crystals, lights can be manipulated by the object to create beautiful fractions. To prototype the shapes quickly and produce cleaner cuts, the designers abandoned traditional foam and wood as model materials and opted for cheap, easy-to-handle (sweet) potatoes.
Master Class Outcome
The winning design — Spectra — is a necklace that scans colors and textures, transforming them into sounds. The user can “collect” sounds to create a kind of music as a way to document their experiences of a place.
Spectra is not only a piece of wearable technology and statement jewelry, but it is a tool for people to explore and find inspiration in their daily life. For example, Artists can create paintings by first composing a piece of music. You can sound hunt for rare colors- such as Anish Kapoor’s Blackest Black. The photo and sound montages can be shared across social platforms as travel stories or sound moments, and the sound sequences alone can be used by DJS to create location-specific remixes and broadcast on live platforms.
Spectra at a glance
Spectra is a wearable accessory that enables you to collect and play music from colors in real time. This is specifically done by scanning the colors of the surface, which are then allocated to particular sounds and instruments. The sound sequences can be heard through wireless earphones, which also double as a necklace chain when the sensors are not in use. The devices will ultimately enable you special access to your immediate surroundings and aim to provide a new experience that will help you engage with a limitless amount of materials and surfaces.
Spectra Color Wheel
Collecting the colors and turning them into sound requires an interface — a color wheel. Each color can be assigned to an instrument, and each shade of that color relates to a different pitch of that instrument. For example, tones of yellow could refer to the classical genre, whereas red refers more to pop, and purple to jazz.
Spectra App (Scenario)
Spectra works with an app that displays the interactions that the user has with the environment in real-time. Whilst you drag Spectra on a specific surface, the app will gather your recordings, with which you can interact, create songs and share them with your friends’ thanks to our integration with other social media platforms.
As the winning entry Spectra had the chance to be physically prototyped and had the honor to be exhibited at the Huawei P10 Launch and the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain Feb, 2017.
The New Aesthetic: Huawei x CSM MA Design
The winning design in action
The winners of the Spectra team. Group project, first year MA Industrial Design, Central Saint Martins Masterclass by Abigail Brody and Huawei