Background
Case-Mate is one of the top smartphone case companies and is based in Sandy Springs, GA. When I joined Case-Mate, the company was just starting to transition from making cases for all and the rugged market to the more female fashion market. I joined on as the main Industrial designer assisting the print and fashion designers. My main roles were designing cases for the men's fashion market as well as the core case chassis designs. Below are a few of my product examples.
Tango Redesign
Tango was a case platform we used at Case-Mate, it included a 2 piece poly-carbonate bumper + backing that snapped together. This case allowed for a seamless look with and large back area for various designs. This platform worked well on small form factor (Sub 5") phones. However when the larger size of the iPhone 6 came out, we quickly ran into issues of the cases exploding open during a drop due to the extra stress on the locking mechanism
For the redesign, I looked at a few mechanical hinge ideas that would allow the case to still retain the seamless poly-carbonate look.
Tough Stand Redesign
The original stand case for Case-Mate was co-molded. The stand worked in both landscape and portrait modes on smaller phones, but with larger phones it felt flimsy and didn't work well. It needed a face lift to make it feel more premium.
For the redesign, I looked at a the clicking cam mechanism found in most push-click pens. I worked with our engineering team to translate this mechanism into a stand. We were able to develop a metal stand that not only looked premium, but also had a very satisfying click sound to it.
Charging Bracelet
One of the first wearable projects I worked on at Case-Mate involved designing a bracelet that acted as your charging cord. The first first would include a USB connector on one end and an Apple Lightning connector on the other. As a team we iterated on this, working on various clasp designs and ended up partnering with fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff on the project. The final design of the bracelet was based off an existing bracelet that Rebecca Minkoff was already selling. For materials we used genuine leather wrapped around the cable and brass for the metal hardware.
Apple Watch Docks
For the Apple Watch I was tasked to design a docking stand. Early on this seemed like an easy challenge until Apple introduced night stand mode. This meant that the watch could be charged in two directions, giving the user different results. Vertical or laying down mode was standard, but horizontal charging would bring up a digital clock for bed side use.
Apple Watch Bands
Additionally for the Apple Watch, I was tasked in designing a TPU band and a leather band for Men. For the TPU band, I designed a Vented band inspired by a
co-workers watch. For the leather bands, I started designing the bands as a riff on Apple's own sport band, but ended up changing the design to a more traditional design.
