Week 16: New Concept

After reflecting upon the user research I obtained two weeks ago I have thought of a fascinating new direction for my project: one which infuses my current prototypes with a new direction. As discussed previously many guitar players are very nervous about adjusting the setup of their instruments, even though the tools and the knowledge required to do so can be easily obtained. With this in mind I started to consider how a product could give someone the confidence to attempt maintenance on their own instruments, and in doing so realised that the best way anyone can become sure of their own abilities is through repeated practice. To this end I thought that the small string instruments I had been designing up to this point could instead be used for practicing setup adjustment on, so that the user can build up their skills without breaking their beloved guitar. In order to fully visualise my thinking I made a prototype out of cardboard.

The design itself is a very stripped down and smaller version of a guitar: this is so that the user does not see the product as a priceless instrument but rather as a tool, and so they will feel more comfortable with adjusting it. In addition only the 12th fret has been added to the fingerboard, as it is the one used to check the intonation of the instrument. I quite like this idea and think it has a lot of potential to be taken forward, and so I want to start creating prototypes using proper materials soon so that I can explore it further.