ARM mbed Watch Packaging + Accessories
After designing the Wearable Reference Design watch for ARM, it was time to create the packaging and some accessories for the watch. Since the watch is part of a limited edition development kit, we had to work with limited budget, but we had to make the packaging look and feel unique. The way the watch and accessories are presented in this box is a fundamental part of the first impression, so it had to be an exciting, suprising and spectacular experience to open it.
The idea was to create a nest for the watch & accessories, by having organic cutouts of cardboard pieces.
The extremely labour intensive process of designing the cutouts involved lots of 3D modeling, exporting outlines, hand- and lasercutting prototypes, and then going back to CAD to adjust the curves.
Some accessories also needed to be designed during this period, such as the charger. This charger snaps onto the back, taking advantage of the shape of the watch. It's an adapter that transform any microUSB cable into a charging cable. It encapsulates the "head" of the cable, so it doesn't stick out when the watch is charging. We went through a lot of different solutions and prototypes until we arrived at this one.
Another accessory was the programmer stand. Developers can clip the watch on it to be able to program it. Instead of using a large contraption, we opted to have just a slim plastic programmer with all the electronics inside, and a foldable paper stand to put it on for optimal viewing angle. The stand itself uses a rubber band to secure the parts together.