To begin the project, I started making mindmaps as as way to understand how I perceive confidence. I took into consideration the myriad ways in which confidence can manifest in a person and the kinds of interactions that require users to be confident. These initial explorations served as the basis for the semantics of the project. 

After I had finished the mindmaps, it was time to work on a moodboard, so that I could translate my initial findings into the material and understand the different kinds of forms, surfaces and materials that evoke a sense of confidence. My moodboard was largely inspired by Brutalist Architecture and its imposing presence. I felt that Brutalist buidlings with their large, monolithic structures exuded a sense of confidence in a way that many other elements of the built environment did not. 

The Concrete Wall Concept:
Requires the user to create a doorbell sound by pressing different concrete squares that correspond to different sounds on the wall.

The High Striker Concept:
Inspired by the High Striker Carnival game, it requires the user to ring a bell by hitting an object with a hammer.

The Tower Concept:
Requires the user to stack and balance different shapes.



The Wind Chime Concept:
Requires the user to create their own doorbell sound by playing wind chimes. 

The Abacus Concept:
Inspired by an abacus, it requires the user to place a disk onto a pole, which serves as a visual representation of how many people are in the person’s house.

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Prototyping


Researching Form: Brutalist architecture

Final Concept Iterations

Ideation

In week 2, I developed five concepts for a ‘confident doorbell’. Ultimately, I wanted all of the designs to require the user to use confident gestures in order to trigger the doorbell. At the same time, I wanted to erase any signifier that would indicated the doorbell was a doorbell, working with the idea of confidence through exclusivity.

Prototyping

After the ideation phase, it was time to select one of five concepts to move forward with. I chose the Tower Concept because I felt that upon enough iterations, the concept could be developed, both conceptually and formally, in a way that made it immediately clear the object had an innate sense of confidence. Initially the concept required the user to stack and balance different objects, but I recognised this was impractical and that for the doorbell to be designed well, it was essential that it was triggered easily. From there, I knew that I needed to further develop the user interaction with the doorbell and integrate it into the facade of the house.

Based off of my findings, I decided to go back and consult my moodboard again and look deeper into Brutalist Architecture in order to study the shapes and materials typically used. I believed that this research would help me to design a doorbell that was seamlessly integrated into the exterior of the building, as well as, helping me to stick to my brief, ensuring the design outcome would appear confident. This research pushed me to reconsider the scale of the doorbell I was designing. Initially, I was thinking along the lines of the scale of a traditional doorbell: small and compact, but by studying Brutalist forms and scale, I decided to reconsider and push the scale of the doorbell I was designing. 

Final Concept Iterations

After my research, I knew where I wanted to take the project and how I wanted to do it. I began by sketching a few different iterations of my final doorbell. This time, they were much bigger in scale and were starting to take on a sculptural form. I began by adding a long base to the doorbell that would put the center of it around chest height, but I felt that this iteration looked unbalance and so I combatted this by adding a central leg that ran through the centre cube of the doorbell. By adding the central leg, it meant that the doorbell could be seamlessly integrated into the architecture of the house it belonged to. From there, it was time to fine-tune the details. Based on my sketch, I could tell that the proportions were off and that the object, as a whole, needed to be streamlined.

Material Specs

  1:1 Scale Model

Refining the Design

Once, I had settled on a general design, I began drawing fine-tuned versions of it, to understand aesthetically what worked and what did not. I eventually decided to take the first sketch, pictured above, forward. From there, I got to work on deciding the materiality of the doorbell.  Consulting my Brutalist architecture research, I decided to incorporate two materials that are associated with the Brutalist Movement: cement and Cor-ten steel. I decided to make the cube out of cement and the legs out of Cor-ten steel.

Once I had made these decisions, I got to work on building the 1:1 scale model in which I used wood and cardboard. I also made a scale model using some of the real materials that would be incorporated into a working prototype. 

Finally, I made a video protoype to mimic how the doorbell would function. This video can be viewed here.