Coleman Heater
2nd Yr
The goal for this project was to distill the brand's design language and create a new product following those guidelines.
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This heater attempts to match the visual identity of the classic Coleman products such as its lantern or camp stove.
Key Factors
After doing a full brand analysis into their values and history, I picked out a few design elements that encapsulated classic Coleman. Those being the sheet metal construction, which can be seen clearly on the stove, and the use of the reflective metal bars like on the lantern or stovetop. The goal was to match Coleman's rugged, almost utilitarian style.
Making this as usable as possible, I added adjustable legs to easily angle airflow, they also tuck back into the body to reduce its footprint. When camping packing space is a premium.
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There is a handle on the side that pulls out for easy carrying. Along with that, on the back there are simple controls to match Colemans' simple nature, where they take a focus on durability and function over visual detailing and complexity.
Reference
Some examples of iconic
Coleman products. These products and others served as vital points of reference when determining what attributes are relevant to the companies design language. Using this reference was necessary for defining both structural trends and the typical positioning of Coleman products.
Foam Model
What I initially took as a frustrating deliverable, quickly showed its merit as a development and evaluation tool.
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On the development side of things, low-density foam is a great way of quickly blocking out ideas in a real-world space. Figuring out initial proportions was very easy this way.
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As for evaluation - a high fidelity physical model is unbeatable in terms of actually getting a feel for a proposed product. Being able to physically hold it allows for a much deeper analysis.
Renders
