Bang & Olufsen C1 Sound System

Bang & Olufsen C1 Sound System: Radical Innovation Through Meaning Driven Design

Dawdy, Gray (TU Delft Industrial Design Engineering; TU Delft Design Engineering)

Tempelman, Erik (mentor)
Baha, Ehsan (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

Integrated Product Design

2017-08-30

The arrival streaming technologies has changed the way people interact with and bring their music. Similar technological shifts in the automotive industry are poised to heavily change the driving experience. Bang & Olufsen, the Danish high-end audio manufacturer, wants to investigate these changing experiences in order to discover an opportunity to create innovative products and differentiate from competitors in the automotive market. An audit of the Bang & Olufsen automotive brand compared to the in home audio products has revealed an opportunity to introduce “magical” experiences to impress and delight customers the same way the home speaker group does. The technological changes in audio devices has changed the meaning of music for listeners: music is now a way to directly enhance the environment, sometimes resulting in moments of perfect synchronization between the music and context, resulting in phenomenologically intense music experiences. Music is also listened to constantly and brought along with listeners to define the different contexts and spaces. The poised changes in automotive technology, including integration of spaces and deprivatization, mean that musical experiences will become seamless and music may fill the roll or social device or privacy barrier. Conceptualization of this project focused on the entering and exiting of the car in with the aim of contributing to or enhancing phenomenologically intense music experiences. The chosen concept was a seamless audio experience that allowed users to continue listening to music on their headphones when they entered the car on the car audio system. Once in the car, they could choose to listen to their own music or join in the music with others. When leaving the car, they could choose to continue to listen to their music when it transferred to their headphones.This idea was elaborated into a headrest based device. The user can listen to their own music in “private” mode, in which case the flaps of the headrest are forward. They can chose to switch to “social” mode, in which case the flaps of the headrest are pushed backwards. This requires the installation of 4-5 autonomous audio systems in a car, which would could be controlled or synced independently.The biggest detailing challenges rely in the communication technologies: transferring music from a users headphones to the headrest system requires a mixture of a one-time NFC check-in and a long term WiFi connection with the user’s phone. The aesthetics are integrated into the car by focusing on outside edges of the headrest, giving adequate branding space for Bang & Olufsen but enough control for the car companies.The use of meaning driven design in the research phase resulted in an new, innovative direction, but lacks a system of validation of ideas. The 1-10-100 scheduling technique allowed for more rapid iterations, more focused research and an ability to gain foresight into future problems. Validating with a minimum viable product was implemented with great success, allowing for rapid validation of ideas.

Design Driven Innovation
Car Audio
Music
Concept Design

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:c3d4d09a-d665-46ec-b3be-0dfd58c5eb94

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

© 2017 Gray Dawdy