Product Development

So basically our Product Development brief is to come up with a multi utensil hand tool. So naturally the first thing I thought of was my Dad. He loves a good multi tool whether it's a Swiss army knife or some king of camping Spork!

Most multi utensil hand tools are aimed at the outdoor/camping market and to be honest a lot of the tools are useless. You'd have to be in a one in a million situation to need a metal saw and tooth pick immediately and simultaneously!

How prepared do you really need to be?

 Don't get me wrong they are useful to have but they usually live in a drawer redundant until I need a bottle opened...

There are many markets for multi tools that haven't been penetrated yet. What about the beauticians and hairdressers? the medical industry? the manual labourers; electricians, plumbers? All possible markets but none I felt passionate about, none I could really relate to.

Sitting looking around the room we noticed the one thing everyone is certain to have. KEYS!
What about a tool to keep all your keys in? Most people carry more than one key around with them on a daily basis and when kept in your pocket they can be particularly uncomfortable.

We researched existing products and found numerous key rings with gadgets and gumf on them but nothing that physically concealed the keys. We wanted the keys to be interchangeable and the higher spec ones to have some sort of security on them. After a pretty amazing brain storm we came up with a few different ideas, target markets and uses -

• The General Tool

A tool for the average Joe who has a front door, back door and garage key all on a key chain in his pocket. They're uncomfortable to sit on and always hard to find. The bog standard tool will have none or little security possible a combination lock found on briefcases depending on the manufacturing costs. For marketing purposes there would be some sort of personalisation available; different colours or patterns etc. Not to mention the every handy bottle opener and torch built in.

• Professional

The higher spec tool for the more frequent key user for example the janitor with more key slots and better security.
Then the piece de resistance! The high security gadget complete with GPS tracking, fingerprint technology, USB and accompanying software, you name it! This would be marketed at businesses such as banks, pharmacies where security is key. (Pardon the pun, cringe.) Even the government could be doing with tightening security with our multi tool.

We would inclusively design the product so that it could be used by everyone. Some features to help would be Braille, a torch and a colour coding system to help those with sight difficulties. Unlike most multi tools the keys could be slotted out and in without any great difficulty.

We're still in the very early stages of designing the product but I think the idea can target a very wide market. It seems to be a pretty simple solution to a common problem.

Should have some concept drawn by next week and hopefully get cracking on this as fast as possible.

Claire (: