Amanda Rushp r o d u c t d e s i g n e r

amanda rush216 310 4234amandamrush@gmail.com

Hey ! I ’m Amanda !I’m a recent graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art with a BFA in Industrial Design. I concentrated on commercial products, with an interest in furniture and housewares. I have tremendous passion for design, Cleveland, and making a difference. I drink a lot of coffee, I play with hamsters, and I love zombie flicks.

But more importantly,I design products. What you’re about to thumb through is a quick look into my Junior year at the Cleveland Institute of Art. If you’d like to see more, (you should ask me about my senior thesis) please feel free to contact me! I’d love to hear from you.

h a m i lto n b e a c hCollaborative Brand Focus

s u s t a i n a b i l i t yManufacturing & Sustainabil ity

f u r n i t u r eFabrication & Sustainabil ity

P e r s o n a l A r t

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Hamilton Beach is a kitchen appliance company that values “good thinking.” The brand has established itself as a leading small appliance company. Yet, the brand’s “Good Thinking” message wasn’t necessarily getting through to the customer; the branding needed an overhaul. The deliverables for this project included a cohesive line of products that would remain true to the Hamilton Beach name, while delivering on the promise of “good thinking,” as well as an understanding of working in a group dynamic and collaborating with student communication designers.

brand focus

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An understanding of the brand was vital to the success of this project. The very first thing we did was collect all of the appliances we owned, and we used them. And then we had some questions. What appliances does Hamilton Beach offer? What are they known for? Who is their competition? Who is their target consumer? What is their current brand identity? Is it cohesive? Is it in line with their “Good Thinking” tagline?

research

As a class, we noticed that Hamilton Beach seemed to be targeting 3 distinct users. The class decided to separate into 3 groups that corresponded with the 3 user groups Hamilton Beach seemed to create. Then, the challenge would be to create 3 lines of products that would all still fit under the umbrella of Hamilton Beach.

research

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ENTERTAINERS

HOME PROFESSIONALS

TRENDSETTERS

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conceptingWe broke into 3 groups during our concepting phase. These represented the 3 user groups outlined during our research phase - the Home Professionals, the Entertainers, and the Trendsetters. My concepts pertained strictly to the Home Professional user. These were people that had experience in the kitchen and were skilled chefs. So my task was to create appliances that were on the high end of Hamilton Beach’s product line. These concepts needed to exemplify sophistication, classic forms, and high end features.

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hom

e profe

ssionals

As this was a collaborative effort, we worked closely with the Communication Design students at CIA. They had been present during the research, concepting, and the presentation process. They contributed to brainstorming excercises previous to concepting to help us understand the market and user groups. And our help as industrial designers was enlisted during their branding and adverstising development phase.

collaboration

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FONDUE, MEET MY FRIEND ICE CREAM.A NEW TAKE ON FONDUE, THE MINGLE

With The Mingle from Hamilton Beach, you

can heat and freeze your favorite fondue foods and frozen treats. Visit www.hamiltonbeach.com for more

information on The Mingle, as well as many other exciting products.

FONDUE JUST GOT A LOT COOLER

HAMILTON BEACH

grandmother’s mixer

this is your not

alloymixer

durable stainless steel 400 watts of power 5 quart bowl

5 speed settings

see more fascinating new products at hamiltonbeach.com

Alongside the industrial designers, the communication designers were developing a new brand identity that would better exemplifiy Hamilton Beach’s “Good Thinking” motto. This identity incorporates a marketing strategy and brand identity which includes logos, web presence, and advertising. The dominant logo would represent the brand as a whole, and each modified logo would represent the market segments outlined during our initial concept phase: the Entertainers, the Home Professionals, and the Trendsetters.

collaboration

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www.hamiltonbeach.com

join the counter culture revolution

TAKE HOMEMADE ICE CREAM TO THE NEXT LEVEL

WITH PARLOR: The new single serve ice cream maker. To learn

more about it and shop the new social cooker line, go to

www.hamiltonbeach.com

What do these

have to do with these?

How about everything?

Introducing the new Bistro grill-fondue set combo by Hamilton Beach.

Prepare yourself for the most fun you’ve ever made.

Hamilton Beachsmart thinking

FONDUE, MEET MY FRIEND ICE CREAM.A NEW TAKE ON FONDUE, THE MINGLE

With The Mingle from Hamilton Beach, you

can heat and freeze your favorite fondue foods and frozen treats. Visit www.hamiltonbeach.com for more

information on The Mingle, as well as many other exciting products.

FONDUE JUST GOT A LOT COOLER

HAMILTON BEACH

grandmother’s mixer

this is your not

alloymixer

durable stainless steel 400 watts of power 5 quart bowl

5 speed settings

see more fascinating new products at hamiltonbeach.com

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all ad mock-ups courtesy of the communication

designers

As part of the Home Professionals user group, I was responsible for creating a high end product that had limited functions but executed them very well. An espresso maker is intended for a very specific use, and only those serious about coffee would purchase one. So the product fills a gap in the existing Hamilton Beach product line - high end and professional grade. This espresso maker, named Crema, will dispense espresso as well as froth milk. Its classic styling with a modern touch will allow it to fit in with a wide range of decor, and makes for a stunning addition to the home professional’s arsenal.

final

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15HAMILTON BEACH

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push down lever to dispense espresso

Hamilton Beach logo illuminates and

flashes when brewing

brushed stainless steel creates a durable

and timeless look

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backlit LED displays strength of espresso, the darker setting being the strongest option

presentation of all 3 product lines, notice

the Home Professionals on the right

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This project emphasizes sustainability in design, the main focus being minimizing parts used during manufacturing and lengthening product lifespan. In order to understand the manufacturing of a product, we were to take it apart. From there we worked individually to make the processes, usage, and packaging of the product as sustainable as possible.

sustainability

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While walking around the store, the ironing board struck me as a viable option. It’s general design hasn’t changed much since its creation, and it appeared to me that, for such a simple concept, it took more parts and manufacturing than necessary. A group of 6 of us purchased one and took it apart to understand the process of manufacturing. From there, were could make more informed decisions about the improvement of the product.

research

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metal ironing surface with cotton cover

collapsible legs

latch for securing legs into position

Typical ironing boards are made of metal and cotton. The problem however lies in the manufacturing of all 30+ pieces that make up the ironing board. These increase the amount of tooling and waste that is produced at the end of the product lifespan. To improve the product’s footprint, you would need to decrease the amount of pieces involved and increase the lifespan while delaying its passage into a landfill. Also, there are other materials that may be better suited for the process of ironing.

research

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As we know them, ironing boards are made up of a flat surface, usually made of metal, collapsible legs, and a cover with some sort of foam insert. I explored concepts that would look and feel like traditional ironing boards, but I also wanted to explore other options. These included ironing boards that are permanent pieces of furniture, collapsible small-scale boards, and concepts that used the function of ironing but without using a physical iron or board. Because steel and cotton are inexpensive, they make up a good formula for manufacturing, but compromise integrity and longevity of the product. So new materials were considered.

concepting

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The conventional ironing board is meant to provide a flat, porous surface to be used in conjunction with an iron to press clothing and allow steam to pass through. As we know them, ironing boards are out-of-sight, out-of-mind products. The storage-use ratio for a typical ironing board may be 95-5, spending a majority of its life in a closet. This makes the act of ironing clumsy and unappealing. In contrast, an ironing board that becomes a permanent fixture in a living space may make the act of ironing simpler and more accessible. There is no need to move the unit in and out of a closet, and while you’re not using it to iron your shirt, you can set your TV guide on it.

concepting

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It became clear early on that the typical folding steel and cotton ironing board wasn’t the best solution. Something that had a presence, that would become a permanent piece of furniture, would be a more effective tool for ironing. The final concept would be a solid piece of cork and would have one designated ironing area, covered in wool felt. The wool is highly flame resistant, and can be easily removed and stored away. Cork was chosen for its natural dirt-resistant properties and its sustainable qualities - with only cork trees 25 years and older being eligible for cork harvesting, leaving the tree able to recover.

final

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slats molded into cork to allow steam

to pass through

post-modern styling for seamless integration

into varying decor

wool cover is flame resistant and provides a soft surface for

ironing

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The final product, as previously mentioned, is made from environmentally-friendly cork and wool felt. Station is a permanent member of your living room furniture family. Because this ironing board is never folded up and put into storage, the integrity of the product stays intact. The table/ironing station will last longer and be used more, increasing the lifespan of the product and decreasing its carbon footprint. Also, the tapered nature of Station makes it stackable during shipment, lessening the carbon footprint of transportation.

finalflip open to create

ironing platform

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hidden storage for iron, wool cover,

and other essentials

180° hinge that locks into ironing position

Stationthe ironing table

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With sustainability in mind, design and build a piece of furniture that can be classified as “knock-down.” Knock-down furniture can simply be defined as any piece of furniture that can be easily assembled and dismantled. This allows for the piece of furniture to ship in a smaller container, which reduces shipping costs by allowing more inventory per truck. Keeping in mind the shortened timeline of the semester, we were responsible for the design and construction of a finished piece of furniture.

furniture

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My user is a young adult, persistent renter, and a bookworm. She needs a lounge that can be easily moved when her lease is up. She enjoys the warmth of wood floors and a good romantic comedy. She earns a living as a receptionist at a hair salon and barista at a local coffee shop, rides her bike to work, and recycles. Knock-down furniture is perfect for apartment dwellers, being easily assembled and disassembled. And the wood for the chair was purchased at a locally owned and operated hardwood shop. They get trees from the city and cut them down into planks for resale back into the community.

user

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For a young 20-something, convenience, style, and comfort are all important, so these 3 terms served as buzz words for the concepting round. Due to her nomadic nature, she needed something that could easily be moved from one apartment to the other. And because it’s a lounge, a chair that could be used for long periods of time, it needed to also be comfortable. A chair with style and charm is also inviting, which is a quality that is important for our renter who may want to curl up with a book or have some friends over for a casual night in. In any case, the chair needed to have some kind of compactability.

concepts

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After working out all the design details, wood was to be purchased. Metro Hardwoods in Cleveland serves as a resale shop for trees cut down by the city. The cost is low, as well as the carbon footprint, being a local woodshop. The character of the wood was important to the overall aesthetic of the piece. A variety of wood was purchased: maple, walnut, willow, and beech. With the variation in wood characteristics, I could create a piece of furniture with the wood as the central focal point. This way, the chair can achieve the level of warmth and charm our renter could appreciate.

build

The final product is a lounge chair, aptly named Lounge. The legs can be dettached when in transit or in storage, and they can be attached when in use. For comfort, a removable and dynamic cushion was fashioned to lay on top and around the lounge. This could be removed to show off the grain character, or it could be wrapped around to create all over comfort. Lounge is intended to be marketed as an essential for apartment dwellers that are environmentally conscious.

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After fabrication, there was one thing I needed to test before I could be finished. Would it fit in my car? For a renter with a low budget and minimal number of belongings, the car may very well be the only method of transportation on moving day. And I’ve tested this theory many times, it really does fit in the back seat!

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Whether for a school project, or under my own initiative, material is something that I’ve felt the need to explore over the years. From glass to print to textiles to ceramics to wood and various other media, I’ve begun to expand my arsenal. The following pages are snipits of some non-design work I’ve done over the years.

personal art

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thank you! for taking the time to look through my book. I hope you enjoyed yourself.

Feel like chatting?Please feel free to contact me via phone or email.

amanda rush216 310 4234amandamrush@gmail.com