Andrea Ukleja
Product Designer
quin-mo
Problem Space - Specialty Tools
Speciality tools - particularly digital calipers and the like - are expensive. A quality pair of vernier calipers can cost over $100. On top of that, these tools can be bulky and are not easy to carry around. Particularly in an office or at-work setting, where you may not carry around a tool box, it is easy to start a project and not have the tools you need on hand.
What do most people have on hand, however? Their phone - a very powerful computational device that is typically very under utilized.
Research
A survey conducted revealed that a phone case-based tool to address these concerns was of interest to the target demographic - fix-it types, tinkerers, people always on the go and always making something new. It also highlighted several important design features that users desired:
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common tools also desired (pencil, ruler, etc.)
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sleek
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ergonomic
2D & 3D Exploration
I went through several iterations of sketching in order to finalize the tools, their placement, and the overall aesthetic of the phone case.
The first round of prototyping allowed me to get a sense of the sale and ergonomics of the planned design, as well as help engineer the functional components - specifically the calipers. The calipers had to be retractible, so as not to tear the user's clothing, as well as adjustable to allow for inner and outer diameter measurements.
The second prototype used a mix of 3D printed materials and balsa wood. The balsa wood case allowed for quick adjustments to the edge radii and overall contour of the case, while the printed materials provided functionality.
The next iteration of this design would be a fully 3D printed and/or machined case, followed by the electronics integration.
Final Design
quin-mo is an app integrated phone case that utilizes your phone as the digital interface for a laser measure, wheel measure, and calipers. The case also includes a pencil, razor blade, and both English and metric rulers.
The case connects its sensors to the phone through the phone's charging port, and includes an additional port to allow for charging without taking the phone out of the case.
The app acts as a digital read out for the laser measure, wheel measure, and calipers. It also allows users to create data sets, to store all of the measurements for a project in one place, and then email them to other devices.
