ULTRAPROTECTION:

Building a new category for Speck.

Year: 2017

Role: Lead Designer

Overview: As we prepared to begin our design cycle for the iPhone 8 Speck was looking for new categories to grow the core business space.

The largest segment of the market was ultra protective cases, it was an area that Speck did not have any market presence so our team set to to change that.

UNDERSTANDING THE MARKET

We saw an opportunity

Our main competitors (Otterbox and LifeProof) were focused on outdoor adventure and professional markets.

We saw that there was a group of users in the booming fitness and wellness space that had unique needs. We targeted the CrossFit community as our apex group of users due to the intensity and variation of activities. They wanted protection, function, and sanitization.

INITIAL EXPLORATION

We began by building a few simple prototypes with existing product to understand how feasible our theories were.

Then we refined those into 5 potential design paths for our first internal review.

Concepts were focused on a few key design elements to tell our protection story:

More impact protection at the edges

Anti-microbial materials and coatings

Covered ports and interfaces

Unique methods for absorbing shock or impact

Ways to enhance functionality during a workout

AN ACCESSORY FOR THE GYM

As we researched our target user group we began to see an opportunity for accessories aimed at making life in the gym better.

The core of the idea was to make a magnetic holster that could make a phone more adaptable and functional during a workout.

We built a number of prototypes and began testing them in the gym to understand where there was potential.

SELLING TO THE CHANNEL

We refined our designs into an external pitch for some of our retail partners. The pitch highlighted the specific needs of our target users as well as highlighted the potential for a line of support accessories in the space. A major retail partner was impressed and committed to holding shelf space for an exclusive fitness based SKU.