GE SONG

Muji Phone Holder is designed for a hypothetical Muji hotel located in downtown Toronto. 

The phone holder is designed to be used in the Muji hotel, and be able to be taken home as a souvenir for visitors. Since Muji's products are not usually branded, the style needs to be easily recognizable as a Muji product. In order to do that, I researched and analyzed Muji's existing hotel and products. Another important theme for this project is to combine a distinctive Toronto feature into it to make it feel local. 

The location I chose was based on user surveys and interviews about what local definition was. Toronto is a multi-culture city with great inclusiveness and friendly humane atmosphere. Letting the user feels the welcoming, inclusive, and convenient features of Toronto is crucial. This site is near to the landmark CN tower and facing Ontario lake, where has lots of visitors. Moreover, transportation around is convenient and the scenery is beautiful. The surrounding environment feels relaxed and peaceful with a long lakeshore to ride a bike and plenty of parks.

I had a few different product directions at the beginning. During the long process of refining ideation, the portable phone holder became the best choice to be convenient and easier to combine Muji style with Toronto's features.

The final version is designed to be light, portable, and small enough to fit into the pocket. The appearance is simplified with detachable and foldable features. It could hold the cell phone in both directions to free the visitors' hands from holding phones, which corresponds to Muji hotel's aim to help people feel relaxed and eased. It could be used both within the hotel and outside traveling.

The material choice is based on Muji and Toronto's analysis result. White acrylic is a common material used by Muji and the white features remind of Toronto's long winter's snowy feeling. The shape of "U" reminds of the nearby union station and the overall shape looks like a seat on Toronto's transportation. The brown material is ash, which is a kind of local wood. It suggests the parks nearby. Moreover, the swinging function is also related to the park's wing. This combination reflects a peaceful and natural feeling of Toronto's lakeshore, parks feature, and the modern city's feature.

The foldable feature is a design highlight. It is based on the plastic easy-deformed feature, producing a click sound to fold up. The hemispheres convex and concave help to hold the  position in place. This design also adds some playful features to the users that make them want to bring it home.