For years now, I’ve watched the industry evolve as designers have tackled the pleasure products business with more beautifully designed objects that compliment the eyes as well as the body. Back in the very early days of JimmyJane, we predicted this evolution. At this point, it seems to be happening at a pace even we couldn’t have predicted.
But…
I am somewhat perplexed. Although there is a lot of design innovation in the specific domain of vibrators, we are still seeing that the innovation is limited largely to vibrators, with very little attention to expanding on the KINDS of products that the pleasure products category includes. One might wonder “I want to spice up my love life! Why this obsession just with vibrators? Can’t you offer other things as well?”
I have felt for awhile like there is still lots of unexplored territory. And it’s time to break new ground as we move toward the goal of offering products that help make the entire bedroom more sexy and erotic.
To get the point of this post, we are working on enhancing the space with illumination that helps to inspire the right mood. And creating nightstand illumination is an obvious place to start.
But isn’t it better that we offer more than that? How ’bout a home for the BUZZLET vibe when it’s on charge, and maybe a little extra space for stashing a bottle of lubricant and/or some condoms?
First, I imagined that the lighting would emanate from underneath the vibe, filling a semi-transparent shell with light…
On considering this design thoughtfully, we had to question – what if people were to stash other things inside this shape? It might end up looking like a cluttered mess, and the stuff inside would interfere with the distribution of light. Also, it doesn’t conceal the contents very well for those who are a little more timid.
Another concept that arose was more like a tube…
Now this design was more effective at concealing contents, and was a little more compact. However, it’s also not so good for distributing light when the lid is down. Adding transparency to the bottom would solve that problem. Alas, the feedback received was not so enthusiastic on the design front: ”um, it does remind me of a tanning bed, but it also looks too much like a coffin!” Yikes. That’s not so good. A deeper and more carefully considered redesign of this form would surely reduce that effect, but that might be best postponed for later.
Since the general look and feel of the box concept above was received well, I thought it might be worth trying to improve on that one. At first I created something more suited to point-of-sale in retail stores…
It looks cool, in part because it mixes the metal frame with the acrylic fascia with lighting in the background. This would look great in retail. But what of the bedroom. Would anyone want the vibe so brashly on display on the nightstand? Only the boldest.
So the next rev was to move the vibrator charger and vibe down and into the core chamber of the box. And we would add a hinge at the back so the top can swing up like a lid. Additionally, with enough extra space inside, a bottle of lube and some condoms could easily be stashed within. Now this concept has legs.
Have a look at this concept as it is so far…
I’m quick to point out that this idea is quite experimental. And that there are lots of other ideas floating around, exploiting different kinds of materials and different form factors. But this is feeling like we’re on a good track. I should also note that the images above are computer generated renderings based on very rough models. Even as we prototype the object, there will be big changes. But I think those changes will be for the better.
What thoughts do you have so far on this?
