Homz® Multi-Position Ironing Board
Design the next generation ironing board that improves pain points of traditional boards, including improving stability and making set up and storage easier.
Project Brief
Despite being a commonplace object in most consumers’ lives, the ironing board has seen little innovation since its original invention. Ironing is a chore that takes more time than many busy families have time for and younger generations are omitting ironing from their daily routines altogether.
How can we innovate in the ironing space to create a solution that is more functional and useful for today’s consumers?
Initial concepts were created to capture a breadth of ideas and features.
Concept Development
After refining the concepts through sketching, we built the selected concepts in CAD to prove out the features as well as generate high quality renderings for VOC research.
This multi-position board with A-frame legs was favored for its versatility of use and ability to knock down flat for shipping and storage.
Mechanism Design
After completing voice of customer research, our team was then tasked with improving the locking mechanism and configuration on the concept, which we quickly explored through brainstorm sketches before creating full scale mockups.
Two concepts were selected by the client for further aesthetic and mechanical development.
The architecture of the legs and design of the top were dictated by products in the client’s current portfolio so that the base parts could be leveraged for manufacturing.
Our team continued prototyping the key aspects of the user experience as we refined the design, primarily the mechanism the user interacts with to transition the board from ironing to steaming. The mechanism design, prototyping, and CAD was a collaboration between designers and engineers.
Multi-Position Ironing Board
Vertical bar holds the board in a traditional ironing position
Vertical bar on second cross bar secures the board in a steaming position. Fabric loop with an embedded magnet can be flipped to the front of the board to hang a hanger
Legs can be fully collapsed and board can be fully knocked down for easier shipping and storage
C-clamp handle is used to transition the board from ironing to steaming. Green is used to indicate touchpoint and bumpers indicate the users where the clamp should be secured.
