The 1st step in Lily’s creation was her industrial design. And as you will see, we started somewhere and ended up somewhere completely different.
We began with exploration sketches. Out of 40 sketches, we chose 3 design directions. Out of 3 directions, we chose one design:
It all started from that design. At that time, Amazon Alexa was ramping up and Google Home was only a few months old and they both looked like a cylinder. We wanted to do something different: a smart speaker that looked like a person and would be more friendly than a cylinder. Here is the 1st rendering:
It was a good start but it looked like a long-headed-one-eyed robot. So we worked on variations of this design to make it look more human:
By inverting the product vertically, we got closer to human proportions since the head was now smaller than the body, but the product still looked a bit cold and stiff. We started working on a more friendly silhouette:
By giving it a rounder shape, the product immediately looked chubbier and warmer. It looked less like a robot, however it started to look like a jar. So we pushed the concept further to avoid the “jar” effect.
By refining the dimensions and increasing the size of the head and body, it looked less like a jar. However the product was still a bit static. We wanted more life in it and what we did next changed the product forever.
By tilting the head, the product came to life. It didn’t only have a head, it now had a face.
And Lily was born.
Then she opened her eyes.
Jie
