KitchenAid Pen
Overview
The prompt for this 4-week project was to design a writing utensil for a particular brand.
This is a bolt action pen that exemplifies KitchenAid’s streamlined and personality-driven visual brand language through its glossy enamel and stainless steel finishes, deep and continuous curvatures, and smooth sliding mechanism.
Time
August 2023 - September 2023
Credits
Kevin Shankwiler (Professor)
Skills
Fusion 360, KeyShot 11, Adobe Photoshop
sketches.
Studied shape language of KitchenAid products to inform pen sketches. Shape language study clarified the different ways KitchenAid blends deep curvatures with straight lines to produce a streamlined yet sturdy form.
CAD models.
Explored different pen lengths, widths, tips, and cutouts through CAD iterations. From first iteration (left) to final iteration (right), the model became more slender with a smoother continuous exterior curve and cutout shape.
final model.
Rendered final model with brushed stainless steel texture, high-gloss enamel finish, and branding. Final model gives the cutout function as the path for the sliding bolt action mechanism.
physical model.
3D printed physical model and finished with spray paint. Spring and ink cartridge taken from existing bolt action pen to make model functional.
