iPhone Chest Harness

MultiMedia 1A03 Fall 2016 Lauren Wroblewski & Katelyn Wannamaker

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Problem #5: Stabilizing the plastic case.

Concern: It was hard to get the plastic case to lay in a position that captured the wearer’s point of view.

Solution: At first we were only going to have one strap attached to the case, but it created a slanted frame for pictures and videos. The cross design corrected the slant and added stabilization to the case itself.

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Problem #4: The lid.

Concern: How would the lid stay attached?

Solution: This was fairly easy to solve. We just had to make sure our solution, an elastic band, did not show in the photos and videos. This idea originated from the journals we used to have as children.

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Problem #3: The harness.

Concern: How well the harness, while being worn, would keep the case from moving when doing things like jumping.

Solution: After seeing how well the cross design worked for the plastic case, we decided to implement it again with the straps around the body. Originally, we had just looped the harness over the shoulders and under the arms which allowed the camera to slide while moving causing blurry visuals.

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As we proceeded with the building it became more evident that we would have to be particular with what materials we chose.

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Step 5. Securing the lid.

In order for the lid to stay on, we glued on a hair tie to either side of the plastic base, leaving enough room to remove the lid and phone in the hot glue case. It is glued in the perfect position that the camera is not blocked and it secures the entire lid.

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Problem #2: The first case.

Concern: The first phone case was too flexible, leaving too much room between the phone and the outer plastic case. Therefore when placed in the case moved around too much when the model was wearing it. 

Solution: Losing the value of aesthetics, we created a harder and tighter phone case by incorporating the tinfoil into the finished product.

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Original Idea: To make a simple harness and phone case to secure phone.

A concern we discovered: The phone needed some sort of coverage in order for our interpretation to be similar and sustainable to the real GoPro.

Solution: This is where we incorporated the plastic case for the phone to have some coverage for the activities we planned to have the product withstand. It also further challenges the ideas that in the future it could be waterproof or sustain harder weather conditions, more alike the real GoPro.

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Step 3. Make slips on the back of the base for the harness.

To make the holes, we heated up a pair of scissors with a lighter to cut away at the plastic. This prevented the risk of having the plastic crack while we worked with it.

Step 4. Measure and cut the polyester webbing (ratchet straps), and attach Velcro. 

We then cut two similar lengths of polyester to use as the harness and crossed it through the new holes made in the plastic container. We then measured it on ourselves to measure how long the straps should be. We then made another cross on the back with the top two straps and measured points to attach Velcro. The bottom two straps are then wrapped around the body and attached. Both pairs of straps are then measured again to place more velcro straps to attach together. 

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Step 1. Building The Phone Case

We wrapped our phone in tin foil and used hot glue to make a flexible, sturdy casing.

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The Rough Design

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Materials We Planned to Use and What We Actually Used

1. Hot Glue Gun + Hot Glue Sticks

2.  Tin Foil

     - Attempted to use cloth the first time

     (see the challenges and changes tab)

3. Clear plastic case big enough to fit a phone

4. Flexible Hair Tie

5. Harness Straps

6. Velcro 

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Our Idea

Our idea was to create a less costly version of a GoPro. The more commonly known GoPro is a camera that is attached to one’s head or body to show their point of view. In our model, we chose to design a chest harness since current smartphones are typically longer and flatter than GoPros.

Both our product and GoPro’s are designed for practical uses that ordinarily, people would not typically use to document their activities. Our vision was to use our product in less strenuous activities and more for everyday usage; activities such as jogging, biking, climbing.

GoPros can be very expensive and sometimes carries a stigma that only ‘professional’ photographers or athletes have them. We wanted to to be able to revolutionize the way people take pictures and videos of their lives.