gregorysiegal@gmail.com

ALESSI is a brand that is recognized as a world leader of quality design. They have been manufacturing the visions of world famous designers and architects for over 70 years. My aim in this project was to design a digital camera that would seamlessly fit into ALESSI's distinguished line of products.

After studying the brand thoroughly, I noticed similarities between ALESSI customers and modern Polaroid camera users. Both demographics are subcultures with an elitism appreciation for products unknown to most design-challenged consumers. My goal was to modernize the Polaroid camera for ALESSI. I researched a company called Zink who produces small printers that uses heat to activate crystals in their own special paper. The end result is a small, high quality image printed with almost no moving parts.

The final product is a pocket sized digital camera that would proudly sit on ALESSI shelves. The camera has a stark contrast in materials between its anodized aluminum and stretchy, red lycra fabric. When the user presses the zoom buttons, the product transforms from a crisp metal form into a 21st century interpretation of Polaroids' black accordion-folded plastic. Finally, thanks to Zink technology, the user can print a high quality image directly from the back of the camera.