Demonstration system for iPod docking stations

Creating a plugged-in experience for playing portable sounds.

Sometimes, people just need their portable music players to be not so… portable. Enter the emergence of docking stations allowing devices like the iPod® to be plugged in and played on home stereo speakers for a bigger sound. In 2005, Harbor Industries developed a system to showcase a new line of state-of-the-art iPod docking stations within a large national retailer. The progressive in-store display gave consumers the chance to experience the portable iPod sound in a more stationary manner.  

We designed a fresh, interactive unit that was both compact and open. It needed to fit into existing store shelving, and still be spacious enough to display several different docking station sets. We made the display flexible and accessible so that shoppers who had their iPods handy could test the speakers using their own devices. For those who didn’t have a personal music player on them, we worked in conjunction with our client and Apple Inc., the iPod maker, to craft an imitation player (with music tracks preprogrammed) that shoppers could move from speaker to speaker to compare sounds. And we came up with a clever tether system that would keep people from carrying off the (faux) player, but that still allowed them to test it out easily. All that, plus a fun, friendly look that helped connect the stations with the fresh Apple vibe.

In the end, consumers quickly discovered that the only thing better than listening to our classy replica in a store was bringing a station home and plugging in the real thing.