Areta is an auto-belay device for lead climbing, created in a 20 person team for my senior capstone. Throughout the project, I worked as a product designer, taking input from researchers and engineers to sketch and 3D model the products form, as well as design the products branding.
Skills: Fusion 260, prototyping, product design, interaction design, Adobe Illustrator
context:
There are three main types of rock climbing: bouldering, top roping, and lead climbing. An auto-delay device exists in top roping, and has been widely adopted by climbing gyms and competitions. In top roping, the climber is anchored at the top of their route, and the rope become shorter as they climb, and longer as they descend. However, in lead climbing, the climber is anchored at the bottom of the rock face and clips into more anchors as they move along their route. Therefore, the rope becomes longer both when the climber ascends and descends. This presents a unique challenge for an auto-belay device, one which my team sought out to conquer.
3D Modeling in FUsion 360
Form Factor Design
I was responsible for designing the packaging of the belay device. I sketched several forms for the final device to discuss with the product team. I focused on communicating a rugged and high-tech design, with small touches that hinted towards how the device worked, and the rock climbing environment it was designed for.
Branding and Communication Graphics
I was individually responsible for Areta’s logo design and the graphic engravings on the device to instruct the user how to interact with it. I took notes from similar outdoor products, adding a mountain into the silhouette of an “A” that matched the shape of our product. For the engravings, I benchmarked other belay devices and used similar design language.
Our project culminated in a live presentation and demonstration of Areta catching a climber from a 30 foot fall.
Along with learning how to market an engineering project, I learned how to maintain healthy communication across a large team, and built great relationships with students and mentors.
