Mini Jambox by Jawbone

Product news: industrial designer Yves Behar has added a pocket-sized version to Jawbone‘s range of Jambox wireless speakers (+ slideshow).

Mini Jambox by Jawbone

San Francisco electronics brand Jawbone released the Mini Jambox as the smallest in its range of speakers, which can wirelessly connect with phones, laptops and other bluetooth devices to play music.

Mini Jambox by Jawbone

Jawbone’s creative director Yves Behar told Dezeen that the latest speaker was developed to make listening to music on the go a more communal activity.

Mini Jambox by Jawbone

“People’s experience of music is pretty selfish and very much focused on earphones,” said Behar. “I think now we expect speakers to be used everywhere, from underground to office settings.”

Mini Jambox by Jawbone

The speakers are made from extruded aluminium, reinventing the manufacturing process from the original Jambox to reduce the number of parts and assembly steps.

Mini Jambox by Jawbone

“You really have to develop some manufacturing techniques that are very, very advanced in order to make a product that is affordable,” Behar said.

Mini Jambox by Jawbone

A CNC machine was used to create five textured patterns on the front of the speaker and users can chose between nine different metallic colours.

Mini Jambox by Jawbone

The speaker is managed through an app, where Mini Jamboxes in range appear as icons in their colour and texture. Many users can connect to one Mini Jambox at a time, so everyone can contribute to the music they’re listening to.

Mini Jambox by Jawbone

“We play the game ‘who’s music is this?’,” said Behar. “Essentially [the Mini Jambox] becomes something that allows people to jump in and play their own music.”

Mini Jambox by Jawbone

In Milan two year ago, tracks submitted by Dezeen readers were played through an installation of Jamboxes called Jamscape. Earlier this year Jawbone released the UP activity-tracking wristband, which monitors how you move, sleep and eat.

We’ve also featured a gadget that plays music wirelessly through vintage speakers and a wireless speaker that you wear over your sneakers.

See more design by Yves Behar »
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Here is some additional information sent to us by Behar:


The Making of the Mini Jambox

The Mini Jambox is the latest entry in the category-leading family of Jawbone speakers. The original Jambox design ushered in the era of the wireless speaker with critical and commercial success. When we first explored what the Mini Jambox could be we dreamed of a very small and pocketable size, of an experience so simple and yet game changing, and of materials and processes so refined they had previously only been used in top-end audio products. Jawbone design goals are to seamlessly integrate technology and everyday life. Mini Jambox is built on the foundation that life is constantly moving; with Mini Jambox you can pick up and bring your sound environment with you. We call it pocketable sound.

Mini Jambox by Jawbone

The design explorations for Mini Jambox started with a blank sheet and the idea to completely re-invent the wireless speaker, as we knew it. “It’s a strange moment when everyone loves your last product, and yet you realise the next one will have to be conceived and re-invented as if we were designing it for the first time,” says Yves Behar, CCO of Jawbone.

The user-centred insight and starting point for Mini is that people love the small Jambox size, and yet they want to take the product with them without hesitation about size or weight, from a jacket pocket to a small handbag. Delivering clear, high quality sound in a small space requires a very rigid enclosure with inherent structural integrity. To fulfil this need we explored many roads. Eventually aluminium extrusions combined with a very advanced and patented assembly method became the clear winner. This new approach enabled us to achieve the most efficient use of space, as outer skin and structural skeleton are one and the same. Form and function are truly intersected, as the overall size is the smallest, yet the rigid acoustic cavity affords maximum volume for the sound chamber. The extrusion and material also confers Mini with the strength and robustness needed in a physical object made for portability.

Mini Jambox by Jawbone

“In order to innovate, we have to take a process and push it somewhere entirely new,” says Yves. The demanding pursuit of refining the aluminium extrusion into an entirely new construction and aesthetic took twelve months, flexing what might be possible with a mechanical engineering assembly that requires fewer parts and assembly steps, stewarding major leaps in production capabilities at scale. “The result is that the Mini exterior skin is also the internal skeleton, in one fluid gesture; we are not just wrapping internal components with a sexy package, the package is the sound chamber.”

The Jawbone design language has always pursued minimal construction and geometry, made personal through the integral use of relief textures that are both personal and tactile. On Mini, we are pushing the boundary of rough and fast CNC, typically used to machine mechanical internal details. We flip the use of this usually hidden process, employing it externally to reveal beautiful capabilities for textures. We used large CNC cutting bits programmed to sculpt a few marks in the aluminium at high speed; the resulting intersections create new unexpected patterns. The beautiful reliefs, enhanced by reflecting light on Mini, are the result of a craft methodology developed with small machine shop partners, requiring a deep collaboration between designers, machinists, and engineers.

Mini Jambox by Jawbone

The CNC process innovation has transformed what’s both possible and efficient in using aluminium. We turned CNC, an industrial process, into a brush we can paint with. Mini Jambox speakers’ highly specialised perforations and unique framework channel sound for clear, elegantly routed sound. Functionally driven design that is also expressive.

The five textures and nine anodised colours allow people to make Mini into their own personality. The textures also provide a tactile grip, and each of them is carefully matched to an anodised colour that shows aluminium relief best.

From the design to the user interface and packaging, we believe Mini Jambox is our crown jewel of Jawbone design and craft. “Every element goes back to the purest expression of simplicity, performance, and elegance,” says Yves. Mini combines beautiful design and experience at the most minimal size. Providing unparalleled and uncompromised listening in a breakthrough highly portable mini package, Mini Jambox blasts rich sounds at high volume. The integrity of the Mini materials and craft enhances our music experience in ways we could only have dreamed off.

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Mini Jambox : Jawbone shrunk their music player, sexed it up, and it sounds better than ever

Mini Jambox


Since its introduction in November 2010, Jawbone’s Jambox has done what few products in its space have: remained relevant. While we’ve since seen various iterations of the Yves Béhar design, from Big Jambox to our very own CH Edition…

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“We take a very holistic approach to design” – Bandar Antabi of Jawbone

In this movie filmed by Dezeen, Bandar Antabi of designer electronics brand Jawbone explains how the company took a holistic approach to designing their Big Jambox wireless speaker.

“We take a very holistic approach to design” – Bandar Antabi of Jawbone

“[When] we look at design it’s not only the external facade of the product, but also the internals and software, and how basically users interact with the product,” says Antabi.

“We take a very holistic approach to design” – Bandar Antabi of Jawbone

San Francisco start-up company Jawbone first launched the Jambox in 2010, which became the top selling wireless speaker in the USA and UK, so they launched the Big Jambox as a larger but still portable version.

“We take a very holistic approach to design” – Bandar Antabi of Jawbone

It streams audio from smart devices wirelessly via bluetooth and is portable enough to be carried in one hand.

“We take a very holistic approach to design” – Bandar Antabi of Jawbone

Designer Yves Behar has been working with Jawbone for almost ten years as their chief creative officer and is involved in all design decisions for products, including the Big Jambox.

“We take a very holistic approach to design” – Bandar Antabi of Jawbone

A continuous, perforated stainless-steel sheet wraps around the front, top and back of the speaker, which Antabi describes as “a manufacturing feat”.

“We take a very holistic approach to design” – Bandar Antabi of Jawbone

Yves Behar and Jawbone collaborated with Dezeen to create an installation of over 1600 Jambox speakers that played original tracks submitted by Dezeen readers in Milan 2011 – find out more about the project here. Read more in our previous stories about the Jambox here and the Big Jambox here.

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Jambox Remix

More than 100 different color combinations now available

Jambox Remix

When something is modular and colorful creative-types can’t help but mix and match parts. As fans of the Jawbone’s Jambox since its launch, we have a few here at CH HQ and are guilty of dismantling and reassembling them in different colorways. With today’s launch of Remix, any Jambox…

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Big Jambox

Jawbone introduces a big brother to their family of intelligent speakers
Big-Jambox-2.jpg

Just released as a follow-up to the diminuitive Jambox speaker, Jawbone presents Big Jambox, a scaled-up version of the wireless speaker setup. In part a nod to the boombox speakers that gained popularity in the ’70s, the device delivers full sound in a portable package. The speaker pairs automatically with any bluetooth-enabled device, pumping out beats without the need for any additional cordage.

Big-Jambox-5.jpg

The design language of Big Jambox is drawn from the original version by Yves Behar, marked by a solid perforated steel grill around the body and high grade rubber on the ends and feet. A few simple controls allow you to pause, skip and adjust volume, though most commands come externally. A clutch feature for any mobile device, a single charge of the lithium-ion battery provides a staggering 15 hours of continuous playback.

Big-Jambox-4.jpg

While music may be the most apparent use for Big Jambox, the speaker also includes an echo-canceling microphone that can be utilized as a speakerphone through mobile phone calls as well as video conferencing clients like Skype, FaceTime and GoogleTalk. Jawbone is able to connect to two devices at once, and will remember the profiles of up to eight different devices.

Thumbnail image for Big-Jambox-3b.jpg

Big Jambox is being offered in “Red Dot”, “White Wave” and “Graphite Hex”—each colorway featuring a different embossed pattern. The speaker’s “Live Audio” feature takes advantage of binaural audio to create a 3D listening experience. The heft and solidity of Jambox reduces rattle and vibrations even when blasting at full volume, and a set of precision-tuned drivers and opposing dual passive bass radiators help to deliver fuller sound.

Big Jambox is available for $299 from the Jawbone online store.

Images by James Thorne


Dezeen Screen: interview with Yves Behar

Dezeen Yves Behar at JamScape in Ventura Lambrate

Milan 2011: our latest movie made in Milan last week features Yves Behar of fuseproject talking about Jambox, the wireless speaker he designed for Jawbone, and JamScape, the audio installation presented in the Ventura Lambrate design district. Watch the movie

JamScape photographed by Luke Hayes

JamScape in Milan

Milan 2011: here’s a selection of photos by architectural photographer Luke Hayes of JamScape, the audio installation created by Yves Behar of fuseproject and Jawbone in collaboration with Dezeen.

JamScape consists of monolithic forms made of over 1,600 Jambox wireless speakers.

Dezeen readers submitted the original audio tracks that play through the speakers.

The installation is located at Via Ventura 5 in the Ventura Lambrate district of Milan until Sunday 17 April (download the Ventura Lambrate map and guide).

See our video interview with Gabriel Lamb of fuseproject, designer of JamScape with Yves Behar.

Below: Yves Behar

See all our stories from Milan 2011

Dezeen curates audio at JamScape in Milan

JamScape

Audio tracks and soundscapes submitted by Dezeen readers will play this week at JamScape, an experimental audio installation in Milan developed by Jawbone and Yves Béhar of fuseproject.

JamScape

Following our call for audio submissions last month, almost 100 tracks were uploaded to Dezeen’s SoundCloud account, from which Dezeen, Jawbone and Yves Béhar selected their favourites.

Jambox

The tracks have been programmed to be played through five monolithic forms constructed from 1,642 of Jawbone’s Jambox wireless speakers (above) in the installation, located in the Ventura Lambrate district of Milan.

Jawbone are also launch sponsors of Dezeen Screen, our new video website, which launches in Milan later today. The Dezeen movie team will be based in a studio within JamScape so pop by and see us! We’re at Pianissimo Grande, Via Ventura in Ventura Lambrate. Download the Ventura Lambrate map and guide here – we’re at no 5.

The 20 tracks selected to be played at JamScape are as follows; each artist will receive a free Jambox and their tracks will also be used as soundtracks to Dezeen Screen‘s movies from Milan:

Outside Time by Agzilla (UK)
Knee For Thought by Antonie Manolova & Francesco Tristano (BULGARIA)
Bears by Brandon Hackler (USA)
Jets by Chris Teeter (USA)
fåglar bilar och dansande piano – BUTTERFLY MIX by en doft av cyrén  (SWEDEN)
Midnight_JAM by Ian Gulbransen  (USA)
Want to Want by Joanna Geralyn (USA)
Kin by Kasule (UK)
TWENTY 10  by Kid Suda (SPAIN)
Oregon by Louis Jones (UK)
Experimento Tropical by Miguel Colmenare  (SPAIN)
Traces by MTTMGG (ITALY)
Dubofeeliac  by Nat King Kong (CANADA)
Dance of Lucifer by Navid Asghari (UK)
Fragility by Ricardo Seola (BRAZIL)
DubStepping by The Dead Sun (UK)
Horses Head Towards Sunrise by Theeyefives (USA)
Hello Death by U9lift (USA)
Hotaru Zeus & Apollo (USA)
I Can Feel by Zumba – diseño de sonido (PERU)

Here’s some text about the project from Jawbone:


Set within the emerging Ventura Lambrate design district in Milan, Italy, JamScape is a bold audio experiment that captures the idea of liberating and unleashing sound. Developed in partnership between Jawbone, Yves Béhar, and his creative agency fuseproject, JamScape uses Jawbone’s new JAMBOX wireless speaker and its punchy audio as building blocks to create a uniquely social experience in the form of a sound lounge.

The installation fosters creative partnerships with a cadre of audio artists and enables them to express their ideas of music, improvisation, jamming, and social sound. All soundscapes were crowd-sourced via an open call posted on media partner Dezeen, Twitter, and blogs worldwide to phenomenal response.