Steamline

Timeframe 5 weeks
Collaborators Matthew Li
Role Industrial Design
Course Studio IV
Project Overview

GIA Student Design Award
Timeframe — 5 weeks
Collaboration — Matthew Li

An all-in-one compact steaming and ironing solution specifically designed for apartment residents.


Configurations

Three main setups support Steamline through all stages of clothing care — ironing, steaming, and storage.

Boards connect seamlessly for ironing. Lock to angle for steaming, hanger bars extended. Fold flush for storage — the steamer-iron becomes the handle.


Market Research

Market
Research

$0B
global clothing care market
0%
of apartment residents iron less than once a month
0x
more likely to skip ironing if setup takes over 2 min
0
year the modern ironing board was patented
01

The ironing board hasn’t meaningfully changed since the 19th century — yet living spaces have shrunk by half.

02

Current compact solutions are too small, too expensive, or split ironing and steaming into separate appliances.

03

Users want one thing: set it up fast, use it fully, put it away fast. No compromise.


User
Journey

Watching users go through the process of ironing and steaming was crucial — seeing where they got stuck or frustrated with current solutions let us iron out every detail.

How might we

How might
we…

…create a safe, compact and efficient solution for ironing and steaming in small spaces.

Ideation

Quick sketches let us break from convention — exploring form and function simultaneously.

This phase gave us the pivot-point dock and the integrated water tank.


Form
Decisions

Sketches resolved into form studies. The pivot-point dock, ergonomic handle, and board-hinge geometry all came from this phase.


Cardboard
Prototyping

Initial prototyping explored the form and function of the dock and steamer-iron. Later volumes were developed to explore scale and usability.

Final Design

Final Design

The Solution

The Solution

One form. Three configurations.
Everything you need, nothing you don’t.

Set it up fast. Use it fully.
Put it away in seconds.

A larger water tank. Extendable legs.
Hanger bars that stay out of your way.

The final design carefully nests all components into one form — finalizing the ironing and steaming process safely and efficiently.

Three configurations — ironing, steaming, and storage — give users an infinite number of positions to fit their home.


In Context