Meet the Micro. The world's most consumer friendly, easy to use, and best of all, affordable 3D printer. Just over a year ago we raised $3.4 million on Kickstarter but instead of advertising its greatness, let me walk you through some of the design journey.

Design Team

Dr.Mike Armani

David Jones

Team M3D

Picking a Color Palette

Extruder Design Ideation

Final Extruder Design

Extruder Head

Package Design

Package Design Exploded View

Designing an Experience

The vision for this printer was a comfortable sized, friendly cube - something you could easily fit on the corner of your desk. The challenge was that 3D printing is an intimidating subject for most consumers. It may be fascinating to read about it in the news, but to most individuals a personal 3D printer is beyond their imagination. Most of the initial ID was focused on finding a printer footprint that consumers would be comfortable with. Our results set us forward with an 11 inch cubed base dimension to begin engineering the components around. The edge radius was chosen to soften the character of the cube and give it a more friendly impression. This was the first step in defining our vision.

With the industry moving forward so quickly, it was crucial for us to be the first $300 3D printer on Kickstarter. The mechanical engineering immediately went underway as it was crunch time to figure out the fits and inner workings of the printer. All the while, ID elements were worked on in parallel.

Our next goal was to set a color palette. We wanted to provide our customers with enough color choices to imply a more welcoming and less formal 3D printer experience. However, it was important not to overwhelm the customers with too many choices. The hues of the blue, orange and green changed numerous times as development continued. It was a never ending hassle to match colors between injection molding, painting, web and printing processes.

We settled on a staple black and silver mixed in with three fun, vibrant colors you wouldn't traditionally find in 3D printers. This was part of our goal to appeal to a new market, not just tinkerers and engineers.

The next design task was focused on of the most crucial elements of the printer: designing the extruder head. The extruder is a key component of the printer, whizzing around constantly as the printer prints. It resides in the center of the printer, making it a key point of focus.

Several weeks were dedicated to exploring the infinite possibilities for the design. The final design contrasts slightly with the soft profile of the printer. Its chamfered edges paired with the curvature of its side profile made it a neutral yet elegant design for such a central component.

As with any startup, you end up wearing plenty of hats. My design responsibilities encompassed everything from web development to UI and UX design, the design of printing accessories, all graphic design and of course, packaging design.

The packaging design was critical for the printers first impression if on store shelves. Most existing printers ship in plain brown boxes with the company logo slapped on. To appeal to our markets however, the 3D printing experience starts with unboxing. It was important to keep the aesthetics clean and professional, yet still intriguing and appealing to potential customers.

The goal was to build some anticipation before revealing the printer. After removing the outer telescoping box, the customer is presented with a "Let's get printing" quick start guide, welcoming them to the world of 3D printing. Under this layer of manuals and accessories hides the gem they've been waiting for.

My experiences as lead designer and a creator of the Micro 3D printer have been nothing short of incredible. Again, this post is merely a reflection on my design processes and creations within the company, not an advertisement for the product.... but as a proud creator I will say, it's time you ordered your very own 3D printer!

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