Turntables get all the attention these days as part of the retro and nostalgia wave that continues to grip designs. In a few years, however, maybe CD players will already qualify as “old-school” as well and finally get some attention. At the moment, however, the majority of CD player designs do feel like they come from a different era, from a time when technical specifications weighed more heavily than aesthetics.
Fortunately, there are now a few design concepts that are trying to pull these consumer electronics to modern times. Some borrow a few cues from popular industrial design houses, while others go down an even more minimalist look. This particular design, for example, has very few visual cues that it’s a CD player, which is probably for the best as it stands as something like a decorative object when not in use.
Designer:
Most CD player designs today fall under two categories. On one side you have the pure black boxes that you can connect to laptops or desktops, while the other side has designs that seem to have never grown up from the 90s. Yes, colors and a plethora of buttons never killed anyone, but the uniformity of style makes you wonder if that’s all that the market has to offer.
Thankfully, there are a few that try to break from the mold and embrace aesthetics that are more modern and less showy. A few minimalist designs here and there add a bit of variety to this overlooked market, making them look fresh even if their functionality hasn’t changed over the decades. Orion is one such concept that reduces the design to its most basic form but sprinkles enough details to keep it looking interesting.
The design is pretty much just a flat metal box with a powder-coated finish that gives it a bit of an industrial vibe. It doesn’t have a flap that flips open to reveal the CD player but instead invites you to slide the disc in through the thin slot from the front. Other than what may be a large eject button and an IR receiver in front, as well as a power cord socket at the back, there is very little in the way of distracting marks on this design.
It does, however, have plenty of perforations on the top surface, but unlike a cheese grater, these adopt a parametric design that makes the holes closer to the center bigger than those on the periphery. This adds a little flourish to what could be too clinical of a design, giving the Orion CD Player concept design a little character despite its minimalist appearance.
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