Project Overview

Orbitkey transforms your clutter of keys into a manageable, organized stack that is also stylish. Best of all, there is no longer jingling noise when you exercise with your keys in your pocket.

Organisation

Orbitkey

Team

What started as a simple hack to solve the issue of jingling keys when exercising turned into something a lot bigger when we launched a project on Kickstarter in November 2013.

As a start-up in Melbourne, we take a holistic approach to design and believe that good design goes beyond the product alone. Above all, design should also create great experience for its users.

Focusing on creating beautiful, elegant and practical solution to everyday key-carrying, we are set on a mission to change and inspire the way people interact with their keys. In short, we want everyone to love their keys.

Project Brief

The project first started when Charles clamped his keys in a stack with bolt and nut to solve his pet hate for rattling keys when jogging.

After speaking to a lot of people about their experience with their keys, we came to realise that the all-too-familiar “key ring” was far from perfect. It was noisy, it was unorganized, it scratches your other belongings and it was unattractive.

This lead us to set a goal to make key carrying a better experience for everyone.

Project Innovation/Need

Orbitkey transforms your cluster of keys to an organised stack that is also compact in size. In result, it eliminates noise that the traditional key rings present. It is the perfect companion during exercise or an important business meeting.

You can arrange your stack of keys in your order of preference and this will help you locate the right key even in the dark.

The soft material encloses the teeth of your keys and keeps them away from your smartphones/ wallets. Apart from that, it also prevents that discomfort caused when carrying you keys in your pocket.

With a number of stylish leather and TPU Elastomer materials available, you can customize a look that suits your style.

You can carry your larger keys such as car keys with the removable D-Ring attachment provided. This also allows any occasional keys to be attached temporarily.

Last but not least, the low-profile bottle opener and USB keys are also available to make your keys more than just door-openers.

Design Challenge

One of the biggest challenges in the design process was to come up with a mechanism that works with different number of keys and will not come undone accidentally.

We achieved this by designing special locking tabs in the mechanism that drops into a designated slot when locked. Spring washer has been incorporated not only to keep this locking tab in position but also to the user to fasten their stack of keys to the tension level desired.

The flexibility of the universal locking mechanism, users can carry anything from two to eight standard keys.

Made from individually precision-machined Aluminium 7075, the understated and integrated locking mechanism has been specially designed to complement the overall sophistication of the product. The result is a key accessory that is not only functional but also embodies elegance.

Also being a new way to carry keys, we had to make sure that the packaging was designed in a way that it educates the users. All Orbitkey comes pre-assembled with instruction card attached to assist the user in setting up their keys.

Sustainability

Our mission is to revolutionize the way people carry and interact with their keys. By creating a key carrier which offers a lot more value and functionality, we hope to reduce the amount of key rings people go through in their lives.

The packaging of Orbitkey was also designed with sustainability in mind. Being able to store little spare parts in the box also means the users are encouraged to keep the packaging throughout the lifetime of the product. Made out of recycled paper, it is also fully recyclable.

Above all, Orbitkey helps reduce the noise pollution that normal key rings present.