Form and Fire: PetSmart Fire Extinguisher
Form and Fire: PetSmart Fire Extinguisher from Adriana Garcia
Form and Fire: PetSmart Fire Extinguisher

The goal of the Form and Fire project, was to design a fire extinguisher based on it's environment. Having been assigned a pet shop, I decided to design for PetSmart chain stores. This posed an interesting challenge considering the large amount of products signs and isles that crowd these stores.

After considering several directions based on the brand aesthetic of my chosen store, I chose a final design that dealt both with form, and function.

Aesthetically, the final fire extinguisher focuses on using simple and rounded geometric shapes to develop a form that looks simple and friendly enough for a pet store. On the other hand, the fire extinguisher is easy to use since you only have to rotate the canister and squeeze the handle to discharge it. It is also a clean agent extinguisher which leaves no residue behind after being used, eliminating the problem of cleaning up isles full of pet products and fire extinguisher foam.

The fire extinguisher's form is inspired by PetSmart's round and friendly aesthetic, while being reminiscent of pet toys and products like retractable dog leashes.
Foam iterations leading up to my final form.
The fire extinguisher is meant to live on a wall mount when not in use. For better visitbility and cohesiveness with the store's aesthetic, the fire extinguisher's wall setup includes a large ring-shaped sign, in the same fashion as other PetSmart store signs, indicating to the potential user where the fire extinguisher is located.
The fire extinguisher lives on a wall mount while it is inactive. When needed it can be lifted from its wall mount and activated by rotating the canister and pressing the handle's button.
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Form and Fire: PetSmart Fire Extinguisher

The goal of the Form and Fire project, was to design a fire extinguisher based on it's environment. Having been assigned a pet shop, I decided to design for PetSmart chain stores. This posed an interesting challenge considering the large amount of products signs and isles that crowd these stores.

After considering several directions based on the brand aesthetic of my chosen store, I chose a final design that dealt both with form, and function.

Aesthetically, the final fire extinguisher focuses on using simple and rounded geometric shapes to develop a form that looks simple and friendly enough for a pet store. On the other hand, the fire extinguisher is easy to use since you only have to rotate the canister and squeeze the handle to discharge it. It is also a clean agent extinguisher which leaves no residue behind after being used, eliminating the problem of cleaning up isles full of pet products and fire extinguisher foam.

Adriana Garcia
Product Designer and Industrial Design Junior at Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA