Digital meets Physical
Where the screen
meets the object
When people hold, wear or ride in a product, its brand and interface are part of the object. They are designed with the team building it, not added afterwards.
01Next to industrial design
We work with the industrial design team from the start, so the screen, the light and the material agree.
02Built for the real world
Gloves, glare, a moving car, a tiny OLED screen. We design for where the product is used, not for a desk.
03One language, every surface
The mark on the casing, the icons on the display and the app in your pocket all speak the same language.
04Planned to a ship date
Manufacturing, a raise or a reveal sets the date. We plan the work backwards from it and we hold to it.
Four kinds
of product
Different objects, the same job: a brand and an interface that belong to the thing itself.
RoboticsRobots
Brand systems and launch websites for robots in warehouses, on building sites and beside people.
- WorkCobot, Gritt
WearablesWatches and trackers
Watch faces, tracker displays and the apps behind them, drawn pixel by pixel for a quick glance.
- WorkWithings, Nokia
VehiclesCars and cabins
Displays on glass, controls built into every surface, and the connected app that travels with you.
- WorkFord
DevicesConnected objects
Apps and controls for smart homes, field tools and collectables, matched to the hardware they run on.
- WorkNokia, Auwa
Products you
can pick up
A vehicle interior, watches, smart lighting, robots, rugged field tools and a collectable figure.
Four ways
we help
Hardware companies usually come to us around a raise, a reveal or a first production run. These are the four things they ask for most.
IdentityBrand for the object
Symbol, wordmark, colour and type, tested on the product and on screen, with clear guidelines.
- Typical£25K to £40K
- Time5 to 6 weeks
ProductInterfaces and apps
The screens on the device and the app beside it: displays, controls, companion apps and field tools.
- TypicalQuoted
- TimeFrom 6 weeks
LaunchWebsite, built for the day
Built in production code, timed to your funding news or product reveal, and easy for you to update.
- TypicalQuoted
- Time8 to 10 weeks
ScaleDesign systems
Components and rules that keep a growing range consistent, as we did for Nokia for nine years.
- TypicalQuoted
- Time6 to 10 weeks
See a brand book
for a product
Every brand we make can end in a working brand book on your own domain, not a PDF that dates. The Cobot book shows a brand built to live on a robot, from the symbol on the arm to the status light on the chassis. The Auwa book shows the same care for a figure you can hold.
Common questions
No. Industrial and mechanical design is its own discipline, and there are studios that do it brilliantly. We design everything around it: the brand, the screens on the device, the apps beside it and the system that keeps them consistent. We are used to working alongside an industrial design team, in-house or a studio, so the object and the interface feel like one product.
Robots for Cobot and Gritt, the interface of Ford’s autonomous vehicle simulator, which won IDSA Gold, watches and trackers for Withings, smart lighting and rugged field communication for Nokia, a round smartwatch for MOA, and our own collectable figure for Auwa. Nine years with Nokia Design put us in the room with hardware teams week after week.
Before the hardware is locked, if you can. The display size, the number of buttons and the material all shape the interface, and changes are cheap early on. If the product is already built, we design to what exists and say plainly where a small hardware change would help.
Yes, and most hardware projects have one. The Cobot website went live with its Series A announcement. Tell us the date at the start and we will plan the work backwards from it. A brand takes five to six weeks and a brand with a website eight to ten, with two weeks’ notice to start.
Yes. Cobot is in California, and we worked with Nokia’s San Francisco design team for nine years from London. We keep a few hours of overlap each day for calls, and the work moves on while you sleep.
The Ford autonomous vehicle work is password protected at the client’s request. Ask us and we will share access, and walk you through it on a call if that helps.
What are you making?
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