Zyxel.
Building a single design language system for Zyxel's global product range.
Zyxel Networks tasked the product design team at WMP with creating a new product identity that could be captured in a Design Language System (DLS), giving Zyxel's in-house design team a toolkit to keep design consistent across a wide range of form factors, from routers to mesh systems to security appliances.
Sectors
Expertise
Background.
Understanding a truly global set of users before designing anything.
Zyxel Networks has been connecting people to the internet since 1989, with products used by homes and businesses worldwide.
Before any design work began, WMP's product design team facilitated workshops and interviewed a wide range of stakeholders across North America, Europe, South Africa and Asia, building a deeper understanding of the localised issues, user needs and preferences that any new design language system would need to work across.
The Solution.
A design language system built on research, tested across four product types.
Turning global interviews into a clear design brief.
We interviewed Zyxel's global representatives, service providers and end users to identify market needs, common problems and requirements, covering everything from where devices get placed in the home through to the ideal number of LEDs. We also analysed a range of competitor brands and products to make sure the new design language stood apart. Four key themes emerged based on form, materials and interaction details, and the findings were translated into two design checklists of primary and secondary goals.
Testing ideas across four very different product types.
We developed a wide range of concept themes from the research, then applied each design language to four different archetype form factors: a photo frame, lay-down unit, mesh system and tower, deliberately chosen to test how each theme's physical attributes worked across different device shapes. The archetypes were modelled in 3D CAD, rendered at high fidelity and produced as 3D-printed prototypes.
Landing on a wing-shaped signature detail.
The design language centres on a wing-shaped top panel that tapers to a sharp point at each end, blending soft, approachable forms with surfaces delineated by fading crease details. The result is a set of intriguing, dynamic forms that shift character depending on the angle they're viewed from.
Delivering a complete, usable design toolkit.
The final Design Language System covers everything from geometry and proportions through to part-count flexibility and CMF (colour, material and finish), giving Zyxel's in-house design team a toolkit they could keep using long after this project ended.
The impact.
A design language system put to work across new products.
Zyxel's in-house design team has been able to successfully use the DLS to implement several new product developments, giving a networking company with products used across North America, Europe, Africa and Asia a consistent design language to build from.
Ready to make brave ideas real?
