Form not only follows function, it follows feeling.

Most of the products you use day-to-day make you feel a certain way. 

Something about their design, choice of materials and manufacture will create an emotional response. 

Details are everything. And they connect with people on a visceral level, imparting feelings like positivity, confidence, joy and calm. 

These details are not an essential part of a product’s functionality, but they are crucial to customers making a purchase decision.

From understanding to outstanding

Creating products should always start with the person who will be using it, the context they will be using it in, and what the benefits are to them. Focusing on these things helps a designer understand how to produce a product that will fully meet requirements.

A physical product – like any film, book or piece of music – tells a story. They say something about the kind of people we are, or aspire to be. 

Through touch, sight and even smell, physical products create connections with customers that are incredibly powerful, forming life-long brand advocates in the process. 

Of course brand message, packaging and online experience go a long way towards influencing purchasing decisions. A striking advertising campaign, seamless online shopping experience or pleasingly tactile packaging all help elevate the anticipation of getting hold of the product itself. 

Successful brands understand this. They know that every interaction with their product, whether far away or up-close-and-personal is an opportunity to make a statement of intent and generate influence.

Designing a visual language of trust

As a studio, we feel that our work should always aim to improve people’s daily lives. Without a connection to people, we can’t create products that they love.

When designing the Smart Panel for Taro Pumps, for example, we understood that the product represented a new direction for the company and their customers. 

This app-connected product enables interaction and control not seen before in the market. It will allow Taro Pump’s customers to track, program and control their pumps systems from anywhere. 

And so the product needed to inspire the same confidence as the current product line. That’s why the design focuses on simplicity throughout. 

From set up, right through to use and maintenance, we stripped back any unnecessary distraction with a ‘set up and leave it’ level of performance customers have come to expect from the brand. 

The visual language of the pump also tracks with the fundamental image of the brand – heritage and integrity are demonstrated whilst also looking forward to a more connected future. 

The simplicity of the Smart Panel’s construction and user interface belies the ability for this product to really revolutionise the way Taro Pump’s customers interact with their pump systems. 

The considerations of these details as benefits for the customer means this product will be trusted and seen as advantageous rather than just another ‘Smart’ product.