Reimagining Smartphone Design

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“We have a firm belief that design will play a crucial role in transforming our products, culture, and company. frog collaborated with us to bring to fruition a new phone design that reflect the needs of our users, while improving the phone experience and our brand.”


A combination of frog’s human-centred design approach, radical creative thinking, and Meizu’s long-standing commitment to quality and craftsmanship, resulted in the innovative new PRO 7 smartphone with a differentiated user experience.

Meizu

Several observations of users revealed that in social situations, the phone was frequently placed face down. This was a polite way to indicate their full engagement in a conversation or interaction. frog and Meizu leveraged this valuable insight to reimagine both sides of the phone, having the back surface help as opposed to interrupt.

The omni-dimensional experience

A major innovation is the integration of a custom-built, retina touch display on the back surface of the PRO 7. Users can see vital notifications at a glance, rather than having to flip to the front display and open up various apps. It also allows users to view and take selfies using the more powerful back camera with wide angle capability.

World’s first touch-enabled back display

The team faced engineering challenges due to the additional features included. Integrating dual displays, cameras, flash and sensors put the phone at risk of growing in size and weight. Meizu opted not to compromise and invested significantly in a custom display, and high quality materials, resulting in a premium phone and seamless technology.

Enhanced technology with no extra bulk

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The partnership began with frog understanding Meizu’s vision, and sharing our human-centred design approach. Followed by a deep dive into the lives of target customers, revealing new insights and opportunities for innovation.


January 2016

frog used a variety of ideation methodologies and prototypes to explore different hardware and software interactions. The result was a new design language system and design concepts.


May 2016

The Meizu PRO 7 has been awarded the prestigious iF Design Award 2018 for Product Design in the Smart Phone category, there were more than 6,400 entries submitted from 54 countries across the globe.

March 2018

Meizu has continued their engagement with frog, in order to deepen their expertise with the human-centred design process and apply to Meizu’s family of products and design language system.

The First Generation Ticwatch

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“frog exceeded my expectations with their global design expertise and Chinese consumer design research insights. The close collaboration between both companies pushed the boundaries of product and software realization and positions us for future growth through innovation.”

Mobvoi, a Chinese artificial intelligence start-up, partnered with frog to reinvent voice search for wearable devices.

Following partnership offers from global wearable manufacturers, and extensive testing with early adopters, the Mobvoi leadership team decided to develop an entirely new wearable – the first generation Ticwatch – to bring their unique voice recognition software to life.

Unique Opportunity

Mobvoi launched the Ticwear operating system in 2014, which quickly gained traction with young people in China. They asked frog to design a smartwatch for the same demographic, whose needs and desires we uncovered during in-depth design research and the development of target personas.

Made for Millennials

To overcome the challenge of interacting on a small watch screen, frog introduced the “Tickle Strip” on the edge of the watch. This area can be pressed and scrolled to offer zoom and menu selection, while keeping the screen clearly visible.

Innovative Interaction

Mobvoi

frog conducted in-depth conversations with Chinese millennials to generate personas, and created key design principles to inform the product design.




October 2014

A variety of concept sketches were presented and iterated upon until a single concept was chosen and further developed to include charging, sensing, user interface, and packaging.


November 2014

The design concept was delivered to Mobvoi for final detailed design and manufacturing. The first generation Ticwatch launched in June 2015 and today it is the top selling Android watch in China.

December 2014

When the first generation Ticwatch launched in June 2015, Mobvoi raised over $1.2 million in two weeks on the Chinese crowdfunding site JD.com. The product has been featured by over 60 media outlets, including TechCrunch, Wareable.com and Wired UK. In October 2015, the first generation Ticwatch secured series C funding from Google. In 2016, Mobvoi will launch the Ticwatch 2 and an English language version of the Ticwear operating system.

Transforming Screen Time Into a Meaningful Experience

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“There are many solutions in the market today that use sensing technology to help us measure, and control our lives. As designers, we have an opportunity to transform the use of sensing technology and empower kids to safely explore the world using a new set of tools.”


Yibu includes five crafted wooden toys embedded with sensing technology, which are connected to a character experiencing environmental challenges on the screen. Children who play the game learn about the world around them and feel empowered to positively influence it.

Yibu


The sensing toys gather real-time environmental data and, together with location-based data, influence the digital game. By moving around and placing the toys in different situations, the child discovers how temperature, sound, light, direction and rotation influence the digital character.

Physical Influences Digital

Today kids are spending more time indoors and alone with digital devices than ever before, often at the expense of physical activity. Yibu turns the home into an adventure playground where kids can be active and have fun in a safe environment.

Screen Time

Challenges become more complex as players progress through the game, requiring them to combine different sensors to achieve their goals. Yibu is designed as a modular platform that could offer a variety of different games that connect to the sensing toys.

Going Further

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frog began this frogLabs™ project by experimenting extensively with multiple sensor interactions, character development and generative storytelling.




February 2015

We named the product Yibu – pronounced “ee-boo” and meaning “first step” in Mandarin – which represents the introduction of technology to children and the birth place of the concept.


March 2015

Together with a local toy craftsman in Shanghai, frog created the first wooden toy prototypes, testing shape, size and color, which directly informed the brand language for the product

June 2015

We hope Yibu will inspire organizations and investors in the toy retailing, smart toy, gaming and education markets to make kids’ screen time a more meaningful and physically active experience.

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