Simple things design language
July 2020 - December 2023
As the VP of Design, I played a key role in creating and applying the Simple Things design language. It covers UI interfaces, industrial design, packaging, website design, and more, ensuring a unified and effective visual identity and function.
Team: Kevin Hoffman, Andy Rubin, Henrik Ellersgaard, Maja Andersen, Jonathan Kong, Cody Proksa
Simple Things logo implementation is composed of two parts:
The word-mark is direct and minimal as the company name itself, utilizing a Grotesk Sans Serif Variable.
The logo-mark is derived from the origami unicorn motif of the 1982 film, Blade Runner, a favorite of the company’s founder.
Simple Things imagery style focuses on capturing authenticity that feels simple, calm, and warm. Photography embraces strong, warm natural light, while product pack shots showcase the monolithic design of our products, using basic camera angles against the backdrop of a grey color palette.
Simple Things is an open platform that interoperates with anything, encourages developers to create or add new functionality, and utilizes AI to automate specifically to the users' needs.
To support the platform, design architectures are rooted in modularity, whether visual gestures, function, or on a system level.
The hardware is geometric, communicating as building blocks with specialized function. The mobile app is composed of 'edge apps' with specialized uses, contributing to an organized and easy-to-navigate UI system.
Although most of the consumer-facing imagery should communicate the experience and use, the design language incorporates ways to celebrate the technology and engineering through technical labeling, line work, and data imagery.
To create a “sense of quirk”, the industrial design team followed high level principles inspired by the aesthetic spirit of the code name "Moonbase 99”:
Design ethos of the 1960s. Striving for clean lines, simplicity, and functionality, this ethos emphasizes practicality and accessibility for a wide audience.
Theatrical, artistic expression of technology. Modern take on movies like Space 1999, Blade Runner, Space Odyssey, etc.
A juxtaposition of analog & digital. Celebrating the tactile and exaggerated affordance of analog elements, presented in digital and monolithic forms.
