Vital Labs | Website (2015)

The design for the Vital Labs website was developed alongside a complete corporate identity and product branding package. The intent of the site was the be as lightweight as possible, allowing for customers from all devices to access and easily order the product. Development was entirely in native HTML using no plugins, and all graphical and iconographic content was created as vector art. As a result, the site could scale natively from a budget smartphone to a desktop computer with a Retina Display with no loss of quality, fidelity or performance. 

Vital Labs launches across the United States and Canada in 2016 with this website and digital storefront leading the brand.

Settler's Rise | Website and Social Media Campaign (2015)

Settler's Rise is a Queensland based, family winery. In 2014, Settler's announced ambitious plans to export internationally, and contracted myself as Thomas Trieb to develop and deploy a social media campaign, competition and associated website and collateral. The end result was a highly successful American launch and campaign, with the brand selling its complete stock in under two months. 

We used the Gastric Brooding frog (the brand's existing icon) as inspiration for a frog-prince campaign, encouraging users to upload a picture of themselves kissing the frog on the bottle to Instagram in order to win a holiday to the winery.

Twxt | App Design (2015)

Twxt was a social networking app designed to show the user - in real time - the people around him who were looking to meet and connect.

Twxt incorporated a revolutionary UI that placed the user profile at the centre of the screen, radially surrounded by other users. The point of differentiation is that users are mapped not only to distance, but to compass points - a user to the north of the user profile would appear above the centre point of the display, users to the south below it, and so on.

This allowed a sense of geography and spatial navigation which other social apps still do not. Pivotally, this also allowed positionally based advertising to be inserted into the content for service monetisation - for example, a nearby restaurant chain could appear inside the app only when the user was close enough to actually visit it - making the advertising more relevant to the user and more valuable to the advertiser. Ads appear in-navigation as users, with the possibility of using (brand approved) GIFs to improve engagement and present relevant content, such as app-specific offers and deals. This eliminated the need for messy, off-brand banner ads and protects the user experience, while allowing for a free, subsidised service.

Twxt was developed as a cross-platform web-and-app service, and is still actively seeking funding to complete infrastructure build out required for launch.

Liquate | App Design (2015)

Developed as an app for the first-generation Apple Watch, Liquate was intended to quickly and cleanly allow users to track their daily hydration - a key factor in both health and weight management. Working from the Apple Watch HIG (Human Interface Guidelines), Liquate was designed for quick, lightweight data entry that linked to Apple's HealthKit centralised data repository. Gestures such as swiping left and right, and the turning digital crown allowed for fast and accurate interactions, confirmed simply by pressing the centre of the display.

Liquate remains under active development after transitioning to being a WatchOS 2.0 native application, and is undergoing optimisation with a view to being a launch app for the second generation Apple Watch in late 2016.

Sorted | App Design (2012)

Sorted for iOS was designed as a optimised, minimalist to-do app. Making use of edge swipes, gestures, layers and transparency, the app was developed and conceptually complete a full year before Apple announced its iOS 7 redesign that also incorporated these traits.

Legibility was a key factor in the development of Sorted, with appropriately-weighted, sans serif fonts used throughout. Customisation was also a focus, with the app automatically searching for relevant image content to use as a backdrop for each list (For example, a list titled "Yosemite Roadtrip" would load an image of the park without user input). 

Development of Sorted was halted when three major competitors launched within a single month, and the app remains functionally complete, but unreleased.

Open WebOS | UI Design (2011)

Created during the final moments of WebOS's viability as a mobile operating system - after Hewlett-Packard commenced a firesale of all devices - and open-sourced WebOS itself - this UI work sought to move the established WebOS paradigms forward, promoting clear actioning for the existing, excellent notification system, and introducing a multi-user mode.

By selling the remaining stock of HP Touchpads at a loss, Hewlett-Packard managed to - for two whole months - move the needle in the tablet space and outsell the fledgling iPad. Regrettably, the purchase, chronic mismanagement and eventual sale of Palm and its WebOS technology by HP confined one of the best, most modern - and arguably most user-friendly mobile operating systems to a historical niche.

Vital Labs | Brand and Packaging Design (2015)

Vital was an amazing opportunity to bring an entirely new product to market, from the ground up. Developed by a pharmaceutical OEM, the transdermal delivery system allows a full megadose of a vitamin to be received painlessly via the epidermal layers of the skin. This bypasses the digestive system - the reason that traditional vitamin tablets contain many times the amount of active ingredient actually required. It was clear the product - marketed by the OEM as a "part recovery" patch - had applications far beyond that initial concept.

After a substantial initial ideation, the name Vital Labs was selected - the name itself speaking to the vitality imparted by healthy living and the product. The intent was that although this initially would be limited to Vitamin B1 patches, the range would eventually extend to both further patches with different active ingredients and companion products. Mockups of the packaging for companion products would be developed as part of the branding process. With the necessary clearances performed, two additional names were proposed "Grein" and "Vitel" as pre-cleared, unused backups should Vital prove impossible to gain trademark clearance for. A rapid, flat, iterative process meant that changes could be made to the brand name on the fly, and not affect packaging development and ideation.

The Vital Labs branding was built around a matte charcoal, with a bright, dual strike of colour indicating the type of patch the customer was buying. Our initial selection of hero colour for the B1 patch, and the brand, was a strong, vibrant mint - for optimal clarity and a "clinical" feel. It was important to us to highlight the science in the brand, the deviation from the established norms of pill-popping that could potentially disrupt a multi-billion dollar industry.

Typography was equally important in establishing the brand, with well-spaced and clear sans-serif fonts explaining the claimed benefits as outcomes on the front of the packaging, along with a stylised, periodic-table like icon that designated the vitamin available in the patch. This was continued onto the silicone exterior surface of the patch itself, with a single, stylised "V." indicating the brand subtly and powerfully. Importantly this also prevented or reduced confusion with Nicotine patches, which share a similar delivery method. 

Much time was invested into the materials for the packaging, with a thick, matte, recycled cardboard being selected in thru-dyed charcoal for no bright edges. To enhance the premium feel of the product, text and colour printing was applied in a bright, slightly raised gloss finish. The strong contrast between bright gloss and dark matte was striking and improved distance readability and shelf-pop.

Vital Labs launches across the United States and Canada in 2016.

Kruto Vodka | Brand Redesign and Packaging Design (2015)

Russian Spirits, Inc. is an established name and major player in the OEM vodka industry. Based out of Plano, Texas, they manufacture spirits to client specification in a centuries-old distillery in Luhansk, Ukraine. Kruto Vodka, launched in 2014 is their house brand - an ambitious attempt to make a dent in the high-end spirits industry. We were approached by Kruto's Australian partner to do an exploratory redesign of the brand for the moderately-more-competitive Australian spirits market. We wanted to respect the American design - by doing so capitalising on major, multi-million dollar marketing investments they've already made - but slimmed the branding down significantly to capitalise on the Euro-chic of the brand name.  

Part of this overhaul was a redesign of the bottle, from a traditional, Smirnoff-style sculpted form to a slick, clean cylindrical design with a solid, turned-aluminium lid. The intent was to create a bottle that customers would want to display, and want to be seen with - a reimagining of the once-revolutionary Absolute bottle for the Facebook generation. Minimalism is key to the design, with the simplicity informing the purity of the product long before it touches the customer's lips. To keep embellishment to the absolute minimum, the bottle is shipped in a removable cardboard sleeve, containing regulatory information, barcodes and promotional media. Once this is removed, the pure form of the bottle is revealed. Typography was reduced, lightened and spread, while keeping the iconic Kruto banner design. Available in two purities (Original and Flawless) we proposed a third, distilled fifteen more times, called Exceptional. Whereas the initial two are available in traditional, clear glass, Exceptional comes exclusively in a deep, jet black glass bottle.

Part of this redesign included a re-imagining of the marketing of the brand, and we worked hard to move away from the existing, unclear slogan of "Chase ME" to a textless, dynamic ribbon of rich minerals that orbits and bounces off the product. This matter represents the impurities that the distillation process removes, but the inclusion of gold and silver in the mix speaks to the high-end market and lifestyle that an aspirational Kruto wants to speak to.

Settler's Rise| Brand and Packaging Design (2015)

Settler's Rise is a Queensland-based, family winery. In 2014, Settler's announced ambitious plans to export internationally, and contracted  Thomas Trieb to develop and deploy a social media campaign, competition and associated website and collateral.

As an extension of the collaboration beyond this campaign, a slick rebrand was envisioned for the local Australian market. Moving away from the current broad and vibrant Gastric Brooding frog art - developed for the American launch - the new design refocuses the brand on the beautiful landscapes of the Maleny region of Queensland the winery calls home.

The bottle retains the traditional form, but is now pitch black to best complement the label. A satin finish on the foil and label creates a subtle, luxurious contrast that draws the eye and gives a premium table presence.  Centred on the logo is a foil finish sun in matte gold, rising over the monochrome hinterland mountains, directly referencing the brand's name. The foreground road speaks to a timeless, hard-fought journey to success - the Australian settler's story.

Fonts are minimalist, sans-serif, capitalised and white - strongly contrasting against the dark label and evoking a mysterious luxury that doesn't need to shout. Vintage, country of manufacture and volume are included in a muted grey but all other information is kept to a minimum to respect the simple aesthetic.  Regulatory information, barcode, a short engager blurb and web/social content are relegated to a clean, simple and easily removable rear label. 

Buckhead| Brand and Packaging Design (2016)

Buckhead is a Queensland-based bedding company specialising in affordable, premium buckwheat hull filled pillows. In order to optimise market penetration and reduce overheads, Buckhead runs exclusively as an online business, with products being shipped worldwide. The challenge therefore was to optimise packaging in such a way as to maximise brand awareness and visual engagement, while reducing the shipping footprint beyond simply mailing a vacuum sealed pillow in a post satchel.

The breakthrough came during testing the product itself. Buckwheat hull pillows traditionally ship slightly over-filled, and customers are then encouraged to use a coffee cup to remove excess hulls until the pillow is customised and comfortable. This method is messy, requires additional hardware (cups, a method of disposing of additional hulls etc) and gives no clear instruction. Our solution was to ship the pillow deconstructed in a box we dubbed "the torpedo". This gave the two-fold benefit of a totally branded unpacking experience, from the brand-coloured box interior and top-of-box instructions - and the secondary benefit of a slimline, stable and secure shipping method. By packaging the empty pillowcase as a separate, boxed and folded layer, we eliminated the possibility of in-transit punctures and tears associated with traditional whole-pillow shipping.

By splitting the hulls into a separate, polycarbonate container, the user can control the fullness of the pillow as a part of the unpacking process as instructed by the packing materials - and any remaining hulls can be stored in the container for future customisation. The container serves the secondary benefit of safely and cleanly storing the hulls while the pillow's cotton exterior is washed, which must be done bi-monthly. 

Vital Labs | Retail Flagship and Fixtures (2015)

As part of the Vital Labs brand development undertaken in 2015, a great deal of thought was put into how to best present the brand to the public to build visibility and positive word of mouth. Although the intention of Vital Labs was to run the majority of its sales online, it was thought that flagship retail spaces and seasonal popups would help to build word of mouth and give customers hands on time with the product in a controlled environment where questions could be answered. I was tasked with developing the aesthetic for this component of the brand, as well as designing and developing retail fixtures. 

Because flexibility in deployment was important, and Vital was considering using gallery spaces to showcase its product, fixtures were developed to sit proud of walls and stand alone. We wanted to frame and highlight what we considered an iconic product design, and keep the general aesthetic minimal and clean. We felt it was important for the brand to hold back from bright whites, LED-lit, laboratory-style design so often associated with vitamin products, such as Swisse, as a hard sell made the product feel disingenuous. 

We chose with great intent to make the Vital space a showroom, not a storefront - where indulging curiosity takes priority over a hard sell. Lighting was intentionally less intense and halogen based, rather than LED to improve warmth and encourage exploration. Rather than use large fill lamps, directed spots were used to pick out features, such as the Wall Grids and Display Tables.

Two fixtures were designed for the Vital showrooms - Display Tables, and Wall Grids. To give the installation a sense of permanence, both fixtures were intentionally designed to have heft, be hard for an individual to move, and were made out of raw materials typically associated with construction. This avoided any sense of "fly-by-night" and made the young brand feel established.

Apple Retail Communication and Operations Documentation (2015)

Designed to facilitate smooth inter-and-intra-store communication, highlight mission critical operations changes, and celebrate social outreach programs - these documents were developed for Apple over the course of a two month period.

Iconography was developed to match the iOS 7 style grid design, and typography was adapted from Apple's universal style guide. Due to the multiple layouts and functions of the documents, I made the decision to guide the design towards visual consistency across all formats - with a striking, on-brand blue hero colour - bold, clear typography - and a focus on image content to supplement text. The resulting documents present a unified brand, and are clearly identifiable at a glance.

The reduction in space for text drove users to be more concise and considered with their word choice and communication structure, resulting in improved clarity and focus. 

Iconography was developed in vector format using Sketch for Mac, and the final documents were created as Pages templates. This allowed the preservation of the formatting, as Pages would force the user to create a copy of the document before it could be edited. Additionally, the documents utilised Pages placeholder image and text tools, allowing for drag and drop content addition on not only the Mac, but iOS and Web applications as well. The resulting files were optimised for PDF distribution, but also printed flawlessly for deployment on in-store and office bulletin boards.

Although intended as a small-scale pilot program, these documents were very well received by retail and corporate teams alike - and spread upstream through management quickly. They're now used throughout the company for internal communications. 

Top Dog | Brand (2014)

Top Dog was an award-winning capstone marketing project implemented for QUT's QUTopia market days. For this, teams were required to assemble a complete brand and business model, and execute marketing around this - with a view to spurring sales at two campus market days.

The Top Dog brand was my responsibility, and I spent significant time researching appropriate fonts and art work to build a fun and engaging, food truck inspired brand that spoke to our target, student demographic. Close attention was paid to typography, with clean, clear fonts being mixed with playful scripts and strong colours. The branding extended to hand-designed and executed aprons, massive banners, and painstakingly hand-crafted signage. 

The time and effort paid off, with Top Dog selling out on both market days (doubling our sales on the second day), winning the secret shopper customer service award, being the most profitable non-donated goods stand, and being awarded the coveted People's Choice Award.

United Brisbane Roller Derby | Rebrand (2014)

An award-winning, full-brand reworking for the popular Brisbane-based roller derby team. Completed as coursework for the Marketing component of my degree, the rebrand cleaned up and redesigned the existing shield icon, transformed the messaging around the team through community events, and instituted an all-new, standards-compliant, mobile-compatible website with subscription calendars for team events.

This project included heavy use of video and 3D-visualisation to bring the new brand icons to life. 

The United Brisbane Roller Derby rebrand was awarded best-in-show for the 2014 QUT Marketing student cohort, and was awarded a High Distinction. 

Self Service Checkouts | Concept (2013)

Produced as a user-centered design study in both physical design and traffic flow, this project looked to reimagine the self-service checkout. Using friendly, ergonomic design and clean lines, the new hardware eschews the industrial appearance of prior checkout systems moving the business-friendly modularity inside the housing. The external design is immediately more accessible, less technical and intimidating and deeply on-brand.

Capacitive touch replaces resistive for smooth, one-to-one input, and the user interface is reworked for easy discovery and delightful engagement with big, clean animations. On the left hand side, lifting the load shelf allows it to be folded down for trolley access, and a matching, broad shelf on the right allows versatile deployment.

A Kinect-style object recognition camera guesses what a customer is trying to weigh for individual and bagged fruit and vegetables, reducing complexity and assisting in identifying fraud. Finally, the credit card terminal is integrated into the unit itself, encouraging contactless payment.

For instances in which PIN entry is required, the UI intelligently moves the on-screen keypad randomly for each customer, preventing tracking of fingerprints. 

Traffic flow analysis informed the design of the machine, but also the placement of the unit inside the store. Using a physical mockup, and observing customers in existing self-service scenarios, we noticed that little regard is given to navigating the space and moving the customer through it - the focus instead being squeezing the maximum number of machines into the smallest possible area. By installing the machines free standing, and cambering them to point the customer towards the door, we improved efficiency by 50% with two less machines. This flow based system was recognised as a serious innovation, and the project was awarded a High Distinction.

Digimatic Accessible Digital Camera  | Concept (2013)

Part of my Industrial Design capstone project was designing for accessible needs. My chosen research topic was elderly Australians, and how the digital revolution that has swept through photography over the last decade has more or less decimated the way these users are collecting, storing and viewing treasured memories. The result of this research was Digimatic, a camera that applied physical metaphors and easy ergonomics with a powerful and intelligent digital camera.

Much like a Box Brownie, Digimatic is designed to be operated from waist height looking down, with the screen positioned on top of the unit to facilitate this interaction. The camera is activated by sliding the optical component away from the screen, the physical movement of which exposes the shutter button and the dual-tone, high resolution flash module. To compensate for hand shake, an accelerometer was included in the sensor package, and a huge, 42 megapixel imaging sensor used intelligent oversampling to crop into the image, framing identified content, eliminating the need for zoom. 

Key to this design was the display, a laminated, OLED, Gorilla Glass covered multi-touch unit, occupying the entire top surface of the device. This was important when dealing with limited or impaired vision, and served the secondary benefit of allowing for photo-frame like playback when tilted into the upright position. I worked hard to develop a user interface that was entirely touch and gesture based, with no on screen buttons to complicate the user experience. The goal was to get the camera to be as close to a passive, analog experience as possible. 

Other considerations included wireless charging (a key consideration with reduced physical dexterity), automatic geotagging, and a cartridge-based, mail-in printing system designed with familiar metaphors to make digital memories into tangible, photo-album compatible photographs, with smart, location-based interstitial maps.

Though my research was regarded as excellent - and awarded a distinction - my lecturer believed that my design lacked practicality and commercial premise. Both of the designs I submitted as part of my research phase - and my capstone - are exceptionally similar in concept and execution to cameras that successfully entered the market within 12 months of the conclusion of this project, clearly validating this design and my work.

Foodie Induction Heating System | Concept (2013)

The Foodie Induction heating system was designed for the Electrolux Student Design Competition and as part of the coursework for the Industrial Design component of my degree. It was conceived as a super thin, premium, induction heating system powered via USB, for users who didn't have time to cook, but saw the value in a home cooked meal. Portable, and designed for desktop use it featured slide-to-seal food containers that were "work bag safe" and used smart silicone flanges to seal watertight, and accomodate for changes in internal pressure during the cooking process. Of the technologies developed for Foodie, perhaps the most important was its proprietary, quad-zone, pulsed induction technology. This revolutionary concept used four induction units to cycle heat, creating convection currents in the food and eliminating uneven heating or the need to stir during cooking. 

Foodie is made entirely from food-grade aluminium for hygiene, safety and rapid head dissipation. 

At the front of Foodie is the control fin. Appearing to the user as simply a gloss black design detail, the control fin magically rises into place when the system detects the presence of a FoodieBox. A low-power, high visibility OLED display shines through the glass, displaying a quick boot animation as the device powers on. The control fin is a touch surface, with simple, swipe-based gestures controlling temperature and cook time from an easy-to-understand, graphical indicator.

The only button on the system is the start button, engraved into the glass surface but still part of the capacitive display - allowing it to display an engaging, throbbing start animation once the system is ready to heat, and a visual indicator once the heating has commenced.

At the rear of the unit is a rubberised aluminium heatsink, which sits over and channels heat away from the integrated battery. The battery allows for two heating cycles at maximum heat, and a USB connector on the rear allows for easy recharging on the go. USB was selected for its ubiquity in the office landscape, and international standardisation. 

Cove iPad Dock | Concept (2012)

Cove is a simple, in-wall iPad mount made from injection-moulded ABS plastic. It is positioned just within the wall therefore locating the iPad flush with the wall surface providing a convenient location for interaction, docking and charging.

Cove provides a ready- to-install solution to mounting an iPad in any location, with its translucent material option allowing for the rear of the unit to be painted to match the wall colour. The product addresses the increasing need for communal, social use of the iPad in domestic, public or commercial environments by providing a “stage” or “frame” within which the iPad can be shared and enjoyed by many.

Cove responds to the growing HomeKit market by providing a seamlessly integrated location for an iPad to be used as a master control for a smart home or business, while allowing for hardware upgrade flexibility other wall mounting solutions and home control systems do not.

It also may be used commercially as a device that streams advertisements within a business, allowing also for customer interaction with up-to-the-minute business information on the iPad. Cove is mindfully future-proof and has been designed for compatibility with all Apple iOS devices, such as the iPhone and iPod touch - as well as alternate tablet devices via the incorporation of swappable docking plates through which attached devices connect to power.

EcoMotion Orb Transportation System | Concept (2012)

The Ecomotion Orb transportation system was designed for Shanghai and wider China as an attempt to make premium, public transport viable in the face of drastically rising pollution and congestion as a growing middle class sought to engage with the dream of personal automobile ownership. The goal was to improve the vitality, privacy and sex appeal of mass-transport, while engaging with an aspirational youth and business market - the demographics most likely to be considering private car ownership.

The result was EcoMotion - a system that combined a traditional, tight turn elevated public transport solution, door-to-door self driving car, and a high-speed ultra-safe inter-city transport. In the city, EcoMotion functioned as an elevated transport system, connecting buildings to second-storey height transport hubs. Users could either show up and risk waiting for a Pod in peak hour, or prearrange to be met by a Pod booked using a mobile app. Pods transport users throughout the Ecomotion system, and seat two users side by side. In suburbia, and for a slightly higher fee, Pods exit the system and deliver users directly to their door. To accomplish this, the Pod used a sophisticated array of sensors, including dual three-dimensional, object recognition cameras.

For transitioning between the inner city and suburbia, or for inter-city transport, the Pods transfer to an express route system. These act as the spokes of the radial city system, allowing for ultra-fast exit and entry from the urban network. On entering the express system, the Pod's wheels rotate 90 degrees, locking securely into track - allowing for safe transport at high speeds, and mitigating buffeting. The Pod then launches at just under 300km per hour towards its destination, kept supercharged by induction power embedded in the track.

The Pods themselves are designed to feel like futuristic sports cars, with bucket seats and spartan, modern flat-floor interiors. Large, externally-hubbed wheels dominate the design, and incorporate the drive motors and suspension inside the assembly for a clean aesthetic. The Pod is primarily steered by the rear wheel, acting as a tiller and allowing very tight radius turning and precise manoeuvring. The two front wheels camber left and right to assist steering, and all three wheel-motors employ regenerative braking. The windshield of the Pod is centrally hinged, and raises 90 degrees upwards for unobstructed entry and maximum accessibility. The Pod battery pack is a multi-cell sheet situated in the flat floor.

EcoMotion was a smash hit, garnering a Deans List nod, and multiple Very High Distinctions. The system selected to be presented in China as ambassador coursework to universal acclaim -  driving international enrolment at QUT. During its overseas press tour, Ecomotion was presented to designers at Volkswagen, Audi and BMW's Chinese development groups - being lauded as an exciting, visionary concept.

Even four years on, Ecomotion is used in marketing materials by QUT's School of Design as an example of the vision and capability of QUT students.  

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