Benjamin M. Monroe Blog: Designworks collaborates with ZTE to create the AXON 7 smartphone

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Designworks collaborates with ZTE to create the AXON 7 smartphone

While the digital world increasingly merges with our physical habitat the demand for sophisticated, integrative devices grows. However, for many businesses the true integration of the physical and digital worlds in their products still remains a key challenge. An industry that stands out in this respect certainly is telecommunications, with smart phones having become the harbinger of integrated experiences. To take this experience yet one step further, ZTE corporation’s mobile devices division has partnered with BMW Group daughter company Designworks to create ZTE’s new flagship smart phone, the AXON 7.

Seamless is the new black.
Innovation needs integration: In the future, business success will significantly depend on the ability of companies to offer truly integrated, seamless experiences.

As a BMW Group daughter company and experienced wanderer between the worlds of many industries, Designworks is dedicated to creating premium interactions between information, products and people with creative solutions. This is what ZTE was looking for when they tasked Designworks with the product and user experience design for their new AXON 7. The result is a smart phonethat is not just about superior casing, but equally about information design, resulting in an interface where function meets art.

The Design of AXON 7: An Emotional Icon of Digital Life.
Given the plethora of information at the user’s fingertips, AXON 7 was kept pure, sleek and simple and without a single tooled edge to snag the tactile experience. Its paper-thin form is elegant, comfortable to hold, and streamlined to fit within a user’s pockets. By focusing on and enhancing the human aspects of the user interaction with AXON, it offers a highly intuitive user experience that virtually “warms up” technology. It thereby creates an experience that is not only natural and desirable but also one that is memorable and will be closely linked to the ZTE brand.

Unique product features of AXON 7 include ZTE’s dual speaker layout, which is called out expressively in the design via refined grilles on either side of the phone. Designworks also optimized the authentication ritual which often is not very ergonomic, involving a risk of the user dropping the device. With the new AXON 7 authentication becomes intuitive and easy by tapping an index finger on the back of the phone where the user’s index finger naturally grips it. The recess around the fingerprint ID sensor provides haptic feedback to the user so he is able to locate the fingerprint ID sensor by feel without smudging the adjacent camera lens.

The design team´s premium and innovative approach to color, material, and finish treatment significantly contributes to the phone’s sensuous appeal: sophisticated rich premium finishes were chosen while the jewel-like detailing is inspired by handmade timepieces. Authentic materials were used to create a substantial, durable feel which highlights its superior craftsmanship. The AXON 7 is a smart phone that is timely and timeless in its appeal.