Brian Perry

HP Home Network Router - As the usefulness of routers increases, the desire to locate the device in more central areas of the home to provide better wireless coverage increases as well. To accomodate this need for a "living room" compatible product design, we designed the product to fit in with other consumer entertainment devices such as DVD players, audio receivers and provided HP a brand presence where little to none existed before.

HP Home Network Router - The design is very compatible with HP's existing home PC design language. A key feature was to allow the user to turn off the contantly flashing lights found on most other routers. The user could turn the lights on and check the network status by pressing a button on the top.

HP Home Network Router - The icons located on the top of the device line up with the connection ports on the rear of the product to aid in diagnosing connection dependant failures.

HP Home Network Router - A wireless router designed to be sleek enough to sit alongside modern consumer electronics in the living room such as DVD players, stereos, and TV's.

HP Home Router - Conceptual rendering of a follow on design to the original HP Home Router. This concept is one of a series of designs that would provide base, mid, and premium model price points on a store shelf. The intersection of the rounded base section with the upper case provides a thermal air inlet to avoid the use of a cooling fan.

HP Home Router Concept - Another concept from a series of three HP router concepts intended to be compatible with the existing HP design language for this range of products. The indicator lighting is accomplished without the use of lightpipes which lowers the BOM cost and provides more subtle indication compared to other routers.

HP Home Router Concept - One of a series of concept renderings to demonstrate how a single design language could be used to provide multiple variations of product design at different price points.

Sketching sample - On the left is a sample brainstorm sketch done in just a few minutes with a ballpoint pen on printer paper. The sketch was then scanned into photoshop where the proportions, color, and shading can be manipulated in just another few minutes (shown on the right). The end result is a very quick and loose illustration that is clear enough to communicate the idea to other members of the design team.

Photo + sketch compositing - This is a stock HP product photo with a rendered sketch of one of the router concepts I created. The router shown on the bottom right is simply a pen+paper sketch that was scanned into Photoshop. After scanning and adding some quick shading, the sketch was composited into this photo for an informal concept review.