Client

Openpath LLC

Services

Contextual Research

Product Architecture

Industrial Design

Mechanical Engineering

Product Visualisation

Recognition

What it is

The smart keypad reader is an office entryway solution that gives people seamless and keyless entry into the workspace. Simply waive your hand and the reader will identify you by your smart phone. The adjacent keypad offers temporary access for non-employees or added security through dual authentication.

Challenge

Offices can be a visually complex environment: architecture is competing with furniture, storage, electronic devices and general clutter. Common readers adhere closely to the aesthetic of other electronic devices that furnish the office - computers and printers among others. They demand attention yet are visually out of place and communicate the temporary and fragile nature of electronics.  

We designed the product to integrate with the built environment and communicate permanence and reliability.

  • Offices can be a visually complex environments: architecture is competing with furniture, storage, electronic devices and general clutter. Common readers adhere closely to the aesthetic of other electronic devices that furnish the office - computers and printers among others. They demand attention yet are visually out of place and communicate the temporary and fragile nature of electronics.

    In designing a product that is used in multiples around the workplace it was our responsibility to not add to the visual clutter but concisely and elegantly integrate with the architecture of the office.

    We chose to adhere to office signing as a reference point. In doing so we integrate with the built environment rather than the furnished environment, communicating permanence and reliability rather than fragility and replaceability.

  • We chose natural materials or - where not possible - materials and finishes that closely resemble natural materials.

    As a result the reader is seemingly made up of two sheets of black glass. We sunk the necessary volume for the electronics into the wall. This allowed us to keep the enclosure of all external parts such as touchpad and keypad supremely thin.

    Finishes vary across the parts much like they would on glass. The front of the keypad is glossy with the numbers shining through from behind, while the sides of the keypad are lightly textured resembling an etched cut. The textures, as they would in real glass, break up right at the edge of the surface.

  • The product is a ‘magic monolith’. All witnesses of it being an electronic product have been reduced to a minimum. A single LED provides distance read confirmation that a door is protected. It only comes to live only when approached: The keypad brightens and invites interaction. On successful authentication the LED ring will spin, inviting entry.

  • We carefully designed the keypad reader to harmonise with Openpath’s legacy products.

    Size, proportion and key interface elements are arranged on a tight grid to create portfolio consistency.

more projects