When designing a new outdoor audio system for Snap One, the last thing we wanted was to imitate another product. We wanted the system to address problems the outdoor audio world didn't even know it had. Current outdoor systems are big and bulky. Installation is time-intensive and intrusive, requiring multiple wires and trenches–mainly if you include lighting. Ultimately, you're left with an expensive, rigid system that likely has spotty sound coverage.

Exploring ways to improve the current method, we entertained the mad scientist-like solution of combining speakers and lights onto one wire. This idea would eliminate the hassle of multiple wires and digging multiple trenches, saving installers time and money. Still, it would require running AC & DC energy over the same wire. Ultimately, we took our cue from Ghostbusters and crossed the streams of audio signal and power through a single wire using our patented Ace Technologies.

One of the most significant advantages of the Radiance system is its ability to be easily retrofitted to existing outdoor wiring. To reflect this idea of ease and convenience, the speakers were designed to be subtle and adaptable. We created a simple, modular speaker unit with a universal twist-lock connector. With a quick twist, each unit can be a speaker, a light, or a speaker/light combination. This versatility would allow installers access to untapped revenue and offer unprecedented flexibility to their clients. Four different types of mounts enable the units to be hung, hard mounted, or staked, furthering their usability in any environment.

Unwilling to settle for functionality alone, Radiance also needed to sound great and look good. We designed the speakers to have 360-degree sound coverage as well as a significantly smaller footprint than competing systems. To round it out, we gave it a beautifully clean aesthetic. It's designed to recess into any environment with its understated looks without resorting to cheesy solutions like speakers that look like rocks or plants, which never look right.

The system is designed to be paired with the subwoofer to enhance bass response. We created a simple shape that mimics the look of the main unit and can be used on a patio or buried most of the way in the ground for a lower-profile look.

Seeing a product not for what it has been, but for what it could be – This is Design By Swarm.

Bold

Swarm is bold enough to take on hard problems and put in the upfront work to simplify the complex. Too often the ‘simple’ solutions are dismissed and a more complicated version wins. But we propose the opposite: to make a product simple, more time and effort is required.   

Audio experts

We have years of experience in sound design that we couple with a unique perspective we’ve gained from designing products outside of the audio world. We use this knowledge to create products that work hard for installers and fit a customer's high expectations for looks and sound quality.

Making your job easier

We know there is nothing more disappointing than installing a product that is hard to use and gets in the way of doing your best work. When we design a product, we immerse ourselves in that world and learn from every step and touch that will happen along the way. When you see Design By Swarm, you see a better product and you know we’ve done the hard work to make your job easier.  

Simple is hard – that is our true mission.

Gregory reached out to us to help them design an integrated handle and cap for their 2L Hydro reservoir. Our approach was to harmonize their current branding with feel and aesthetics.

After multiple iterations and prototyping we came to a solution that met those requirements.

Swarm responsibilities:

Industrial Design
Prototyping
CAD Engineering

The ninth leading cause of medical-error deaths in the United States involves infusion line confusion, and nearly 65 percent of those cases are related to the medication infusion line. MedLite ID was developed in honor of a 17 year old boy named Dusty who had acute myelogenous leukemia. His medical treatment required intensive chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant and extended hospital stays. At one time Dusty had as many as five different IV lines in his body connected to eleven different infusion lines. Dusty’s step-father, Dr. Wayne Provost, founder of MedLite ID, watched the frustration caused when health care providers had to spend a long time locating the proper infusion lines for medication. In moments of crisis and quick actions, this frustration expanded. Dr. Provost decided there had to be a better way.

Swarm was tasked to develop a product solution that is simple to use in a critical moment, it needed to be disposable and fit under tight cost constraints; all within an extremely short development window. Swarm’s solution is a simple to use, disposable device that enables medical professionals to accurately and efficiently identify a single medication infusion line against similar infusion lines in any light setting. As for the quick turnaround requirement, after only 6 months of development, MedLite ID went to clinical trials.

A wireless product was a crucial directive from the beginning. Originally, the team considered bluetooth; however, the electronics are expensive and hard to use when pairing devices. Swarm quickly pivoted to Radio Frequency Chips (RF) which are cheap, simple and proven technology. This provided a huge cost savings over bluetooth technology and made the device easier to use.

Making the product easy to use in a critical situation was paramount. MedLite ID eliminates infusion confusion by providing indicators with built-in wireless LED technology at the medication bag, pump, and port of the medication infusion line. Each MedLite ID set is unique to its individual line and cuts the process of line identification to mere seconds.

Services

Engineering 
Industrial Design 
Electronics 
Firmware Programming
Packaging 
Cost Modeling 
Prototyping
Manufacturing Support

Cut. Clip. Clamp. These three steps sum up how easy it is to use TruGrip™ to install the new TruAudio premium architectural Ghost Series speakers. Building off the success of Swarm’s patented clamp technology, which has rapidly become the standard for speaker installation ease, TruGrip™ is the result of a unique design collaboration between Swarm and TruAudio. TruGrip is a patented, automated-speaker installation mechanism that eliminates the need for power tools and makes speaker installation easier and faster. Here’s how it works:

1. The TruGrip installation process begins with an installer cutting out a hole where the speaker will ultimately be mounted. 

2. By utilizing the new TruAudio Rough-in Kit, wire and plug systems are pre-installed and pre-wired in advance of finishing treatments.  

3. An easy flick, actuates a twist lever on TruGrip to engage angled teeth that clamp and tighten the speaker all while auto-leveling and ensuring proper fit with a solid grip. Release of TruGrip is just as easy, requiring only a simple twist in the opposite direction.

By utilizing good design, a ripple effect began that eased manufacturing, lowered costs, and benefitted the bottom line for TruAudio. We pooled our collective intellect and considered every angle of the installation process. We broke it down with the goal being to make things simple, smooth, and more efficient for the installer. 

By continuing to ask the tough questions until we could solve them simply; the team created a fully-automatic solution utilizing as few parts as possible. We developed this through our Design by Swarm process. For very little upfront costs, the impact on installation time and money savings was huge. When they win, we win.

Services
Product Conception & Design Development
Engineering
Industrial Design
Prototyping

Great things are often accomplished through a team of great people. SnapAV, a stellar manufacturer and global distributor of custom audio and visual products, sought Swarm’s help to develop a two-piece design for its Signature speaker. While we are steeped in experience developing tool-free installation technology; this project required a unique approach. We adapted our patented clamping system to offer fast and secure mounting for SnapAV’s two-piece speaker design.

The new PushLock system provides a quick and secure install of the speaker frame with the push of a button –– which is installed directly to the ceiling or wall. Four separate clamps (or 6 for in wall speakers) provide multiple points of contact to evenly distribute the speaker’s weight in the drywall. The PushLock system can also be tightened with a Phillips screwdriver to provide extra clamping power when needed. 

Once the speaker frame is installed in the drywall, the speaker driver is installed with the flick of a 4 levers providing one of the easiest two-piece speaker installs on the market. It’s a tool-less solution that offers premium sound without the hassle of traditional installation. 

Services
Concept Design
Product Development
Product Research
CAD Design/Engineering
Prototyping
Manufacturing Consulting

Russound®, an industry leader in the multi-room audio environment needed an injection of innovation to their offering. They came to us for our experience in speaker industry and ability to visually brand their new line of IC - Series Ceiling Speakers. SWARM incorporated the latest advances in material technologies and audio engineering to provide the best sounding and most unique speaker lineup in Russound’s 50-year history.

Not only did the new line need premium sound quality, Russound also wanted a distinctive look and features that will make their speakers easier to install, saving time and money for all involved. We drew from our intimate knowledge of the audio industry and design experience in diverse industries to develop Easygrip™ tweeter posts and bridges to make all of the IC-Series speakers easy to hold at the top of a ladder, and most importantly, patented Swiftlock™ technology for effortless installation at the push of a button.

SwiftLock technology features tool-free, self-adjusting clamps that are secured in place by 3 push buttons. Speaker installation time is drastically reduced allowing installers to simply cut a hole, attach wires, and press the speaker into the hole, while SwiftLock adapts to the surface thickness with a preset clamping force that eliminates the possibility of breaking attachments or damaging drywall. Removals are also fast and easy.  Swiftlock Patents

Services
Concept Design
Product Development
Product Research
CAD Design/Engineering
Prototyping
Product Testing
Sourcing
Manufacturing Consulting

Just like Brad Pitt’s character in Moneyball, we set out to “change the game” when we began working on our Sky Hook project. By evolving our design studio around a new premise, we created the intellectual property (IP) first and then found the client.

You should always know what your customers want before they do, so we set out to create IP that the audio industry hadn’t yet realized. Having worked both in and around audio products for over a decade, we recognized a distinct need. Sky Hook was the culmination of our intimate knowledge of the audio industry coupled with our outsider’s perspective gained through work across many different industries. This blend helped us create a novel solution that the industry craved, even when they weren’t looking for it.

Sky Hook is a tool-free, fully automatic, self-adjusting clamp that eliminates the need for power tools and makes speaker installation far easier, streamlined, and cost-effective. The patented Sky Hook system is designed to simplify and reduce installation times by 75%. Installers can simply cut a hole, attach wires, and press the speaker into the hole, while Sky Hook adapts to the surface thickness with a preset clamping force that eliminates the possibility of breaking the dog leg or cracking drywall. Removals are also fast and easy with a quarter turn of a screwdriver.

The next step for us was to find a partner.

Klipsch®, a tech-driven 70-year old audio company, decided this design solution was a perfect fit to gain significant edge over their competition. A wholly-owned subsidiary of VOXX International Corporation (NADAQ: VOXX), Klipsch recently announced the addition of more than 50 new high-performance custom speaker solutions for residential and commercial applications featuring swarm’s, “revolutionary new installation technologies, designed to save integrators time and money.”

We developed the idea fully and then brought a finished prototype built around Klipsch’s existing technology to the manufacturer. A major spark happened and Klipsch was instantly interested in establishing a formal collaboration with our studio. The end results were nearly as instantaneous. Just one year after their first meeting, Klipsch debuted the new line of speakers at the September 2017 Multimedia Tradeshow, CEDIA, co-branded with swarm. Read more here.

Sky Hook Patents

Services
Product Conception & Design Development
Patent Application & Receipt
Industrial Design
Prototyping
Sourcing

If there’s two things we love here at Swarm, it’s magnets and photography. So let’s just say we’ve had a blast working with photography lighting and flash accessory creators MagMod. Over the years, MagMod has completely revamped the way creative photographers can control their flashes and lighting. You could say they’ve made photography fun again! Swarm has been there since day one, helping to innovate, ideate, and create some the coolest and most useful lighting accessories ever seen. Originally we helped design and launch the original MagMod product line which featured easy to use accessories for speedlites, softboxes, and flash mounts. More recently, we used our collective experience and countless hours of research from that first round to completely overhaul the product line, resulting in the faster, sleeker, and even easier to use MagMod 2 system.

After years of interviewing professional photographers, watching them work, and performing shoot after shoot in studio trials, we were able to truly narrow down the best ways to improve and elevate the MagMod system. The MagMod 2 system features a host of products that help to shape and control light for even the most discerning creative photographers. All these products were created with the goal of being completely universal, so they utilize the patented connections using, you guessed it, really good magnets. Some of our favorites include the MagBox Octa Series Soft Boxes, the MagGrip 2 flash modifier attachment, and a host of Correction, Creative, and Artistic Pro Mag Gels.

The Octa Soft Boxes absolutely redefine what it is to be a photography flash soft box. We added ingenious time-saving and creativity inspiring features like a zip-on diffuser for even softer light, built-in storage pocket for extra gear, and an effortlessly attached magnetic grid for even deeper light control. The Octa Series are designed to quickly and easily integrate with an entire host of other accessories including having the honor of being the first ever “gel-able” soft box.

For the MagGrip 2, the goal was to make an excellent product even better. Using a patented magnetic and modular design, we made the MagGrip 2 lighter, smaller, and even more universally compatible. Fashioned from high quality silicone, we made sure the MagGrip 2 will always hold it’s shape and remain useful and durable, regardless of what size and shape of flash the photographer is using, and where they store their gear.

That MagGrip 2 opens up an entire world of creative possibilities, thanks to a pairing with MagMod Pro Gels. The pro gels are intended to create a fool proof system for color temperature modification. Each gel features an incredibly durable and rigid polycarbonate design, with a dual magnet connection for fast and easy color, density, and hue control. The Pro Gels can also be combined and stacked, not only with each other but with other MagMod 2 modifiers to create entirely unique flash setups, maximizing creativity and speed when on set or in the studio.

At Swarm, we are big fans of iteration and improvement, and making great products even better. The ultimate goal is to help make ingenious products more efficient, more useful, and easier to operate. We’re pretty confident that the MagMod 2 system does just that and we know photographers feel the same way after hearing sentiments like; “These are a must!”, “Where have these been all my life?”, and “This is a next level piece of gear”.

Services

Concept Design
Product Development
Product Research
CAD Design/Engineering
Prototyping
Product Testing
Sourcing
Manufacturing Consulting

Purtrek is the first trekking pole with an integrated water filter. Swarm provided and managed a full service offering with concept development, refinement and visualization, engineering and industrial design, and production sourcing.

We wanted this product to stand out among the sea of trekking poles. Focusing on the emotional idea of its function and environment, we narrowed on a form and aesthetic to resonate with hiking and water management on the go. Each stage of development went through detail-oriented iteration and testing to ensure a quality product and quality user experience.

The main focus was to ensure we could satisfy the proper filter, and its function, while maintaining the weight, strength, and performance as any other trekking pole.

Services:
Ideation
CAD/Engineering
Industrial Design
Prototyping
Production Sourcing

We created the 3D Hydro reservoir with a three dimensional design, meaning the top and bottom layers lay separated from each other. This allows for incredibly fast drying cycles, easier cleaning and filling, and improved positioning on your back by distributing the water load more efficiently.

Several ingenious little features make the Gregory Reservoirs easier and more intuitive to use. A co-molded semi-rigid spine handle provides more stable and spill-free filling along with full length bladder support which makes loading and unloading a breeze. Refills are also made a cinch by the integrated quick disconnect hose system. This exciting feature allows you to keep the drinking end of your hose threaded and secured through your pack, while conveniently filling the bladder at your water source of choice.

These huge, convenient upgrades are coupled with several more smart touches like a grippier fill port cap that’s way easier to open and close, a flip out hanger clip for faster drying and easier storage while on the trail, and the SpeedClip mounting system which allows for secure one handed insertion of the bladder into a Gregory Pack.

So it’s safe to say we fulfilled both the original design brief, but our own interests in a far better hydration bladder system. Now excuse us while we hit the trails.

Services:

CAD Design/Engineering
Prototyping
Product Testing
Manufacturing Consulting

It’s no secret that essential oil diffusers are a hugely popular item. But they all get something wrong! With being tethered by a cable to a wall power outlet, you’re considerably limited on where you can easily enjoy your diffuser. Enter the Refresh Battery Base for Kinito. The first re-chargeable battery-powered essential oil diffuser tray that allows you to truly place the diffuser anywhere.

The Refresh base is designed to work (and look great) with most essential oil diffusers and provides complete mobility and up to 6 hours of battery life. Rugged non-slip feet were added to the bottom to ensure diffusers stay put, and a soft, calming set of lights reminds users when the Refresh is ready for a recharge.

Now we weren’t your traditional essential oil users before this project, but at this point, we’ve diffused so much lavender and eucalyptus around the shop that we couldn’t imagine working without it.

Services

Conceptual Design
Product Design
Industrial Design
Branding
Prototyping
Brand Identity
Sourcing
Sales and Fulfillment

At Swarm we love rising to the challenge of learning a new industry and finding new ways to solve old problems. The Ultimate Iditarod Sled was the perfect chance to do just that. Dog sledding dates back to around 1,000 AD and the design of the dog sled has evolved very little along the way. While today’s sled are made from lighter modern materials, they are all based on literally ancient frame design.

A client approached us with his dream of racing in the Iditarod and commissioned Swarm to help achieve this dream by building a better sled. We had our chance to rethink the whole sled design and race process. Knowing nothing about dog mushing ourselves, we dove into the research and interviewed experienced mushers to develop a solution where every aspect of the race was considered and brought into the design of the sled.

A key component in dog sled racing is fueling the dog team to run more than 100 miles per day over a period of weeks, which requires approximately 10,000 calories per day over the course of two weeks. Feeding the dogs is a time consuming endeavor as the musher uses frozen meat and methanol to heat water and thaw out the food. On average, in cold weather race conditions it could take an hour to boil 3 gallons of water. Swarm developed a new cooking system for the sled that optimizes the fuel burning and contains the heat to boil water in a lightning fast 7 minutes from ice. This gains the musher an extra 50 minutes of precious rest time between runs.

Rest & recovery is an endurance athlete’s key to peak performance. For a long distance dog sled race, sleeping on the ground at a race checkpoint can be cold and noisy. After the chores of feeding and taking care of the dogs, putting them down for a rest and preparing for the next run, mushers will often only have little time to  sleep in the frigid -40 degree weather. Swarm developed a carbon fiber sleeping compartment on the sled that is insulated, lightweight, comfortable, and sets up in literally seconds, allowing the musher to sleep anywhere along the course, out of the wind, out of the noise and as cozy as one can be in a dog sled race.

Gear storage was also carefully considered down to the last balaklava and dog bootie. Current sleds have woefully inefficient storage methods. Imagine a giant duffle bag that holds everything a musher might need. It starts out organized, but after a few stops, it quickly morphs to a mess requiring constant digging to find necessary items.

To combat this, Swarm developed a hardshell gear compartment at the base of the sled under the sleeping compartment. Well planned dividers were designed into the carbon fiber shell to give everything a place. In addition, the gear was spread out wide and shallow to make everything easily accessible and keep the load low, giving the sled even more stability. A hardshell keeps everything dry and safely in its place. This ease of access for a musher’s gear further decreases the time to accomplish tasks at stops and speeds up their overall pace.

Sleds sit on fixed, straight runners, attached to a noodly frame. They are steered primarily by the musher’s commands to the dogs and the musher dragging the sled side to side. Because dogs have a mind of their own and the loose flexible frame, the sled tilts and can flip onto its side when making tight turns. This “steering” is dangerous and fatigues the musher who is constantly fighting both dogs and sled.

To solve this, Swarm designed and built a sled with two rigid carbon fiber side members or frames connected by pivots giving over 30˚ of side to side articulation. To provide even more steerability, Swarm added ridged sled runners with side cut, like an alpine ski. When the musher pushes the handlebar to the left or right engaging the side cut and steering the direction the musher wants to go. After testing (and breaking) many existing runners, Swarm created and built a wider runner with integrated bases that was more durable, more stable, and provided better float. We created a ski with sidecut and permanent bases built to last the entire race. The Ultimate Iditarod Sled went over 500 miles in two Iditarod qualifying races.  

The final result was a sled that was as comfortable as a Cadillac but cornered like a roadster, holds all your gear and make stops easier and faster than any sled in history. The team at Swarm had a blast designing, engineering, and fabricating every single prototype as well as the final sled in house.

Services

Concept Development
Industrial Design
Prototyping
Engineering
Fabrication

So easy you can do it with one arm tied behind your back.

This design brief was brought to us by Arizona based MagMod,  as inspiration for a completely reimagined line of photography lighting gear.  MagMod creates tools that allow photographers to do what they do best, shoot amazing photos, without wasting time setting up clunky equipment. On June 26, MagMod launched their newest product line designed by SWARM on Kickstarter which hit 400% of their funding goal in the first day.

In photography, lighting is everything. Controlling light can mean the difference between a good shot and an amazing shot. Current cold shoes, ring mounts, and soft boxes were slow beasts to set up, and got in the way of catching the moment. SWARM was tasked with revolutionizing the way photographers interact with their equipment by developing a product group that could easily and quickly modify and focus light - all while using only one hand.

Our directive for the MagBox System was to release something that was truly innovative, something that deserves to exist beyond just the sales revenues. We put in the time and we got it right. More than two years in the making, the MagBox™, MagRing™ and MagShoe™ are the culmination of MagMod’s concept and SWARM’s major design overhaul to some of the most essential tools in a photographer’s arsenal: speedlites, softboxes, and flash mounts.

Existing solutions on the market featured a daunting mix of parts, brackets, and screws with clunky rotation points and counterintuitive adjustments. SWARM set out to create an intuitive mechanical system to make the lighting system sturdy, simple to set up, and easy to use.  Designed to work seamlessly with MagMod’s existing product line, SWARM integrated several innovations never-before-seen in the photo industry.

While we do have a bit of in-house photography experience, we also deepened our knowledge by interviewing professional photographers, watching them use their gear, and performing studio trials. By physically interacting with gear in our studio we were able to more effectively brainstorm how we wanted to interact with it and how to improve and simplify the equipment.

SWARM developed the world’s first softbox featuring an obstruction-free design without the need of an inner baffle to reflect light. This reduces the loss of light and provides brighter, controlled and even coverage. When coupled with MagMod’s Focus Diffuser, the MagBox is up to 2.8 stops brighter than traditional softboxes. Also unlike other softboxes, the MagBox opens and closes with one-handed ease and attaches effortlessly to the MagRing extra-strong neodymium magnets. To magnetic bond was so strong SWARM had to add a “Magnetic Field Disruptor” lever to pop the system apart.

For the MagRing, the goal was to easily mount one or two speedlites using MagMod’s already successful MagGrip system. The connection had to be secure enough to support two heavy lights on the end of a light stand without the risk of being knocked off if bumped or dropped. During development, Godox launched their AD200 speedlite, which became the perfect test subject. It was heavy, and not designed to mount to traditional cold shoe systems. The MagRing is strong enough to easily support two of these monsters, and take studio level lighting out into the field.

Cold shoes are a necessary evil for photographers. They are typically small, finicky, and weak, but they are necessary if you want to stand mount a speedlite. The MagShoe is the anti- cold shoe. It is strong, ergonomic, and intuitive. Swarm developed a completely new twist lock to securely grip the foot of the speedlite. A simple ⅓ turn locks the foot into the shoe. The connection is so secure that Swarm was able to use it to mount the whole MagRing / MagBox system loaded up with two heavy speedlites. Instead of twisting knobs, a simple trigger is used to quickly aim the system, and its integrated locking mechanism makes the whole system secure. The shape of the MagShoe is also optimized to function as a handheld lighting system when photographers want to go off-stand.

Services:
Concept Design
Product Development
Product Research
CAD Design/Engineering
Prototyping
Product Testing
Sourcing
Manufacturing Consulting

You know the stats, we spend a third of our lives sleeping. Many elements contribute to the quality of this most important downtime; however, when it comes to the mattress, many of us aren’t adequately equipped in the bedroom. Wink wink.

The importance of a comfortable mattress is paramount to getting a good night’s sleep, but the experience of actually buying one is terrible. Either you go to a mattress store where a creepy salesman stares as you quickly lay on 30 different options, or you go online to buy from a company that tells you that their one-size-fits-all mattress was perfectly engineered for everybody.

MVMNT wanted to fix this, and approached us to help them make a better mattress. Our challenge was to create “the world’s most technologically advanced sleep system”. We fully immersed ourselves into product research and utilized what we learned to design the patented, multiple-module MVMNT Sleep System. Our research led us to address the three major issues in existing mattress designs:

Firmness - Like a fingerprint, every person has unique sleep needs,. SWARM created a modular system that is individually tunable on each side of the mattress for the ideal combination of support, bounce, and luxurious softness. We performed extensive product testing with hundreds of people to really understand their sleep preferences. By incorporating human-centered design, we optimized the balance between firmness and softness, thus creating a fully customizable mattress. By unzipping the outer cover, a user can flip the inner core to dial-in their preferred level of support density.

Temperature - We release heat as we sleep. If the mattress materials trap it or reflect it back on Sleeping Beauty, she’ll be awake. SWARM designed a unique network of vertical and horizontal air channels throughout the mattress core to dispel heat and remove moisture.

Materials - Through our testing of hundreds of materials, we found that foam offered the optimal combination of support, bounce, and longevity. Each type of foam offers a trade-off: conventional foam lasts longer, and ventilates more effectively, but doesn’t have the bounce of high resilience foam. High resilience has the bounce, but breaks down over time. Memory foam feels like a cloud, but traps heat. Latex has bounce, but weighs a ton and traps heat. By optimizing the mix of foams, and playing to the strengths of each, we created a system with a luxurious top, supportive core, and plenty of ventilation throughout.

Services
Product Development
Prototyping
Product Research
Human-Centered Design
Product Testing
Sourcing
Manufacturing Consulting
Tech Pack Development
Video Development & Production
Brand Archetyping

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth ten thousand. In today’s world of marketing, it is a well known fact that the video platform generates greater customer engagement than any other. The average attention span of the human mind is a mere eight seconds. Sadly, that’s 1 second less than your pet goldfish and makes it easy to understand why video is king.

After we worked with MVMNT to create the MVMT Sleep System, “the world’s most technologically advanced mattress”. Swarm created a series of videos targeting their audience and market.

MVMNT was founded on the mandate that effective sleep and recovery is a cornerstone of performance in life. We storyboarded, filmed and produced a series of engaging videos which features their ambassadors in the demanding elements of their daily work and play. Each video creates a connection for the consumer to MVMT, humanizes the brand, and translates the promise they deliver to their customers. Work and play hard - we will help you sleep well!

Services:

Brand Archetyping
Video Storyboarding
Filming
Video Production

Your bone-dry skis were fine this morning, but when the sun came out and warmed up the surface of the snow, they quickly became grabby and dangerous. Normally you'd have to call it a day or drop $50 on a hand-wax job. Those days are soon to be over.

In 2015, Swarm was presented with an idea. It was one of those HOLY COW light bulb moments — an automated ski-tuning machine that operates just like Redbox. Witness the miracle of birth — it's a SkiQuicky!

Swarm was faced with numerous challenges to make SkiQuicky a viable product. The machine had to be completely self-contained, reliable, easy to use, and had to accept a huge variety of ski and snowboard shapes in various states of cleanliness and disrepair. It had to reliably handle all this without damaging people's skis, and without the skis damaging the machine. Additionally, it needed to run unattended for an entire season with minimal maintenance. Challenge accepted.

Swarm developed a number of patent-pending technologies to hold the skis, disengage alpine ski brakes, and apply a premium coat of wax. Swarm developed a complete automation system — including myriad sensors, robust controllers, reliable servo motors, and an entire wax-handling system. We then wrote the code for complex firmware and a complete cloud-based backend for real-time remote management of thousands of machines around the world.

The finished product is a fully automated ski- and snowboard-waxing machine. In about four minutes your skis are shred-ready. Each smart machine is aware of the current snow conditions, and selects the perfect wax. For just a few bucks, skiers can have a full day of amazing ski performance without planning a day ahead, leaving their skis at a shop, and racing back to the shop before the lifts open to pick up their gear.

Services
Concept Development
Mechanical System Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Industrial Design
Iterative Prototyping
Firmware Development
User Interface Design
System Architecture
Cloud Based Backend Development
Brand Development / Logo Design
Marketing Strategy
Video Production
Web Design
Short Run Production

Most commercial audio speakers damage the aesthetic of their surroundings as much as they add to the atmosphere sonically. The design is often boxy and obtrusive with unsightly wiring added as an afterthought. The hexagonal Cloud CS-S3 Surface Mount Speaker, on the other hand, adds visual as well as audible appeal to its environment.

The attractive design of the CS-S3 is more than just visually stunning - it has a unique functional purpose The speaker is split into two interlocking pieces which can rotate around each other. The obtuse angle between these two pieces is designed so that when the speaker is fixed to the wall, it can be aimed in any desired direction. The CS-S3 is a full-range speaker that offers consistent dispersion across broad frequency ranges and is sonically matched to Cloud's C series for uniform acoustics. It's available through Cloud in black or white. 

Services
Industrial Design
Mechanical Engineering
Acoustic Engineering
Packaging Design
Sourcing

Target shooting is becoming a popular sport among women and young people. Spire Ranges, a provider of shooting range systems for both law enforcement and commercial use, recognized that most range systems were aggressively male, and intimidating. 

Spire had designed a new high tech range control system, and they needed a modular stall system with a more inviting aesthetic that allowed ranges to customize their systems according to their specific needs and budgets.

Spire has two types of customers with very different needs and the new booth system had to accommodate each. Military and law enforcement customers need their users to move down range while training. For obvious reasons, commercial ranges absolutely do not want their users to move into the range. 

Swarm began the research for this project with the following design parameters:

Air flow.  Shooting ranges have a very high lead content, thus a large amount of air flow within and around the booth system was required. 

Interior Environment. There could be no obstructions; however there needed to be a shelf for aiming and containing commercial shooters within the booth. This shelf also needed to be movable to suit the height needs of the shooter and allow law enforcement users to walk into the range.

Materials. The panel materials needed to provide protection from a bullet, furnish sound abatement, and be interchangeable based upon budget. 

Aesthetics. The booth needed to have customizable lighting for different shooting scenarios and a modernized feel that was brandable and could fit into existing ranges.  

Swarm ultimately developed three environments and utilized Virtual Reality to deliver the product prototypes to avoid extensive prototyping costs. Spire was able to see the details by walking into the VR environment of each booth, stand in it, test the components, and get a true sense of each design. By mimicking the use of each booth, they were able to quickly make decisions about the final design direction they wanted to pursue.  

Services
Research
Concept Development
Industrial Design
Materials Research
Engineering
Virtual Reality Product Prototyping 
Physical Prototyping 

The Str/ke Mvmnt Cross Platform was developed to provide a stable platform for intense cross training, increase durability, and keep weight to a minimum. Swarm worked closely with Str/ke Mvmnt to refine the sole by building a complete CAD model, then iterating on the form to refine the details. The result is one of the most stable, supportive, and durable cross training shoes that still maintains excellent tactile feedback.

Services
CAD design
3D printing

The Cane Creek DB Inline was the first shock of its kind. Its unique design allowed users to easily dial in the exact experience they were looking for, and take their trail or enduro bike to the next level. As a long standing Swarm client, Cane Creek wanted help turning their existing prototype into a sexy, user friendly beast. In addition to pushing the design language to the limit, Swarm also developed improvements to cut manufacturing costs, reduce weight, and make the shock easier to use across a broad spectrum of bike configurations.

Services
Industrial Design
User Interface Design
Engineering Support
Branding

Eventually all businesses need to change directions and sometimes that means a complete overhaul of their whole brand. This was the case for Cane Creek Cycling Components. A world-renowned manufacturer of high end bike parts, Cane Creek was best known for the patent they held on a little-known and highly technical bike part, the threadless headset. Their corporate branding was very stark and simple. Picture lots of white backgrounds and large blue text if you will. 

However, as they moved into a new market by developing uber cool suspension products for mountain bikes, (see our work on the DBinline) Cane Creek needed to update their brand image to one that was cohesive across all product lines, focused on their corporate culture and appealing to a younger demographic. 

Beginning with logo development for the Double Barrel suspension line, SWARM worked on every piece of brand collateral that Cane Creek developed over the next 5 years. A few notable projects include: Website Redesign, Print and Digital Advertising, Technical Posters, Brochures & Catalogs, Product Graphics, User Manuals, a Web-based Configurator (The Headset Fit Finder), Animated Renderings, Trade Show Displays, Fixtures and Tents, Soft goods and Product Packaging. 

Services
Conceptual Development
Graphic Design
Industrial Design
Product Graphics
Tradeshow Booth Design
Photography

You know the adage; the competition doesn't matter: Do what you do, and do it incredibly well, and you will win. This is great in theory, but terrible in practice because winning almost always requires reacting to what your competition does.

When the competition in the filament winding market started getting stronger, ENTEC reached out to SWARM to assist them in expanding their foot print in creating a new set of standard machines, updating their brand and launching a small marketing campaign. The goal was to convey that this is the NEW Entec with a focus on innovation and expanded services. SWARM was tasked with updating branding, website creation, developing new machinery & colors for efficiency, safety, and visibility, and creating an advertising campaign to differentiate ENTEC from the other players.

The end result has positioned ENTEC on top of its game with a strong brand which permeates every aspect of their business. The advertising campaign (Insert link to ad) brought increased visitors to an engaging high tech website where they can view a new line of advanced machinery that asserts the branding elements as uniquely ENTEC products.

Services
Product Design
Industrial Design
ReBranding
Machine Color Development
Website Development
Art Direction
Photography & Video
Graphic Design/Advertising Campaign
Copywriting

Many people are stunned that catalogs even exist anymore. The internet is supposed to handle all that. However, the simple fact remains, catalogs work! You can hold a catalog in your hands, mark it up, put it down and pick it up again a day later. It can, and often does, stay around for weeks. Throw in the added bonus of text with SEO and online ordering capability and you have the perfect cocktail. People read the catalog, decide what they want, and then go online to place the order.

Arisun Bicycle Tires uses an annual catalog to distribute their product information. Their goal for the 2015/16 catalog was to change their look to be more American and “edgy”. Swarm tapped into that voice and worked directly with the Chinese factory and the US Distributor to create a sharp design that pushed the envelope and made a competitive impact in the United States.

Services
Branding
Art Direction
Photography
Graphic Design
Print Publication

Little humans develop the fierce desire for independence long before they have the fine-motor skills to operate a fork. Hence the resulting plethora of images featuring children with spaghetti on their heads or a face smeared with applesauce. Extremely cute...but they come with massive clean up time for tired parents.

After an AH-HA moment with his own toddler, an industrious father approached SWARM to design a nipple that would attach to a food pouch and allow a toddler to feed themselves. The goals were to eliminate the messy “pouch purge” caused by an over-anxious child, reduce food waste and clean-up time, all while giving the toddler a feeling of independence. Through SWARM’s product development work, Lil’ Sasquatch was born.

SWARM developed a two-piece coupler and nipple that screws onto the plastic interface of a food pouch. Safety standards for baby products required that the nipple and the mouth shield  be one solid piece. To achieve this, SWARM co-molded the pieces to join the two parts together into one unit.

The client needed Swarm to do branding and product naming. The client, based in wyoming, wanted a brand/personality that was fun but tough to match their lifestyle. SWARM came up with the Lil’Sasquatch caricature/logo, which is friendly, rugged and fun. Swarm also provided product photography, studio and lifestyle,  packaging design and product coloring.

When it came time to manufacture it was an important goal for Lil’ Sasquatch to be made in the US. SWARM sourced and vetted a manufacturer to meet the product safety standards and the needs of Lil’ Sasquatch.

Services

Product Development
Prototyping
Product Testing
Sourcing
Product Color
Manufacturing Consulting
Branding
Naming
Packaging

You can file the Penblade Knife in the "why didn't I think of that" file. You should have — you'd be a millionaire like each and every member of the Penblade organization. The Penblade knife opens and retracts just like a ball point pen, so it's easy and intuitive to use. When not in use, the blade is hidden inside the body of the knife where it can't hurt anyone and it can't be damaged itself. The folks at Penblade soon discovered that the Penblade had many uses, and decided to market it to hobbyists and crafts-lovers — anybody who could use an ultra-sharp, ultra-precise cutting tool. Swarm produced a promotional informational video and 3D motion graphics. These now live on the Penblade website. They accurately showcase the Penblade's many uses for crafts-lovers, hobbyists, and non-medical types the world over.

Services
Art Direction
Video Production
Animation
Storyboarding
Scripting

As the social movement of tiny houses and downsizing takes off, people are simplifying their living space to reduce their footprint for a myriad of reasons. Along with urban gardeners, they have a distinct need for space-saving schemes and smartly designed products. SWARM worked with RedHed Tools on several projects to address the need for a high quality garden tool system that provides the ability for gardeners to do more with less.

The RedHed Garden Tool System was created with quality and craftsmanship as paramount factors. Equally important was simplicity and ease of use. Starting with product development, SWARM was tasked to create an interface between the tool heads and the handles that was not intrusive to the product, was “dead simple”, and had the utmost in durability. Through research and industrial design, SWARM generated a lightweight and clickable aluminum connector (patent-pending) that met all the targets. This unique interface was then carried over to create a full system.

The Garden Tool Master Kit includes 1 bag, 4 steel tool heads and 4 hickory handles plus extender, that create a total of 32 tool combinations. The tools are powder coated to survive a lifetime of use and feature a nostalgic retro-look. SWARM worked with this design directive and integrated it into every element of the system: from the vertical lines that hide tooling marks on the aluminum connectors to the classic look of the packaging.

SWARM developed both a soft and hard case to provide a quick and easy system targeted at two different consumers. Mimicking a tool roll, the soft case had to provide cost-effective tidy storage in a lightweight package for the urban gardener. Constructed of heavy denier nylon, the water-resistant custom storage case neatly stores each kit piece in its designated spot, with pull-tabs to lock them in place.

A blow molded hard case was then developed to target the professional landscaper. Primary goals were to keep the production costs down by shrinking the size of the soft case. SWARM provided a creative tool layout for enhanced user experience, smart tool placement and efficient use. Working with the offshore manufacturing vendor, SWARM created tooling and sourced the product. To meet the demand of the upcoming market season, all items were delivered on a shortened time line.

The Perfect Planner is a unique tool that enables users to create professional gardens with quick and easy layouts and proper spacing. SWARM created prototypes to determine size requirements, parameters, measurement increments and angles. To eliminate parts and SKUs, making it internally easier for RedHED, each piece is interchangeable. SWARM created one mold with easy assembly using durable fiber impregnated ABS plastic. The full kit includes planting guide and flags for planting layout all within a stand-alone package that educates the consumer and sells itself.

To target the big box retailer, SWARM created Double Shovel packaging that includes a reduced number of tools yet allowed for system addition. The packaging needed to explain product benefits, reduce retail footprint and be durable. Utilizing prototyping and 3D modeling, SWARM worked with the box manufacturer to create a minimal cardboard piece that hangs and clearly communicates the product message at first glance.

Services
Product Design
Sourcing
Packaging Design