Vodafone
Fibre Router

The Vodafone Fibre Router is a high speed network gateway that delivers the speed of fibre internet into people’s homes. The goal for our team was simple yet demanding: designing a performant yet elegant and iconic router, that closely follows the Vodafone design language and integrates well into modern homes. 

Starting from a given technical platform that came with strict requirements, the challenge was to infuse Vodafone's unique design language, while at the same time ensuring stability, perfect ventilation and a well accessible and protected Fibre port. Moreover, we supported Vodafone during the whole phase of implementation, from specification to final sample to packaging. This way we could react to changes fast and ensure the quality of the final products.

The design of the Fibre gateway had to strictly follow the Vodafone design language, which is a combination of simple, easy to read surfaces and basic geometries that strive to be uncomplicated and charismatic at the same time. This is an important aspect in the effort to reduce the visual complexity that gateways in this category usually have, to ultimately make the product fit better into customers home environments.

The clean front face of the router is complemented by subtle, user-facing LEDs that are well arranged in a central axis. In order to keep the surfaces and overall gesture as clean and easy to recognize as possible, it was important to place the venting features underneath and on top of the router - so they would be out of the user's view but still ensure a perfect airflow. Another important detail is the Fibre connector, which is hidden inside the foot and hence offers sufficient protection for the sensitive fibre cables.

Details matter most - following this philosophy it is important to transport a design's original intention and quality to the final product as undiluted as possible. This is why we closely collaborate with manufacturers to ensure accurate and time-efficient implementation. This phase of implementation included multiple iterations and review rounds until the product was ready to be released to the market. A close look at even the invisible details sometimes is the key to a good consumer experience.

To better blend the gateway into customer's homes the design leverages references to interior and furniture design. Clean surfaces and simple shapes result in an elegant yet powerful design that fits in between the room equipment just perfectly.