DESCRIPTION: With nearly 6,000 bikes sold to date and an expanding model line-up, ZOOZ Bikes has become a global phenomenon, shipping directly to consumers via zoozbikes.com and establishing a network of 60 dealers across the US, UK, and Australia.
TEAM: Concept/Engineering-Chris Zahner, Design Direction/Creative-Pete Kelly, Operations-James Milam
CONTEXT: The original build was an experiment to see if Chris could speed up his city commute. I just had to have one, then I wanted to design one. As product designers and builders do, we did six or seven rounds of design and geometry iterations that eventually resulted in the most capable urban electric bike on the market. It’s all about the ride and the style…two things the rest of the industry ignored.
DESCRIPTION: Barricade XL, Barricade and Barricade mini are a collection of bluetooth speakers designed to go anywhere. They are designed and engineered to survive things like tailgating, rafting, boating, camping and many other of life’s fun activities!
TEAM: Direction/iD-Pete Kelly, Dave Vogt, Concept Validation-Dave Vogt, Project Manager-Jason Luthman, Art Direction-Chris Metcalfe
COMMENTARY: Previous to the BARRICADE project, Skullcandy had less than stellar success with a set of themed speakers that eventually led to buyers purging all inventory. The BARRICADE speaker project was a last chance attempt to claim success in the speaker category. This was a quick strike project with a very tight launch deadline that could not afford any hold ups or major issues. No small task with such a lofty must-have list of features, technology and performance expectations. It was important that their design language felt elevated and refined but also instilled a trust in the build quality and robustness.
DESCRIPTION: A new design language meant to provide a foundation for brand consistency, a chassis for future technologies and a canvas for self expression. It is a mixture and evolution of our existing core, more playful design language. The collection of 4 styles is part of a new brand direction to clean up the line, refocus energy on CMF and marketing and let the physical design become recognizable over time.
TEAM: Director/iD Lead-Pete Kelly, iD Lead (VRA/Crusher3)-Steve Page, iD Lead (Hesh3/Riff)-Ryan Jung, Color Boards-Steve Page, Kyle Arnett, Packaging-Kyle Arnett, Mike Voss, Engineer(VRA)-Sam Lepley, Engineer(Crusher3)-Micheal Allen/Matt Windt, Engineer(Hesh3/Riff)-Greg Woolston
SPECS: VRA: Wireless over-ear, forged aluminum armatures, friction adjustment sliders, engineered hinge and pivot, capacitive touch bass control, ferro fluid subwoofers, onboard amplifier, memory foam and protein leather pads, bluetooth. CRUSHER3: Wireless overear, Slider bass control, patented sub woofers, REX40 drivers. HESH3: Wireless overear, custom tunes REX40 drivers, memory foam pads. RIFF: Onear wireless, custom tuned REX40 drivers.
ACHIEVEMENTS: UX Design Award 2016, Design and Utility Patent(s)
DESCRIPTION: In-ear bud and standard bud with patented ergonomic fit that became a franchise technology specificly for active products.
TEAM: Direction/iD-Pete Kelly, Engineer/Product Manager-Matt Windt, Art Direction-Kevin Horsburgh
CONTEXT: Great sound was the initial intent with placing the drivers low and near the ear canal. Once we started prototyping and fit testing we realized we also solved for the common problems most buds have where they get loose or fall out when the cables are pulled.
The FIX bud actually digs in deeper like a hook when you pull on the cables. This is how the FIX got its name!
Discovery revealed a patentable element which resulted in a franchise technology.
DESCRIPTION: The perfect solution for having your external hard drive secure and ready to use. Made with creatives and creators in mind. Matters is a pocket you can put *almost anywhere to hold *almost anything. It has a 3M adhesive backing on a semi-rigid base, expandable neoprene with venting, and plenty of graphic real-estate.
TEAM: Concept/Validation - Michael Bhanos, Design/Creative-Pete Kelly, Project Management - Gary Crane
www.mattersathand.com
DESCRIPTION: The design direction stemmed from FONT design, thought of by a true graphic designer... not me. Although I co-designed and nurtured the development through all the compromises and challenges that this direction was sure to have. The design language is based on primitives and strict proportion… It’s aesthetic is so unique and beautiful because of these decisions. Truly outside-the-box thinking for such an intimate and ergonomic product. KNOW has a design language, creative direction and brand message that captured a 70% female audience and secured a differentiated market position. Developed a solution to eliminate long listening fatigue through considered mechanical design and prescriptive acoustic tuning.
TEAM: Brand Concept-James Milam, Creative Direction-Afterall Studio, Pete Kelly, James Milam, Design/Direction-Pete Kelly, Afterall Studio, Steve Page, 3D Development-Dave Vogt, Steve Page
CONTEXT: Headphones thoughtfully designed for an underserved and under-appreciated audience ie Females and those who aren’t interested in the look and feel of typical ‘consumer electronics.’
DESCRIPTION: Experimental project centered around the core consumer and brand heritage. Celebrate the under $100 retail price point with an unexpected level of material richness, customization and performance.
TEAM: Director/iD-Pete Kelly, iD-Don Stiff, Concept Validation/Co-Design-Dave Vogt, Engineer-Randy Hull, Art Direction-Chris Metcalfe
CONTEXT: The Grind had to a rich, mixed material design that could be completely customized and have a low cost of goods in order for the target audience to be attracted to it. It is a classic case of my minimalist design approach were the goal is to have a low part count and low part complexity. The Grind is very much a Pete Kelly design.
DESCRIPTION: Basic wired bud sharing DNA with the GRIND headphone project.
TEAM: Director/iD-Pete Kelly, iD-Donnie Stiff, iD/Concept Validation-Dave Vogt, Consumer Research-Pete Kelly, Donnie Stiff, Art Direction-Chris Metcalfe
COMMENTARY: This buds ‘window’ is a tip of the hat to its internal audio acoustic engineering. I was looking for a way to literally draw attention to the internal components and resulting performance. The concept elements add richness and interest to the opening price point bud.
Applying our franchise technologies across a fitness line for a very popular fitness lifestyle brand pitch. Meant to look & feel like their inhouse designers did it, touch on tech and ergnomics, packaging and POP. This was a very high level attempt at STARTING a licensing business. This was received very well but sometimes business gets in the way of business.
DESCRIPTION: Natural remedy startup needing brand identity, packaging and label development.
TEAM: Brand Direction-Mellissa Milam, Brand Identity/Graphic Design/Packaging Design-Pete Kelly
CONTEXT: The projects container goal was to help solve the problem of messy, unorganized medicine cabinets and to develop a brand identity that stands apart from typical big pharma packaging. Common startup pivots occurring along the way including container type, brand name change and label criteria. The end result is a clean and simple container with a unique and inviting look and feel.
DESCRIPTION: Wired in-ear bud with mic3 designed for an Apple Store pitch... which we nailed!
TEAM: Direction/iD-Pete Kelly, Engineer-Josh Poulson, Art Direction-Kevin Horsburgh
CONTEXT: This was a quick strike project. It was going to be showcased to the Apple retail buyer so the intent was to come up with a premium look and feel that can sit on peg next to an apple bud and not seem cheap and toyish.
We moved so fast that I started in 3D without even a sketch as guidance. There were no real inspiration boards or a direction other than we knew we wanted a turned aluminum front end and an inlay logo.
I tried to build in richness with layers, parting lines, turned aluminum texture and an inlay logo. I separated the top and bottom housing with a heavy parting line and textured each half in tool for contrast. This is how it got its name…the 50/50.
We were the first retail partner at Apple retail that had a equivalent mic controller as their new mic innovation which validated investment in infrastructure and speed to market urgency.
DESCRIPTION: My team developed icon 3 then icon 4 because of it’s popularity with board sport athletes. Each evolution allowed us to make it more robust, easier to use with gloves and stay on the head better.
TEAM: Director/iD-Pete Kelly, Donnie Stiff, iD/Concept Validation-Kevin Sze, Consumer Insights-Pete Kelly, Zack Leader, Art Direction-Chris Metcalfe
CONTEXT: The original Skullcandy Icon was wildly popular with skiiers, snowboarder athletes which made it trend off the mountain. We extracted the design DNA and engineered it to handle the beating extreme athletes will put it through. When bluetooth tech became small enough we cut the cord and added glove friendly controls.
DESCRIPTION: Third style in the new design language established by the VRA. The Hesh 3.0 has a softer, more modern form and styling than the VRA but shares all the same recognizable signature elements.
TEAM: Director/iD-Pete Kelly, iD-Steve Page, Concept Validation/Co-Design-Ryan Jung, Engineer-Randy Hull, Art Direction-Kyle Arnett.
DESCRIPTION: Fashion forward women’s watch line. An extension of Gwen Stefani’s fashion brand L.A.M.B. (love angel music baby) in collaboration with her stylist Andrea Lieberman.
TEAM: Designer/Direction-Gwen Stefani, Andrea Lieberman, Pete Kelly, Product Manager-Candace Wilcox, Art Direction-Gwen Stefani, Andrea Lieberman, Pete Kelly
CONTEXT: Gwen is a style icon and her unique vision of what watches could be flipped the women’s watch landscape on it’s head. All of the big brands at the time were influenced by our L.A.M.B. watch design and materialization.
Working with Gwen gave me a unique understanding of how to approach design for women also how to think differently about design in general.
We had great success at Nordstrom, boutique shops across the country and online commerce.
DESCRIPTION: Modern unisex digital watch concept by Philippe Starck.
TEAM: Concept-Philippe Starck, iD/Production-Pete Kelly, Product Manager-Bill Morgan, 3D Modeling/Visuals-Michael Curry, Art Direction-Bill Morgan
CONTEXT: Starck was well aware that his original concept was unrealistically thin and missing mechanical design. Packaging the digital module into as sleek a form as possible that felt designed and modern was the goal. Our approach was to model the form in 3D then cut away parting lines for the mechanical design. The strap adjustment system was risky and revolutionary at the time where you had to cut the PU strap and assemble the buckle…no turning back! The bracelet was unique in that it was actually a PU strap with fitted metal rings around it giving the look of solid metal.
DESCRIPTION: Anon snow helmet audio system.
A set of speakers that fit into the tailored helmet pad lining and a glove friendly, 3 button controller that attaches to the helmet strap system.
The Speakers are swappable into a low profile, impact resistant, foldable headband.
TEAM: Director/iD-Pete Kelly, iD-Donnie Stiff, Product Manager-Zack Leader, Engineer-Kevin Sze, Art Direction-Kevin Horsburgh
CONTEXT: Skullcandy had a monopoly on the helmet audio business. We built special makeup controllers for Smith, Giro, Anon and Skullcandy.
Skullcandy was present at every snow covered mountain across the globe. Music is a critical element for shredding and our system sounded great, had glove friendly controllers and you can take calls and control your music.
DESCRIPTION: Titanium watches. Concept by Frank Gehry
TEAM: Design-Frank Gehry, Industrial Design/Graphic Design/Production-Pete Kelly, 3D Modeling/Visuals-Mike Curry, Time Telling Concept-Mathew Emeott
CONTEXT: This project started with Gehry requiring all the inhouse designers to submit sketches based on a very organic direction to see if we get his style. He selected my sketches as standouts and I got the project. I was surprised when he presented very linear designs instead of his normal organic style as the direction.
We used his handwriting as the fonts for everything. I created a custom digital segment (font) using his handwriting. The time telling concept came used a mix of words and numbers to spell out the time which was a very unique and creative concept.
At the beginning of the project Gehry told me he didn’t think his watch design could possibly replace his trusted timex stretchy band and we were making watches for his fans, not him…
DESCRIPTION: A line of watches, clocks and jewelry ranging from kids plastic analogs to nerdy digital watches that align with seasonal apparel stories.
TEAM: Director/GM (lic)-Pete Kelly, Sales Manager-Susannah Searson, Art DIrector-Ben Soto, Graphic Designer(s)/Design- Silvano Cogo, Miffy Bradbury, Ben Soto
CONTEXT: I worked on the Paul Frank brand for almost ten years between Fossil and Vestal.
My role varied from iD support to director to general manager of the business. The bulk of those years saw continuous growth and opportunity which fueled the non stop creative process.
DESCRIPTION: The HESH2 is an evolution of the original style and one of the first styles designed and engineered 100% by the inhouse development team.
TEAM: Direction/iD-Rick Alden, Pete Kelly, iD-Donnie Stiff, Production/3D support-Vapor Studios, Engineer-Colin Godby, Art Direction-Kevin Horsburgh
CONTEXT: The original Hesh was one of Skullcandy’s factory sourced styles that was uber successful but incredibly flawed in terms of quality and reliability. We had up to 20% returns from snapped slide adjusters. Its the reason Skullcandy’s return policy was lifetime full replacement.
The HESH2 project had a few must-have design criteria; “keep the cans” (earcups), “make it cool like oakley designed it” and needs to have both a modern injected headband and trendy textile headband.
DESCRIPTION: Opening price point bud and headphone.
TEAM: Direction-Pete Kelly, iD-Ryan Jung, Art Direction-Chris Metcalfe
COMMENTARY: This project is noteworthy for me because its a great exercise in creating something from nothing. It allowed me to teach my entry level designer how to approach challenges with creativity and purpose.
The bud retails for $3.50 and the headphone is $15. With such low retail prices you can imagine how limited the build allowance was.
The headphone has to adjust and conform to the head without any hardware or assemblies. Solving for how to reliably route the bridge cable from one earcup to the other with no additional parts is a literal challenge but also an opportunity to create a signature element.
The two designs share a dynamic form, in-tool logo and in-tool texture. The color pop from the exposed cable is the most noticeable attribute.
Side project with a couple friends to vet out a ‘modern business satchel’. This concept was shelved but is being shown as an example of an in depth development process with detail needed to start sampling. The concept has a central tech panel that houses a battery pack, charging cable access from key areas and tracking by tile. It is an exercise in layout and organization for the on-the-go business person who can afford any bag.
DESCRIPTION: Digital tide and surf heat trainer watch developed for Jordy Smith.
TEAM: Direction/iD-Pete Kelly, Design Support-Brad Piercey & Jay Merriott, Concept Validation-Pete Kelly, Project Manager-Pete Kelly, Art Direction-Jay Merriott
CONTEXT: We started from scratch on this tide module. There was a fairly steep learning curve figuring out how to acquire the right data from NOAA and validating it’s accuracy out 10 years. Our module has all the key beaches that were most important for all the pro tours and globe trotting surfers of Jordy’s level.
DESCRIPTION: The result of holding a Design Thinking brainstorm session with cross discipline people in product
TEAM: Advanced Concept Design Team
CONTEXT: Utility patented conformity mechanical design. The result of holding a Design Thinking brainstorm session with cross discipline people in product from product development, sales, demand creation.
During a time of oversized trendy watches loaded with meaningless technical looking elements, I flipped the script and made a statement using elevated materials, textures and finishes.
Personal project to learn aluminum metal shaping and welding. Once I got to this point I realized carbon fiber is the future...so I stopped and moved on. Fun while it lasted!
I traded my friend Andy Carter from Pangea Speed this 1970’s digger design for teaching how to tig weld aluminum sheet metal.
Andy was invited by Harley Davidson as a select few to build for SPEED AND STYLE at the Born Free Show in 2014. They were given the new 2015 Sportster 1200cc EVO motor as their power plant.
He won 'the PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD. (I believe that if he would’ve stuck to the paint and finish plan he would’ve won best in show!!)
