Melanie Stirner - Bosch Startup Animation

Bosch Home Appliances —

Startup Animation for embedded user interfaces

A new generation of home appliances

Bosch Home Appliances (BSH) contacted us with the task of creating a new consistent and contemporary start-up animation for all Bosch home appliances. The animation serves as a brand signature for digital devices using the new Bosch "anchor". The final result represents a fusion of branding, motion and sound to convey the Bosch core values quality and simplicity. Furthermore we were asked to empower Bosch product teams and BSH hubs with guidance.

Concept & motion principles

First steps were to explore and re-define the start-up animation and to consider the new flat design of the brand for future embedded UIs. Thus, we initially discussed the existing UIs of the brand in order to identify correlations and to be able to create a consistent image.

This served as a foundation to create a motion guideline reflecting the brand values. Something that didn't exist in such a way yet - and which can be applied to interfaces as well as to moving images, allowing a closer linkage. Using this guide, we were able to move within a range that reflects the brand to 100% but still leaves enough space for creativity.

Responsibility
fluid organic movements; natural easing; soft fades

Global Partnership
create context through movement; clear spatial frameworks for objects; intuitively recognizable connections

Quality
precise shape and movement; synergetic connections of objects; clear and distinctive connections

Fascinating Products
iconic effect by value class; distinction of value classes; creating a connection between product and UI

Implementation

We created a start-up animation for the embedded user interfaces of Bosch home appliances, that is 100% brand compliant and represents the brand in a modern way. It's highly dynamic and up to date, yet discrete due to a smaller size of elements.

It's important to notice that a start-up animation is something you might see and hear everyday, so it's essential that it's something that doesn't annoy, but integrates into everyday life. One must not be disturbed by it.

The animation gives you a feeling of being welcome, of being in an environment that is of high quality. It is friendly, concise and has a high habituation factor. The colors directly reference to the brand values and merge in the brand mark.

So, here it is – this one greets you, when you turn on your new generation home appliance product by Bosch:

Since there are also a few products with a bit of loading time, we also created a loading animation as a formal reference that runs before the actual start-up animation:

And if it is not possible to run an animation while booting, there is also a version with a still image, that shows the anchor in a not active state:

Data processing

Keeping it as convenient as possible for the development team, we divided the animation into different sections so that they can be used individually and according to the requirements and possibilities of the product, in a simple and understandable way.

This means that for each product class and depending on whether they are capable of playing loading animations or not, a set is provided that can be assembled according to the specifications.

Set 1 – clean version
Suitable for appliances that do not need to fill time for system boots.

Set 2 – with loading animation
Suitable for appliances that need to fill time for system boots and are able to play an animation in the meantime.

Set 3 – from still image
Suitable for appliances that need to fill time for system boots, but are not able to play an animation in the meantime.

Furthermore, the respective sets are available in five different resolutions as well as two different file formats to match the screen sizes and the way the respective system supports the files.

My Role: concept, design, animation, delivery
Client: Bosch
Agency: MUTABOR

Categories:
Concept, Animation, UI, Interaction, embedded UI