Redesigning A Professional Night Vision Camera for Recreational Use

E-PRO Internal Concept

Designing a professional night vision camera for recreational use.

E-PRO Internal Concept

Designing a professional night vision camera for recreational use.

With this internal concept project, Huemen challenged itself to redesign a military-grade night vision camera for a more mainstream customer. We set out with a goal to create a product design based on colored night vision technology to illuminate nightlife and the great outdoors. The outcome was the E-PRO night vision camera, perfect for outdoor enthusiasts.

Final rendering of the redesigned night vision camera

The challenge

As we set out to redesign the traditional night vision camera, we needed to create a product that looked less military in design but still harnessed the same high-powered technology. Our goal was to create a monocled design combined with an everyday consumer look and feel.

The three design stages of the monocled inspired night vision camera.

What we learned

Re-envisioning the traditional night vision camera led us to discover three different personae who would benefit from this product:

User #1: The Nighttime Photographer Whether this consumer prefers capturing city urban life or the rural countryside, the E-PRO will allow them to effectively photograph and film the nighttime scenery.

User #2: The Outdoor Enthusiast Those looking to document their outdoor adventures will be able to bring their E-PRO along while hiking, canoeing or kayaking. For users who enjoy hunting, the camera can double as a scope.

User #3: The Leisure Explorer This camera is ideal for recreational projects, no matter the level of intensity. Even users who are interested in capturing images and film of their everyday strolls and outdoor exploration will benefit from its features.

The design process required a multi-phase approach to authentically understand the market and the target user’s needs.

Our thinking

Our design process required a multi-phase approach to help us fully understand the scope of the project and then bring it to fruition.

Phase 1: Creating Opportunities We took multiple steps to research current night vision cameras and their purchasing trends to determine the direction and opportunities this project presented.

  • Collaborative briefing
  • Brand analysis
  • Current product portfolio analysis
  • Market research / benchmarking
  • User research
  • Trends & Insights forecast platform research
  • Technology roadmap. From current available tech to next future tech.

Phase 2: Defining the Design Scope After our in-depth research, we identified our key users, their needs, and developed the three personas.

  • Identify users + needs + goals = user needs statements
  • Design DNA definition
  • Create personas, user journey maps & storyboards to support our ideas

Phase 3: Design Development Product design included conceptualization, 3D modeling, prototyping and user testing.

  • Concept generation through sketches
  • Advance visualizations
  • 3D modeling Computer Aided Design (CAD)
  • Validate the concepts through prototyping and user testing.
  • Basic color material and finish (CMF) boards to share with suppliers for preliminary cost and feasibility study

Phase 4: Design Implementation Our last step prior to delivery was to decide on a final concept and realize it through CAD, UI/UX and other models.

  • Selecting one concept which informed the design language and CMF strategy. These concepts will be realized through CAD, UI/UX, renderings and maquette models.
  • The final delivery will be a Class A 3D surfacing model with a CMF document.

The final renderings of the Class A 3D surfacing model of the redesigned night vision camera

The result

In the end, we produced multiple renderings of a fully realized night vision camera. This device was created with a mainstream market in mind. The final delivery of this project will be a Class A 3D surfacing model with a CMF document.

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