Lawrence Chu
C001755
Lawrence is passionate about the role design plays in building positive, meaningful experiences between people and their environments. Both digital and physical innovations can elevate these relationships, and he is proud of the design work Johnson Controls Hitachi is doing in this space.
As the Director of Product Design at Johnson Controls Hitachi, Lawrence leads both the product design function and their vision for the digital interactive experience, including IoT and Smart Building controls. It’s his role to evangelize the brand values across every user touchpoint of Hitachi Cooling & Heating products, ensuring a harmonious experience that genuinely improves customers' lives.
With over twenty years of experience in product design practice and consulting, and a decade of lecturing at Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design, Lawrence has gained a deep understanding of how brand language shapes customer experience and loyalty. He has helped global businesses revitalize their image and transform their design culture and processes to create unique product offerings and, in some cases, carve out new multi-million dollar markets.
Having grown up between Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, San Francisco, Toronto, Shenzhen, and Shanghai, Lawrence is a global citizen with deep cultural empathy for both East and West. His understanding of global production informs his approach to design.
Portfolio
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Hitachi airCloud Go
AC control for home & light-commercial building
Presenting our smart air conditioner system redesign, a project that aims to revolutionize how users interact with their indoor environment. Crafted meticulously through extensive research, including mood boards, trend studies, and valuable insights from users and industry experts, our goal was to create an app that transcends mere functionality and delivers an intuitive, user-friendly experience. -
ULAC Lock
ULAC Lock is the hippest bike locks for urban cyclist. This was an opportunity to innovate in the bicycle security space where the sustainable conscious customers are investing more each year on their ride. AirJust is one of many concepts that came to life from the portfolio of conceptual work. By focusing on convenience and versatility, where majority of smaller locks are clumsier to use or store; this small 'ziptie' style lock holds a very robust combination mechanism that allows the entire lock become very mobile. A half loop feature connects the lock but also harnessing the robustness of the cast metal housing.
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BISSELL CROSSWAVE MULTI-SURFACE CLEANER
2017/2018 Redot Award Winner - BISSELL CrossWave is an all-in-one hardfloor washer and vacuum cleaner that works on both hard-floors and carpets. Sanitizing consumables can be used for a deeper efficacious clean. This project began with extensive primary research led in Asia, where the key insight to multi-surface cleaning and desire for consumables were found. We wanted to create a product that is easy to use and would carry an aesthetic brand language that communicates the evolution of the next generation of floor-care technologies that is both powerful, and visually dynamic.
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NIXPLAY SMART FRAMES
Easily one of the coolest project to date. Along with Mark Palfreeman (master mind), Marcin Dudar (genius), Amaris Tang (designer), Nixplay revamped their entire fleet of products to accommodate a fully modular system that maximize flexibility of the component usage with superb functionality and aesthetics. The patented removable cable stand is a work of art that enables the user to wall-mount their digital photo frame which has been something the users have been asking for. This line up of digital photo frames uses a common visual brand language that accentuates the physical visual brand elements and truly celebrates consistency with stunning color materials and finishes. With best-in-class phone to frame IoT connected experience, this is the best memory keepsake gift money can buy. The reviews speak for themselves.
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TUCK STORAGE BOX
TUCK Storage Box Developed with UMBRA LLC 2008. Inspired by the Japanese Origami. The Tuck storage box was featured in MOMA museum store and became one of their best seller. Bamboo with felt-lined compartments ideal for keepsake of your precious belongings.
