Winners 2016/Electronic & Electrical Equipment Silver

Project: IQ4 Control Hardware

Client: Trend Control Systems

Design: Ratio Design Associates

Trend Control Systems produce hardware used to control and monitor the heating, ventilation and air conditioning in commercial buildings. With end user clients and equipment specifiers becoming increasingly design savvy, expectations were being raised, bringing a renewed focus on the importance of design to Trend. The agency was briefed to establish the visual design guidelines and industrial design direction for Trend’s IQ4 range, and as a result the products are now smaller, faster, safer and more intelligent than ever before.
The new modules have a 40% smaller footprint and can be housed in smaller, less expensive control cabinets. Modules can now be replaced 50% quicker and more reliably without disruption to neighbouring hardware. Product assembly times have been improved by 12% and sales forecasts were well exceeded with phase one delivering 150% above revenue projections and phase two achieving 325% above commercial forecasts. What’s more, eliminating the international shipping of moduled parts has significantly reduced IQ4's carbon footprint.