Building Brand Systems for Secure Hardware

Design SHIFT

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Summary

Industry: Consumer Electronics, Secure Computing
Timeline: 2016-2017 · Contractor (18 months)

Role: Lead Product Designer · Brand & Visual Identity Designer · Product Launch Design
Scope: Product communication · Brand system foundations · Hardware documentation · Packaging & printed manuals · Marketing & investor materials

Design Software: Adobe Photoshop · Adobe Illustrator · Adobe InDesign · OmniGraffle
Platforms: Mailchimp
Production: Product photography (studio setup & lighting) · Print production workflow

I served as the sole designer supporting secure hardware products in a highly regulated environment, translating complex security requirements into coherent visual systems across physical devices, digital touchpoints, and field marketing environments.

I established design ownership, defined standards, and put in place a system that ensured consistent design across teams.

Due to confidentiality constraints, certain product-level visuals cannot be displayed. This case study highlights publicly released marketing and event materials.

Key Achievements

Led the repositioning and visual rebrand of ORWL, aligning it with enterprise and high-trust security markets
Partnered directly with executive leadership on investor-facing materials supporting fundraising efforts
Oversaw the art direction of the ORWL e-commerce platform to ensure alignment with the updated brand positioning
Consolidated cross-team asset workflows to improve execution consistency across product, marketing, and trade environments

Overview

Design SHIFT was a hardware engineering firm operating in high-trust, regulated markets. The company developed hardware products for industry leaders, collaborating across distributed teams with engineering based in the United States and Taiwan, and marketing support in France.

ORWL was a physically secure computer designed to protect sensitive data through hardware-based authentication and encrypted storage. The project was successfully funded on Crowd Supply, raising over four times its goal.

I joined Design SHIFT during the product launch phase to help establish the brand, design the first user documentation, and support the product’s go-to-market strategy.

ORWL is a physically secure computer that requires a keyfob to activate and runs on both Windows and Ubuntu.
Photo Credit: Stephanie Lesperance for Design SHIFT

Challenges

When I joined, there was no clear design ownership or structure:

No centralized brand system, leading to inconsistent outputs across teams
A strong technical product without a clear narrative for enterprise adoption
A brand misaligned with the company’s shift toward commercialization, requiring repositioning

Additional Challenge: domain fluency

I entered the project without prior experience in secure hardware, and quickly developed the domain fluency needed to translate complex technical systems into clear, credible design outputs.

Design Objectives

The design work focused on three core objectives:

Supporting the repositioning of ORWL from product launch to enterprise and high-trust security markets
Making a complex hardware-based security model understandable and credible across both technical and non-technical audiences
Building a coherent design system across hardware, packaging, documentation, and digital environments to ensure consistency at scale

Brand System Rationalization

Building a foundational brand system from a fragmented environment

When I joined, there was no usable brand system: no validated assets, no clear rules, and no shared source of truth. Rather than simply producing new assets, I focused on building a usable foundation that teams could rely on:

Reconstructed the logo as a validated vector asset and defined clear usage rules
Established a practical brand guideline tailored to engineering and distributed teams
Defined typography hierarchy and a consistent color system to ensure cross-platform coherence
Structured a centralized asset library to create a single, reliable source of truth

First structured brand guideline consolidating logo usage and core visual standards.

Defined typography hierarchy and standardized color system to ensure cross-platform consistency.

Established naming conventions and brand usage rules to reduce inconsistencies across teams.

Brand ORWL – Launch Materials

Launch & Field Marketing System

I inherited an existing but undocumented visual direction and transformed it into a cohesive communication system supporting ORWL’s public launch and trade presence.

Scope of work:

Defined a clear and consistent launch narrative across print and digital channels
Designed and optimized the main sales brochure for both physical distribution and email campaigns
Created a modular datasheet template to support ongoing product updates
Developed field-ready assets (including a 4’×6’ trade show banner) aligned with high-trust security markets
Maintained the minimal, high-contrast visual language aligned with ORWL’s early audience (security practitioners)

4’x6’ double-sided trade show banner

Bridging Engineering & Brand

The exploded AutoCAD view used in several customer-facing artifacts.

Turning internal engineering artifacts into product storytelling

As part of the product launch, I transformed an internal exploded AutoCAD view from the Taiwanese engineering team into a customer-facing asset.

When I first saw the exploded CAD view, I immediately recognized its potential beyond its technical purpose, it was too strong to ignore. I used it as a storytelling element, showcasing both the product’s precision and the expertise behind it.

This was a deliberate choice to highlight the engineers’ work: the exploded view revealed both the elegance of the design and the precision behind its engineering.

What began as an internal engineering artifact became a key product asset, making the system’s precision visible and meaningful to external audiences. This approach helped bridge engineering and brand, reinforcing a shared sense of ownership across teams.

Product Documentation & Compliance Integration

I designed the official user manual to be integrated directly into ORWL product packaging. This documentation was a critical requirement for product compliance and shipping. It demanded a clear and structured approach to ensure usability without compromising regulatory standards (CE, FCC, Industry Canada).

Designed a compact manual integrating CE, FCC, and Industry Canada requirements while maintaining visual clarity and brand consistency.
(Interior pages)

First production units of ORWL, shipped to early backers in an aluminum carrying case with the user manual I designed.
Photo credit: Design SHIFT, Taiwan Team

Brand Repositioning

As ORWL entered security-driven enterprise markets, the brand required stronger alignment with Design SHIFT’s positioning and credibility.

I led the repositioning of ORWL from a product-led launch identity to a brand capable of operating in high-trust enterprise environments.

What Changed

Designed new ORWL logo aligned with parent brand (Design SHIFT)
Simplified visual language to reduce marketing noise and improve clarity
Shifted from conceptual security metaphors to a more direct, technically credible expression
Introduced a modular layout system for cross-sector adaptation

Extract of the new brochure - repositionning ORWL for high-trust technical audiences.

Thales Security Partnership

Designed a scalable template for long-form technical thought leadership, supporting ORWL’s positioning in high-trust security markets.

Building credibility through co-branded technical communication

As ORWL expanded into government and defense-adjacent markets, external partnerships became key to reinforcing its positioning.

I supported this phase by designing structured, co-branded communication systems aligned with Thales’ standards and expectations.

Designed a scalable white paper template to support ongoing technical thought leadership
Structured long-form content for both print and digital distribution
Defined a visual language aligned with security-focused, high-trust audiences
Developed a co-branded communication system across email and social channels to support partnership-driven campaigns

Co-Branded Webinar Campaign

To support a joint webinar with Thales, I designed and executed a co-branded communication system across email and social channels.

Invitation emails and Twitter assets aligned with Thales partnership communications.

Conclusion

This experience deepened my ability to operate in highly technical environments. By establishing structured brand systems, documentation standards, and packaging consistency, I helped turn ORWL from a technically ambitious product into a cohesive, production-ready offering.

Entering the secure hardware space without prior experience was initially challenging, but I quickly developed the domain understanding needed to collaborate with engineering teams and translate complex systems into clear, credible design.

This chapter shaped how I approach technical industries today: with curiosity, a strong sense of structure, and respect for the people behind the systems.

The collaboration concluded following the company’s financial restructuring.

ORWL production units prepared for distribution.
Photo credit: Design SHIFT, Taiwan Team

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Currently open to the right opportunity.

I'm always happy to discuss design, hear about your next big idea, or talk storytelling over tea.

Email me at hello@stephanielesperance.com
or reach out on LinkedIn.