Product design is about much more than colors and shapes. It is actually focused on innovation and function to solve your business needs. At Axis, we carefully consider the materials used to make each part, the technology contained within its form, and ease of use. Here we outline the five features that mean you’re installing a well-designed network audio solution.
At Axis, we pride ourselves on the quality of our design. Over the last 30 years, we’ve set out to provide well-made solutions for our customers, and this is important to us as a business. While we are known for our heritage in designing and creating network surveillance cameras, we have since brought this mindset to our expanding network audio portfolio.
“We set out to create a new branch within our portfolio to complement our existing products, and now have a collection of network audio solutions available,” says Jonas Sjögren, Manager of Design at Axis. “We have ensured all of these products adhere to the Axis principles of high-quality design. Allowing for easy installation and a perfect fit wherever it is installed. Our solutions are designed with your business needs front and foremost.”
In this article, we highlight the features to look out for when it comes to choosing the right network audio solution for you, or watch this video where you get to know how we work when designing Axis audio products.
1: High quality
The essence of a well-designed product is its quality. For us at Axis, this is not only about the materials chosen, but also how we work with the material to create a quality feeling. We have high standards when it comes to our surface finishing and overall design, and we want to ensure each product in our audio portfolio has an appearance that appeals to you.
We work with trusted suppliers to ensure the materials used in our audio products are of high quality, durable, and well-designed. Collaborating with our suppliers gives transparency to the entire supply chain. We can determine where materials have been produced and how they have been sourced, to ensure only the highest quality and ethical materials are used in our product design.
This also enables us to understand the wider social and environmental impact we’re having when we create new audio solutions. It’s important for us as an industry to recognize the impact we’re having, and this is becoming an ever-greater focus for us at Axis.
“From a product design perspective, we are designing our solutions using as much recycled material as we can to support the circular economy. We’re also removing harmful materials and are redesigning product packaging to reduce its environmental impact,” says Jonas. “Protecting the planet is a responsibility we feel acutely, and one we’re determined to have a positive impact on through improved and new product design.”
2: Easy installation
As an installer, finding a product that offers easy, seamless installation is key. Equally, customers want quick and easy installs. With a large proportion of system costs attributable to installation fees, this provides significant cost savings.
The carefully considered design of our network speakers also allows for easy installation. With a single standard Power over Ethernet (PoE) network cable providing all the connectivity, power, and communication you need, there is no dedicated new wiring required which reduces time for installation. Our network audio solutions also come with snap-in installations, one-handed grips, and graphics on the products to guide you as an installer to fit the product easily.
Plus, with network speakers pre-configured, our audio solutions sound clear right out of the box. This means there is no need for you to bring in audio experts at the installation stage.
Jonas comments: “We set our goals to try to at least make the installation experience on par with our camera installation experience, which is a high standard. No stone has been left unturned when it came to designing our network audio solutions, enabling smooth and seamless installation for each.”
3: Hidden smartness
In an increasingly digital world, relying on audio solutions that have in-built technology capabilities is essential. Our network audio solutions are fully digital and edge-based, which allows for easy integration to your existing systems and provides the best overall experience.
In terms of physical design, our products also offer something we at Axis like to call: “hidden smartness”. For example, we have integrated an LED light within our speakers, which is designed to light up only when it is in use.
“The idea behind our ‘hidden smartness’ design concept is that these features are only visible when they are requested or required by a user. This is to ensure our products are discrete and subtle to respect the public space, and so they blend in as part of your existing infrastructure and premise design,” Jonas notes.
“As part of our design at Axis, we believe we don’t need to externally show all of the capabilities of our products. Our ‘hidden smartness’ is a distinguisher in the network audio market, and a nod to our legacy reputation in the industry for providing advanced solutions without overtly displaying them – unless necessary for the function of our products.”
4: Balancing form with function
Good design tends to be a balanced mix of form and function, and so selecting an audio solution that meets both requirements is crucial. At Axis, our reputation has been based on our products’ functional excellence and this will never change. However, in more recent years, the form of our products, and the ability to blend them seamlessly into the context of your premises has become increasingly important.
For instance, our AXIS C15 Network Pendant Speaker Series and AXIS C1610-VE Network Sound Projector each recently received a ‘Red Dot’ Award for high design quality. While these speakers meet every functional requirement you’d expect from one of our audio products, they’re also designed with aesthetics in mind.
“Whether you want to recess a speaker into a ceiling to unobtrusively blend in, or if you want it to be overt to enable you to get closer to your customers for open communication, we have a design for you.” Jonas continues, “we were thrilled to be recognized by judges of the Red Dot Awards for both the form and function aspects of our design.”
5: A solution for now, and in the future
Our Axis network audio solutions provide you with a future-proofed system that can scale as required. Equipped with edge-based technology, these solutions are fully scalable and easy to upgrade – not requiring re-wiring or additional equipment that can cause installers a headache.
These solutions also provide you with access to the latest applications to further enhance your audio system. “Offering a harmonized portfolio with flexibility and scalability, our network audio solutions are designed to meet your needs both now and in the future,” Jonas notes.
“This is a really exciting time for us at Axis,” he adds. “Our chosen design direction for our audio products has been carefully considered and aligns well with our overall business objective to provide smart, high-quality design for our customers. We have several new audio products in the pipeline, so this is only the beginning.”