Chris Znerold Product + Brand Systems · AI Design Engineering

Microphone Check

Creative director for Logitech, 2017 Unlaunched concept

A streamer's mic settings live in PC software, in the middle of a broadcast.

Strategy:

Logitech G saw a gap: a control center that lets a gamer change audio and broadcast settings without leaving the game. The answer was a dial, one control that turns and presses.

Design:

Banshee: a mic on a base with a screen and a rotary wheel. The interaction model, ten style explorations for the same numbers, and the key screens, levels and volume, gain and polar pattern.

Leadership:

Through Portal, I worked directly with Logitech's executive team on the interaction model, the UX and every screen. Banshee was a skunkworks project. It never launched, and Logitech retired it in 2020.

Product in Hand

One dial, one screen.

A brushed mic over a black base with a watch-sized screen, a rotary wheel and three keys. Turn the wheel and the volume ring climbs to 93. Press and hold for gain and polar pattern.

Key screens: dynamic levels and volume, the ring at 52 and at 93
Key screens: gain and polar pattern, frequency and oscilloscope

Interaction Model

Product in Life

Eyes on the game.

Mid-stream, a viewer says you are too quiet. You reach for the base without looking, turn the wheel two clicks and keep playing. The software stays closed. The viewers never see you leave.

The Banshee mic on its base from the side, cabled, the ring lit red

Style Explorations

Style explorations01/10
Style exploration 1 of 10
Style exploration 2 of 10
Style exploration 3 of 10
Style exploration 4 of 10
Style exploration 5 of 10
Style exploration 6 of 10
Style exploration 7 of 10
Style exploration 8 of 10
Style exploration 9 of 10
Style exploration 10 of 10

Key Screens

Product in Culture

Voice was coming for the dial.

Streaming turned a bedroom into a broadcast studio, and the studio's controls are still buried in software. Banshee never left the lab. Voice control was gaining ground when Logitech shelved it in 2020, and the interaction model is the part that still holds.

Six base screens in a row, one style exploration each

Position:

Head of Brand & Product at Portal

Services:

Research, Strategy, Design

Partner:

Logitech

Status:

Unlaunched concept, retired 2020