TIMELINE
TEAM
Hurrit is a consumer smartphone developed under strict cost and manufacturing targets, with the expectation that it would still communicate a premium feel. The gap between those two things — premium perception, budget production — was where most of the real design work happened.
My role covered the full lifecycle: from early concept alignment with the client through CMF exploration, engineering validation, and controlled transition into mass production. Across 6 months and a team spanning France and China, the job was to keep design intent alive without losing sight of what was actually buildable.
The product competed in a visually premium segment despite tight cost constraints. That pressure showed up everywhere — in material choices, finish tolerances, and the constant negotiation between what looked right and what could actually be manufactured at scale.
The cross-cultural team dynamic (France–China) added another layer: decisions made on one side didn't always land clearly on the other, which made structured communication a non-negotiable part of the process.
During production validation, the selected CMF film showed color instability — visible deviations from the original design intent that only surfaced at scale. Replacing the material at that stage would have meant tooling changes, added cost, and timeline impact nobody had room for.
The question wasn't "how do we fix this" — it was "how do we make a clear, shared decision that everyone can work from." That's when the governance work became the actual deliverable.
During production validation, the selected film showed color variations outside the original design intent — visible deviations that only surfaced at scale. Replacing the material at that stage would have meant tooling changes, added cost, and timeline impact nobody had room for.
My role was to turn that problem into a decision. I led the development of a shared validation framework: defining acceptable tonal deviation ranges, creating physical reference samples with the supplier, and establishing criteria that design, QA, and the client could all sign off on. The goal wasn't to lower the bar — it was to make the bar explicit, so production could hold it without constant design intervention.
Managing this across France and China meant a lot of the work was making sure the same decision meant the same thing to everyone — regardless of whether they were looking at it from a design, engineering, or production perspective.
Despite aggressive cost constraints and a critical CMF instability identified during production validation, the product launched on schedule and within budget.
Hurrit was well-received by the operator on the French market, achieving strong sell-through and notably low aftersales return rates — a direct result of the structured design governance framework established during production alignment. The project demonstrated that premium perception can be maintained without premium cost, a model now replicable across future hardware programs.
Hurrit competed in a visually premium segment despite operating within strict cost constraints. Even minor surface or color inconsistencies were amplified at production scale, making CMF decisions particularly sensitive.
I led the development of a shared decision framework bridging design intent and production constraints.
This included:
Defining acceptable color deviation ranges
Creating physical reference samples
Establishing shared validation criteria across design and manufacturing
Making trade-offs explicit and measurable
Facilitating alignment between design, engineering, and production teams
This reduced subjective debates, clarified approval processes, and ensured brand integrity during mass production.
The objective was not to eliminate constraints — but to integrate them into a coherent, achievable system.
