ZONE is a minimalist timer by New Things Lab. The brand communication needed a CGI product animation that makes function and material readable within seconds. The product received the iF Design Award 2025.
What makes ZONE interesting is how little it reveals. There is no conventional display, no labelling, no explanatory graphic. The entire function sits in a grid surface and in the way that surface changes.
A still image can barely carry that. Animation was not an addition here, it was the actual requirement.
Camera work and timing were built around a single idea: the viewer should understand how the product works within a few seconds. The camera stays calm, the movement in frame comes from the product itself.
For social media the animation was built vertically, so it works without sound and without explanatory copy.
The combination of a matte housing and a deep black grid surface is awkward to render. The housing needs soft transitions to feel premium, the grid needs contrast to stay readable at all.
The solution was a lighting setup that serves both areas separately without making the scene look artificial. Rendered in Blender with Cycles, finished in After Effects.
15 seconds, vertical, built to play without sound.
Single frames for web and press, with no second setup.
The product was awarded, the animation supported the communication.
The same geometry drives a configurator running in the browser.
When function, mechanics or material changes get lost in a still, animation is the shorter route. From CAD data or an existing model you usually get both results, film and stills, out of one scene.
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