The ceiling fan, reimagined as a smart-home hub.

VERVE is a smart-home ceiling fan I developed with Emerson Technologies. The goal was a fan that works in any home, old or modern. A ceiling fan sits high and dead-center in the room, which makes it a natural hub for smart-home tech.

01 — The idea

Safe, central, and smart.

Verve has three foam blades, a child-monitor and security camera, and a Bluetooth speaker ring. The foam blades use a Nerf-inspired material, which I landed on after my research turned up a pattern of kids hurting their hands or hitting their heads on fan blades while jumping on their beds. The fan is designed to be safe for children of all ages.

02 — The product

The fan.

03 — Research & process

How it came together.

Research, exploded components, and usage, from the original project boards.

Notes

How it was made.

Role: Industrial design: research, concept, CAD modeling, rendering, and a hand-built foam-and-wood scale model.
Collaboration: Developed in collaboration with Emerson Technologies.
Process: User research → sketch → CAD → renders, documented end-to-end.
Status: Emerson-sponsored university studio project, 2017.