San Jose, California, USA and Huizhou, Guangdong, China

Designed by Cole Derby, Dan Harden, Mark Hearn, Britt Jensen, and Brian Leach of Whipsaw, the TCL Zoom is the first TV remote control and interface for kids with an integrated system that was designed around child psychology with an emphasis on discovery, surprise, and physical action.

Zoom is not your typical remote, and creates a tangible, point-and-zoom-based interface that accentuates children’s natural movements.

TCL’s Zoom channel service uses layered content navigation displayed as a colorful map with islands to promote engagement and discoverability.

Children love playfully peeking through the light ring to point, explore, and select a movie. 

TCL Zoom Wand Remote was awarded a 2021 Good Design Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

Factoring in age and interests, it also allows kids to select appropriate content from multiple streaming platforms.

All controls are symmetrically aligned for left or right-hand use and downsized for child-sized hands. 

The light ring changes color and motion patterns according to its commands and status.

The materials were integrated into a seamless and smooth form that is easy to wipe clean.

The Zoom experience feels like a magic wand that responds to gestures (including panning left-right-up-down and zooming) and features voice control and sound effects. 

Zoom provides a remote and UI combo that takes into account the different uses that kids have versus adults.

Giving kids their own remote for their own TV viewing experience will change the relationship between kids and television.

Using the Zoom remote, kids can easily interact with a layered navigation system that quickly narrows down hundreds of choices to only the most relevant content.

Point, pan, swipe, and zoom through menus as if your TV were a giant touch screen–all made possible with the Zoom remote, a wand-style controller that puts the fun in functionality.

All components of Zoom were selected with children as the main user in mind. 

The product completed many user testing sessions to study the psychology and behavior of children and their interaction with different remotes and TVs.

After a series of testing with many prototypes (even some made of clay), the designers landed on an ideal form for kids.

Zoom gives kids the opportunity to own their own TV viewing experience, rather than a pared-down version of the adult viewing experience.

The Zoom remote is also the first one on a modern TV streaming platform built for the ergonomics of a child’s hand, making this product feel natural and friendly to use.

TCL’s Zoom interface sorts content from available streaming services into appropriate groups based on your child’s age and interests.

The remote’s materials and form were designed to fit into the life of any child. 

The front of the device, including the buttons, was designed with a clean and seamless material that covers the entire top of the remote in a soft and tactile elastomer.

This ensures a comfortable grip when hands are slippery, and easy clean up if things get messy. 

An attached wrist strap helps kids hold onto the Zoom device, but a rounded form will be friendly to drops, paired with a flat back to keep the product from rolling off a table.

This product gives TCL the opportunity to market directly to children by providing eye-catching hardware and software that kids will enjoy using.

By building the Zoom app into a TCL product that consumers already own, the designers have been able to bring new users into the TCL ecosystem of both hardware and software services.

As a flagship streaming service marketed specifically for kids, the Zoom UI will give TCL an opportunity to expand its services to content streaming, allowing them to make further partnerships with content providers.

In a world of unlimited streaming options, TCL’s zoom platform provides a snapshot of what can be done with content-focused apps that work to bring order and prioritization to streaming content, while also tailoring the results to each user specifically.

Project: TCL Zoom Wand Remote
Designers: Whipsaw, Inc.
Lead Designers: Cole Derby, Dan Harden, Mark Hearn, Britt Jensen, and Brian Leach
Manufacturer: TCL