Morrisville, North Carolina, USA
Lenovo’s ThinkReality VRX is a mixed-reality headset designed to offer the core experience of virtual reality, with the addition of augmented reality experiences enabled by low-latency full-color passthrough cameras.
These cameras allow opaque virtual content to be mapped into the 3D space of a live camera feed to the user.
Lenovo’s ThinkReality VRX has been awarded a 2023 Good Design Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
To highlight this functionality, a glossy camera bar adorns the front of the device. Behind this bar are hidden LEDs that illuminate when the passthrough cameras are active, giving notice to others that the wearer of the device can see out.
A cooling fan pulls air through the face area of the device, optimizing comfort for long periods of use.
The airflow through these vents is user-adjustable via sliding shutters, to prevent eye drying- an industry-first feature.
The Think brand is known for disciplined, minimal, and predominantly rectilinear forms.
The design of the VRX successfully preserves this disciplined overall feeling while adapting it to the context of a headworn device which demands a more organic form. Simple geometric constructions and defined edges are key to this success.
Polished control buttons highlight the premium quality of the device and aid tactile discoverability as they contrast with the soft-touch painted main housing in both appearance and feel.
Project: ThinkReality VRX
Designers: Lenovo Design Innovation Team, Lenovo Group Limited
Manufacturer: Lenovo Group Limited
